Category Archives: Government/Military

Government Office, Government/Military

Riverhead, NY – Sprinkler system activates; Helps control fire in records storage room

Riverhead firefighters found paper records burning in a second-floor records storage room at the county center when they responded to an automatic alarm this afternoon just before 1 o’clock.

There was a heavy smoke condition on the second floor when the first fire chief arrived. He immediately called for the department to respond to a working structure fire.  The fire activated the sprinkler system in that area of the building.

The chief called for the county fire marshal to respond and investigate. Firefighters quickly put the fire out. No one was injured in the incident.

Government/Military, Other-Government/Military

Baltimore, MD – Fire at Maryland State Police data center contained by sprinklers

State troopers in barracks across Maryland were left without access to central crime databases on Friday morning temporarily after a small fire in a generator room at Maryland State Police headquarters caused a power outage and knocked the data center offline.

When the fire occurred, a sprinkler system turned on, the main generator stopped functioning and power was cut off, Russo said. The data center computers are housed in a separate building from the generators, and were not damaged, she said.  No foul play was expected.

 Individual barracks did not lose power and retained access to their own computer systems, said Elena Russo, a police spokeswoman. The state police website was not accessible for several hours. Power had been restored as of Friday afternoon.

Government/Military, Other-Government/Military

Sprinkler system contains truck fire at City of Dayton garage (Dayton, OH)

Dayton crews were dispatched just before 5:30 p.m. Saturday. The sprinkler system in the City of Dayton garage at the public works facility worked as designed in containing the vehicle fire to the one heavy-duty truck, Dayton Fire Chief and Director Jeffrey Payne said.  The sprinkler system had knocked out the flames by the time firefighters arrived, he said.  An investigator was called to the scene as a matter of standard department protocol, as Payne said it appears no one was in the building when the fire erupted under the truck’s hood.

Government/Military, Other-Government/Military

Fire at MSP international airport controlled by single sprinkler (Minneapolis, MN)

A small fire in a break room at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport set off smoke detectors and a sprinkler above Gate G-1, causing some minor disruption before operations returned to normal. “It was a small stove fire in a storage and break area,” MSP spokesman Patrick Hogan said Monday. The fire was in an employee-only area, one floor above the public concourse used by passengers.

Government/Military, Public Library

Fire at library halted by single sprinkler (Lake Forest, IL)

At around 9:15 p.m. on January 14, the Lake Forest Fire Department was called to the Lake Forest Library when heavy smoke was reported coming from the building. Fire crews, confirming that there were no occupants in the building, reported that the fire began when a broken light bulb fell from the ceiling and ignited a chair. A single fire sprinkler controlled the fire from spreading. There were no injuries reported.

Government/Military, Other-Government/Military, Residential

Sprinkler system contains fire at probation office (Lompoc, CA)

Fire crews responded in less than a minute in response to a late night fire at a probation office on September 5. They arrived to find the fire in the office contained by it’s fire sprinkler system; the crew extinguished the remaining flames. The building was unoccupied when the fire began, and the fire is being deemed as suspicious.

Fire / Police Station, Government/Military

Sprinklers control engine/pumper fire at volunteer fire department (Vernon Township, PA)

“If it hadn’t been for the fire alarm system and the sprinklers, we’d have been in deep trouble,” said Tom Benak, a trustee and an assistant chief with Vernon Central Hose Co.  The fire, which occured around 11:45 PM on Tuesday night, was ruled accidental due to an electrical wiring malfunction in the crew compartment area behind the driver’s seat.

Government/Military, Public Library

Library arson fire controlled by sprinkler system (Brooksville, FL)

Firefighters were called to the East Hernando Branch Library in Brooksville on July 6 to put out a small fire. While no one was hurt, the smoke activated the building’s sprinkler system, damaging much of the inventory.

(*** BLOG EDITOR’S NOTE – Only the substantial heat from potentially deadly and damaging fire will operate a fire sprinkler, not smoke.  This fire was likely kept small due to the sprinkler system, which helped limit the damage to this structure)