A grease fire at an apartment in Beaufort County has left one family displaced.

The fire broke out shortly before 8:30 p.m. on Friday at the Magnolia Park Apartments on Laurel Bay Road, according to the Burton Fire District.

The Burton Fire District, MCAS Fire Department, Beaufort County EMS and Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office all responded.

BFD said the apartment’s sprinkler system kicked on and extinguished the fire prior to firefighters’ arrival.

When firefighters did arrive on scene, they said they found a single sprinkler head that activated above a stove where the grease fire had erupted. Firefighters stopped the flow of water from the sprinkler head, which produces approximately 25 gallons of water a minute, until the complex’s maintenance personnel restored the system.

Due to smoke and water in the apartment, the family of six that lived there was displaced. Red Cross is now assisting the family.

Burton fire officials said that while the family of this apartment had to be temporarily relocated, the families in the other five apartments were able to return home.

“A fire doubles in size every 18-30 seconds, and even with a less than three-minute response by firefighters, without that sprinkler system and single sprinkler head, the fire would have devastated that apartment and caused damages throughout the building, possibly displacing all six families,” said Burton Fire District Community Support Officer Capt. Daniel Byrne.