All posts by viking210

Casino, Other Business

Las Vegas, NV – Casino sprinkler systems helps keep fire in check; No injuries reported

After a woman crashed an R.V. through its front doors, a small fire was reported at the Cannery Casino in North Las Vegas Friday afternoon.

The fire was reported around 2 p.m. on Oct. 25. The Cannery Casino is located at 2121 East Craig Road, near Lossee Road.

North Las Vegas fire officials said about 50 firefighters responded from North Las Vegas, Las Vegas and Clark County responded to the scene. When crews arrived, they noticed a burning odor inside the property, along with some smoke. There was also a strong electrical burning smell.

The Cannery was evacuated and crews started looking for the cause of the fire. According to fire officials, several hundred people were evacuated. Crews narrowed down the location of the fire to an air handler near the restaurants.

An air handler is used to move heat or air conditioning throughout a building. As air handlers get older, they can collect dust and other build-up, becoming possible fire hazards. 

As of 4:30 p.m., North Las Vegas fire officials said investigators were still determining if the air handler was the exact cause of the fire, though “the chances seemed pretty good” that it was a motor in the air handler.

After a woman crashed an R.V. through its front doors, a small fire was reported at the Cannery Casino in North Las Vegas Friday afternoon.

The fire was reported around 2 p.m. on Oct. 25. The Cannery Casino is located at 2121 East Craig Road, near Lossee Road.

North Las Vegas fire officials said about 50 firefighters responded from North Las Vegas, Las Vegas and Clark County responded to the scene. When crews arrived, they noticed a burning odor inside the property, along with some smoke. There was also a strong electrical burning smell.

The Cannery was evacuated and crews started looking for the cause of the fire. According to fire officials, several hundred people were evacuated. Crews narrowed down the location of the fire to an air handler near the restaurants.

An air handler is used to move heat or air conditioning throughout a building. As air handlers get older, they can collect dust and other build-up, becoming possible fire hazards. 

As of 4:30 p.m., North Las Vegas fire officials said investigators were still determining if the air handler was the exact cause of the fire, though “the chances seemed pretty good” that it was a motor in the air handler.

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

New Milford, NJ – Sprinkler system contains fire to single room at nursing home

The residents of a New Milford care facility were safely removed after a small but smoky fire broke out Thursday morning, Chief of Police Brian Clancy said.

Police responded to Woodcrest Center Care One on River Road at about 9 a.m. on a report of fire on the second floor. Officers Darrell Marshall and William Reardon, along with staff, helped get a number of disabled patients out safely, Clancy said.

The small fire, which started on a bed and spread to a wall, was extinguished by the facility’s sprinkler system and contained to a single room, Clancy said. The room was empty when the fire started.

A total of 22 people were treated for smoke inhalation, with 16 going to the hospital. Most of those who suffered smoke inhalation were staff who evacuated patients from the second floor, where the fire broke out.

River Road was closed for two hours before the facility was reopened at around 11 a.m. No one will be displaced due to the fire, Clancy said.

He went on to thank the agencies that responded, including ambulances from Hackensack, Holy Name and Englewood hospitals as well as from Teaneck, Bergenfield, Dumont and River Edge.

“All departments involved worked really well together and we were able to avoid any serious injuries to the residents, employees and emergency personnel. The Care One staff and police officers that were first on scene really did a great job relocating disabled patients from the fire floor,” Clancy said.

Apartment Building, Residential

Baton Rouge, LA – Fire sprinklers keep grease fire from spreading at apartment

A grease fire was ignited by an overflowing pot at a Baton Rouge apartment complex Wednesday afternoon.

Fire crews were called to 650 W. Mckinley St. around 6:15 p.m. Firefighters arrived to find smoke coming from the kitchen of an apartment. The sprinkler system had activated and kept the fire from spreading. Another apartment received water damage from sprinklers activating. 

The fire was under control within 15 minutes. Investigators are estimating $120,000 in damages.

Other - Storage / Warehouse, Storage / Warehouse

Milledgeville, GA – Reactive chemical sets fire to warehouse, sprinkler system helped keep fire in check; No injuries reported

A chemical fire Monday evening in a warehouse at the Zschimmer & Schwarz Inc. plant in Milledgeville left parts of the plant with heat and water damages.

No injuries were reported to either plant employees or to firefighters who were alerted to the scene following a 911 call about 6:30 p.m. Employees had evacuated the plant before the first firefighters arrived. 

More than two dozen firefighters from Baldwin County Fire Rescue and Milledgeville Fire Rescue responded to the fire, which reportedly sent flames up to the ceiling beams of the plant’s smaller warehouse, located to the left front portion of the building that overlooks Ga. Route 22 near Britt Waters Road. 

At least three different agencies were involved Tuesday in investigating the fire, including Baldwin County Fire Rescue, Baldwin County Emergency Management Agency and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Emergency Response Team.

“The fire was contained to one section in the warehouse,” according to Baldwin County Fire Rescue Chief Steve Somers.

He said the fire was believed to have been caused by a reactive chemical. The name of the chemical had not been disclosed publicly as of Tuesday afternoon.

“We’ll have it in the report as soon as it is completed,” Somers said.

The fire chief said none of the plant’s employees or any of the firefighters were exposed to the chemical, however. 

“Several other non-chemical containers also sustained heat damages from the fire,” Somers said. “Those products were not flammable. The fire just caused the substance in them to leak out.”

Somers said the only pallet of chemical substance that was what he described as hazardous was the one that caught fire.

The Milledgeville Zschimmer & Schwarz plant produces several different chemicals that are used for soap and other products.

“Most of the chemicals that they produce are not hazardous,” Somers said.

The fire spread smoke throughout much of the building, including the office area.

“There seems to be no other ignition source in that area, so that’s what we, and the chemist from the company, are going with at this time,” Somers said. “The chemist tried to explain to us that the product was not in a settled state. In fact, they were in the process of getting rid of it. They were not involved in getting rid of it when this happened, but they were working on the process of getting it out of the warehouse. But, it reacted before that could do something with it.”

Somers said the evacuation involved a skeleton crew of employees. All of them stayed on the front side of the building while county and city firefighters combed the building in search of hot spots.

The fire chief said a couple of ceiling beams were damaged due to the heat.

“The fire probable lasted just a few seconds, but it was hot enough to do that amount of damage in that short a period of time,” Somers said. “Immediately, it set off approximately 40 sprinkler heads in the warehouse.”

Somers said the plant’s offices sustained no real damages.

Firefighters were led by Baldwin County Fire Rescue Deputy Chief of Operations Philip Adams. 

“Everybody did a great job of working together,” Somers said, referring to county and city firefighters. “Anytime we have a structure fire, we back each other up. The city actually got there a few seconds before we did. And they did an awesome job in figuring out what was going on so they could give us a heads-up when we got there.”

College/University (on campus), School / University

Anchorage, AK – Fire caused by a malfunctioning switchboard at university stopped by sprinkler system

After a two-week closure of the Administration/Humanities Building due to a fire, the building is now reopened as of Oct. 14.

The Sept. 29 fire started due to electrical malfunctions in the building’s main distribution switchboard. The sprinkler system was triggered by the fire, but there was little water damage to the building and its equipment, according to Deputy Director of Facilities and Campus Services, Ryan Buchholdt.

The cause behind the switchboard malfunction is under investigation. Buchholdt speculated that the age of the equipment may have contributed to the cause of the fire.

“The fire was contained within the main distribution switchboard, resulting in a total power outage until repairs could be completed,” Buchholdt said.

The utility service is connected to the building by the switchboard, which is designed specifically for the Administration/Humanities Building. Replacement parts for the switchboard are not readily available, Buchholdt said, so new parts had to be engineered and others ordered, which took several weeks.

The fire started on a Sunday afternoon, so there was little time to reschedule classes in the building, Buchholdt said. All classes the following Monday, Sept. 30, were canceled by University Leadership. They were relocated to various buildings around campus throughout the rest of the week.

“Fifty-six class sections and approximately 70 faculty and staff had to be temporarily relocated to other places on campus until the building could be reopened,” Buchholdt said.

The relocation was organized by the Office of the Registrar. The Alaska Middle College classes also held in the building were relocated to the UAA/APU Consortium Library.

Lindsey Chadwell, the University Registrar of Student Affairs and Enrollment Services, communicated the incident to as many people as possible through social media.

“We worked jointly on messaging with the Office of University Advancement, which sent out broad communications via email, social media and the UAA website alerting the campus community to the building’s closure,” Chadwell said.

In addition to the 56 classes, the offices of the Chancellor, Provost, Vice Chancellor for Administrative Services and some members of University Advancement are also located in the Administration/Humanities Building. These offices were relocated to the University Lake Building by Facilities and Campus Services. Smaller units were relocated to the UAA/APU Consortium Library and Professional Studies Building. Staff in the building were also given the opportunity to work from home via computer if they were able to do so.

All main electrical equipment that is similar in age to the switchboard will be inspected by Facilities and Campus Services. Regular inspections will also continue, Buchholdt said.

“In addition to steps that can prevent this sort of incident in the future, our Incident Management Team, which includes representatives from University Police, Facilities and Campus Services, Dean of Students Office and University Advancement, will evaluate the overall response to find ways to improve our emergency practices,” Buchholdt said.

For more information on the Administration/Humanities Building fire and equipment inspections, contact Facilities and Campus Services through its page on the UAA website.

Residential, Single Family Home

Middle River, MD – House fire contained by fire sprinkler system; No injuries reported

Crews are on the scene of a Monday night house fire in Middle River.

The fire was reported at around 10 p.m. in the 900-block of Manorgreen Road (21220).

Arriving units found that a fire had begun in the kitchen of the house.

The home’s sprinkler system had mostly extinguished the blaze by the time firefighters arrived on scene.

No injuries have been reported at this time.

Apartment Building, Residential

Champaign, IL – Accidental cooking fire extinguished by fire sprinklers; No injuries reported

An accidental cooking fire has displaced the resident of an apartment on Champaign’s west side.

Fire department spokesman Randy Smith said crews were called to the 2000 block of West White Street around 2:25 a.m. Friday for a report of a stovetop fire.

Smith said the flames were contained to the kitchen and were controlled and extinguished by the apartment’s sprinkler system.

He said firefighters ventilated the residence.

Smith said there was minor fire, smoke and water damage to the kitchen. Damages are estimated at $5,000.

There were no injuries.

Grocery Store / Super Center, Retail

Flagstaff, AZ – Potential arson fire at Walmart contained by fire sprinkler activation

Flagstaff police evacuated a Walmart on East Huntington Drive at about 3 a.m. Saturday after receiving reports of a fire inside the store, according to Sgt. Charles Hernandez II, a spokesman for the police department. 

Police who responded saw heavy smoke inside the store, and noted that the store’s fire suppression sprinkler system had been activated. All Walmart staff were evacuated.

The store sustained severe fire and water damage and will be closed until further notice, Flagstaff police said.

Store employees told police they had seen a man who was about 5 feet, 7 inches tall leaving sections of the store where a fire had been started. The man was wearing a black hat, grey jacket, orange shirt and green camouflage pants, police said.

Flagstaff police are investigating the incident as an arson.

Anyone with information that may help identify the suspect can contact the Flagstaff Police Department at 928-774-1414 or make an anonymous call to Silent Witness at 928-774-6111.

Anyone with information that leads to an arrest may be eligible for a cash reward.

Apartment Building, Residential

McKinney, TX – (no media coverage) Fire sprinkler stops flames after explosion at apartment; No injuries reported

(Oct. 18, 2019) – The McKinney Fire Department (MFD) responded for a call about an explosion and fire at the Lakes of Eldorado apartments, 1400 Eldorado Pkwy., at 10:38 p.m. Thursday. MFD crews arrived to find the fire sprinkler system activated and a window and the patio doors blown out. Fire investigators determined that the resident had sprayed pressurized cans of insect killer in an enclosed area. When the clothes dryer was turned on, it caused the fumes to explode. Fortunately, a single fire sprinkler activated, putting out a fire in a trash can. The force of the blast pushed two walls back approximately 2-3 inches. Because of the potential structural damage, the residents of 8 units have been evacuated. The Red Cross is helping those people find places to stay. No one was hurt.
“This is a great reminder to always read the warning labels on pressurized cans,” said McKinney Fire Marshal Mike Smith. “This can clearly said not to use in confined spaces or near any active appliances.”

Manufacturing, Manufacturing Plant

Watertown, NY – Sprinkler system at manufacturing facility extinguishes fire

A sprinkler system inside a Watertown manufacturing facility did its job late Wednesday afternoon and put out a small fire.

Firefighters were called to the Jefferson County Industrial Park off outer Coffeen Street to Allied Motion a little before 3 p.m.

Fire officials told 7 News a spark from equipment in a testing and quality control room set off a small fire above a drop-down ceiling.

The sprinkler system put out the fire, but firefighters had to do smoke removal.

Fire officials say damage was moderate. The building was evacuated.