All posts by viking210

College/University (on campus), School / University

Amherst, MA – Dorm room sprinkler system bookcase that caught on fire; No injuries reported

At least six University of Massachusetts students have been displaced following a fire that started in their dorm early Friday morning. 

Assistant Fire Chief Lindsay Stromgren said firefighters responded to Maple Hall in the Commonwealth Honors College around 3:30 a.m. for an alarm. Soon after, the department received reports of smoke on the second floor, he said.

Stromgren said the fire started on a wooden bookcase in a student’s bedroom. The young woman woke up to the fire alarm and left the building, and the sprinkler system controlled the fire until firefighters arrived, Stromgren said. 

The entire dorm was evacuated for three hours, except for the second floor, which students were not allowed to re-enter for an even longer period of time due to water mitigation, Stromgren said. Students were brought to the nearby Roots Cafe during the evacuation to keep warm, he said.

At least six people who lived in the suite in which the fire started have been displaced indefinitely, Stromgren said.

“UMass is making arrangements for them,” he said.

Amherst fire investigators and the state fire marshal’s office are investigating the fire, Stromgren said. It is believed the fire was unintentional and accidental, he said, and no one was hurt.

Manufacturing, Manufacturing Plant

Winchester, VA – Sprinkler system controls fire at manufacturing plant; No injuries reported

Kingspan Insulation management credits alert employees, the company’s sprinkler system and a prompt response by firefighters for limiting damage from a warehouse fire reported at 6:09 p.m. on Sunday.

Jamey Walters, Kingspan plant manager, said on Monday that Kingspan frequently does emergency preparedness training including fire drills. “We have a very strong safety culture and situations like this show how strong it is,” he said.

No one was hurt in the fire at the plant at 200 Kingspan Way off Martinsburg Pike (U.S. 11). The fire was accidental and occurred during the insulation manufacturing process, according to a news release from Lt. Adam Hounshell, a deputy fire marshal with the Frederick County Fire and Rescue Department. The first firefighters arrived at 6:18 p.m. and found smoke in the warehouse. They extinguished the fire at 6:50 p.m. and removed the burnt insulation. Some of the charred insulation could be seen outside the warehouse on Monday.

Walters said about 130 people work at the 170,000-square-foot facility and about 20 were working when the fire began. He said when the foam insulation caught fire there were “significant flames” that workers tried to put out with fire extinguishers before evacuating when they realized the magnitude of the fire. The sprinkler system then activated and is credited by the fire department for arresting the spread of the fire.

The facility originally opened as Amoco Foam Products and was later purchased by the Pactiv Corp. Kingspan bought the facility in 2014.

Walters said Sunday’s fire was the worst since Kingspan bought the property, but there were a few serious fires in 1990s and 2000s. He said fire is a risk due to the combustibility of insulation.

“Which is why we take fire prevention so seriously,” said Doug Crawford, Kingspan managing director. “It is a real risk.”

A damage estimate was unavailable on Monday. The warehouse, which opened in 1981, is valued at $9.1 million, according to county property records.

Food Processing, Manufacturing

Kidron, OH – Fire system prevents fire from spreading from boiler room at poultry processing plant; No injuries reported

The sprinkler system at Gerber’s Poultry did its job. A fire in a boiler room at the well-known Ohio poultry processor late Saturday activated an alarm, summoning the Kidron Volunteer Fire Department to the plant at 5889 Kidron Road, at 11:14 p.m., Assistant Chief Ron Taylor said.

The first officer arrived on the scene several minutes later to find no smoke or flames showing, but saw water running out under an exterior boiler room door.

Firefighters gained access to the building when the maintenance staff arrived. They found an activated sprinkler head above a fire in an upstairs area on the mezzanine. The sprinkler system had suppressed the fire and prevented it from spreading and causing further damage.

“This is why we encourage sprinkler systems,” the Fire Department wrote on its Facebook page.

Glenn Mott, vice president of compliance for Gerber’s added, “Everything worked perfectly.”

Firefighters extinguished the remaining fire with fire extinguishers.

A second alarm and the Rapid Intervention Team were canceled once the extent of the fire was determined to be under control.

Kidron Fire declared the fire out at 11:31 p.m. Crews remained on scene to do an overhaul and clean up until 12:38 a.m.

No one was in the building at the time of the incident and no injuries were reported. The damage was estimated between $5,000 and $10,000.

The Wayne County Fire Investigation Team investigated and determined the fire was caused by a malfunctioning heating unit that ignited material in an adjacent area.

Residence Hall/Dormitory, Residential

Athens, GA – Fire contained to single dorm room thanks to fire sprinkler system; No injuries reported

While a fire damaged one room at a University of Georgia student dormitory over the weekend, the ensuing water damage means many other students were affected.

As a result, 54 students have been temporarily displaced from Myers Hall, which is off South Lumpkin Street on UGA’s campus, university spokesman Greg Trevor told AJC.com.

The fire took place early Sunday morning and was isolated to a single room, triggering the sprinkler in that room, Trevor said in an emailed statement. 

The Athens-Clarke County Fire Department responded and were able to quickly extinguish the fire. No one was injured, and students were able to reenter the building later that morning.

However, the water damage affected 54 students, the statement said. The university is providing temporary housing for those affected while the cleanup is completed. The places where those students will be housed was not provided.

The damages are expected to be repaired by Monday, allowing those students to move back into the dorm.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation. AJC.com has reached out to the fire department for more information.

Apartment Building, Residential

Haverhill, MA – Sprinkler system contains fire to bedroom after item is left too close to electric heat register; No injuries reported

The Friday night blaze that displaced 14 residents was caused by items left too close to a condo unit’s electric heat register, fire Chief William Laliberty said Tuesday.

The single-alarm fire at the brick Merrimack Place apartment building behind the A-1 Deli was reported by phone around 6:30 p.m. and firefighters had the blaze under control within a half-hour. All residents were evacuated and no injuries were reported.

According to Laliberty, the building’s sprinkler system activated and contained the fire to the bedroom. While smoke from the fire made its way to the adjacent Landmark Building, firefighters were able to quickly remove the smoke using fans, the chief said.

Hotel / Restaurant, Restaurant

Jeffersonville, IN – Electrical malfunction fire at brewery controlled by fire sprinklers

Goodwood Brewing is working to rebuild after a fire damaged the building where they planned to open a new restaurant on March 8. 

The Jeffersonville Fire Department says they believe the flames on Friday were sparked by an electrical malfunction. 

Firefighters were able to contain the fire quickly, and say it was the well-trained crew and a working sprinkler system that saved the building, which dates back to 1870.

Even though the historic building is still standing, there’s a lot of work to be done. 

“You can smell the smoke,” said James Corbin, the director of operations for Goodwood Brewing, as he stepped into the building on Monday. 

The fire was contained on the third floor, but the first and second floor have water damage. 

Corbin was in the building when it caught fire. He said watching those flames was a “helpless feeling.”

“All I could think about was this is going to push back our opening a little bit,” he said. 

He’d planned a multilevel entertainment complex in the building along Spring Street. He says he was prepared for the challenges of launching a business in a building that old. 

“When you go into things like this, you prepare for the worst, you hope for the best,” he said. “You don’t prepare yourself for a fire. That’s something that I would have never prepared myself for.”

After three days he says he’s still struggling with the sight. 

“Coming back up and seeing it like this, it’s kind of a punch in the gut,” said Corbin. “It slows us down a little bit but we will rebuild and we’ll come back stronger than ever.”

He’s still waiting on insurance assessments to know for sure, but hopes to open soon. 

“I would like to be open by June 1, but I don’t know if that’s going to be feasible or not,” he said. “The goal is to rebuild and get this open as soon as possible.”

College/University (on campus), School / University

Hanover, NH – Bathroom fire at Dartmouth fraternity contained thanks to fire sprinklers

Local fire departments on Sunday afternoon responded to a fire at Phi Delta Alpha fraternity. The fire was confined to the third-floor bathroom of the fraternity and quickly extinguished, according to Hanover Fire Department captain Michael Gilbert.

The fire tripped a heat sensor on a third-floor sprinkler of the fraternity, leading water to spread and seep to the lower floors of the building. He said that representatives from the College will determine the implications of the damage — namely, if residents will be able to continue to reside in the building.

Associate director of residential operations Bernard Haskell said residents of the building would be rehoused in residence halls until the Hanover Fire Department confirms that the building is safe and the fraternity decides to allow students to return. Phi Delt is taking measures to repair damage done by the fire in order to make the house habitable again, according to Haskell.

“They’re reaching out to contractors now,” Haskell said.

As of press time, Phi Delt president Sean Keough ’20 said that he did not know about the extent and implications of the fire. 

The Hanover, Hartford and Lebanon fire departments all responded to the incident. 

Other / Not Specified, Other Business

Richmond, TX – (no media coverage) Single fire sprinkler contains fire to popcorn machine at movie theater

The fire was generally contained to a popcorn machine in the concessions area of the movie theater. Though the fire was contained to the popcorn machine, sufficient heat was created that it activated a single sprinkler head.

There did not appear to be any damage directly caused by the fire due to it being contained by the machine which itself did not appear to be damaged.

Other / Not Specified, Other Business

The Woodlands, TX – Fire sprinkler extinguishes commercial dryer fire at popular music venue

Fire officials are crediting a single sprinkler head with extinguishing a fire Friday at the Dosey Doe Big Barn music hall before it could do major damage to the popular music venue.

The South Montgomery County Fire Department responded Friday to an automatic fire alarm at Dosey Doe’s location at 25911 Interstate 45 North. The first arriving fire crew reported smoke visible inside and immediately entered the building where they found that a commercial dryer had caught fire. The building was unoccupied at the time the fire broke out, but was equipped with a fire sprinkler and alarm system. The heat from the growing fire activated a single fire sprinkler which quickly contained the fire before it could spread, preventing any significant damage.

Firefighters cleared the building of smoke and secured the sprinkler system, preventing any disruption of business. According to the Montgomery County Fire Marshal’s Office, the presence of the fire sprinkler system prevented what would have been a catastrophic fire had it spread to the rest of restored 165 year old barn, famous for its ambiance and regular events featuring nationally recognized artists.

Although some wooden elements of the barn’s foundation are estimated to be as much as 600 years old, MCFMO officials stated in a press release, the venue is protected throughout by modern fire safety systems installed in accordance with national safety codes. With these systems in place, business was able to continue without interruption.

The Montgomery County Commissioner’s Court adopted a county fire code in 2008 after a series of large fires in commercial buildings. Since that time, fire marshal’s office plans examiners have reviewed and approved plans for approximately 75 million square feet of new construction.

“In addition to reviewing plans for new construction and renovations, we are working together with our partners in the South Montgomery County Fire Department to inspect and insure continued public safety in the thousands of commercial and public buildings located throughout Montgomery County Emergency Services District No. 8,” said the Montgomery County Fire Marshal’s Office in a statement.