Category Archives: Government/Military

Fire / Police Station, Government/Military

Santa Maria, CA – Sprinkler system halts blaze after man sets fire to police department Christmas tree

A 23-year-old Guadalupe man was arrested when he allegedly set a Santa Maria Police Department Christmas tree on fire in their own lobby.

Santa Maria police say Steven Minami, 23, contacted police to report he was paranoid and believed someone had hacked into his computer.

The Santa Maria Police Department provided the following narrative on what happened next:

When Officers did not respond as quickly as Minami wanted, he grabbed a Department decorated Christmas tree and placed it on top of some chairs. Minami then lit the tree on fire, which caused the building’s fire protection sprinkler system to activate.

The emergency sprinkler system performed properly and quickly extinguished the fire; however, a large amount of smoke filled the front of the building. Minami was immediately located in front of the Department and arrested.

A part of the police department’s interior walls and flooring received water and smoke damage.

Minami was booked into Santa Barbara County Jail on charges of felony arson, vandalism, and public intoxication. His bail was set at $250,000.

Government/Military, Other-Government/Military

Saginaw, MI – Sprinkler system limits damage at County Road Commission garage

Fire destroys a Saginaw County Road Commission truck, but the sprinkler system inside the garage prevented more damage.

Managing Director Dennis Borchard said the fire in the snow plow truck appears to be electrical, but it will be up to the insurance adjustor to finalize the cause.

The garage’s sprinkler system was activated around 3:45 p.m. Sunday, which automatically alerted Saginaw County Central Dispatch.

Borchard said the sprinklers kept the fire contained until the Saginaw Fire Department arrived and was able to stop the fire from spreading.

Only one other truck has some damage.

Borchard said the truck that caught fire was not used Sunday, it was last used on Saturday. No one was in the garage in the 3200 block of Sheridan Avenue when the fire started.

The building was not damaged, but the road commission has to deal smoke and water throughout the garage.

Government/Military, Prison / Jail

Laconia, NH – Sprinkler system helps to limit fire at county jail; Overheated generator was cause

A fire that broke out at the newly completed Belknap County Community Corrections Center last week may have caused as much as $100,000 in damaging, authorities report.  Assistant Fire Chief Kirk Beattie said an exhaust pipe from an emergency generator overheated during a load test, setting the surrounding plywood on fire. Workmen who had been performing diagnostic testing on the generator had been operating it at capacity over time when the fire started late Thursday morning.  Workers quickly called the fire department and deployed multiple fire extinguishers to help to slow the blaze that quickly extended from the generator room next to the sally port into the attic above, charring one bay of rafters.

Beattie credited the quick call for help coupled with the use of fire extinguishers and the building’s sprinkler system with collectively working to limit the spread of the fire and amount of damage.

“It was the proper pipe from the generator, but it looks like the whole generator overheated,” Beattie said.

Firefighters were already en route when the fire alarm was tripped and found a fire hydrant within 10 feet of where the first truck parked.

No inmates were in the section of the building where the fire occurred and neither the jail or the adjacent nursing home were impacted by the incident, according to Beattie. No injuries were reported.

Firefighters remained on scene for about three hours and had to cut away a section of the roof as well as an outside wall to assure it was completely extinguished. Initially estimates of damage were between $30,000 to $50,000 but Beattie said as a result of the sprinkler activation the generator was completely soaked and may likely end up having to be scrapped.

Adult Care/Rehab Center, Other-Government/Military

South Bend, IN – Sprinkler system activates to help control arson fire at work release detention center

Two men who were inmates at the DuComb Center have been charged with arson for allegedly setting a fire at the center in August.  South Bend Fire responded to a fire at the DuComb Center on W. Lathrop Street on August 17.  Firefighters located the fire in the ceiling of a bathroom at the facility.

The building’s sprinkler system was activated and firefighters reported heavy smoke in the building.  The fire was extinguished by firefighters.  An investigation into the cause of the fire determined someone lit a piece of cloth and placed it above the ceiling tiles.

The damage was estimated at over $100,000.  Surveillance video showed between 11:09 p.m. and 11:35 p.m., inmates Austin Lamberson and Theodore Carney went into the bathroom, stayed for a short time, then walked out, according to the probable cause affidavit.

Investigators said Lamberson was carrying a white cloth when he walked into the bathroom, but was not carrying it when he walked out.  The video also allegedly showed Lamberson carry a blanket into the bathroom, returns saying, “It’s still going, I don’t need to put that up there,” according to the probable cause affidavit.

A short time later, Lamberson returned to the bathroom with the blanket and left without the blanket, according to the probable cause affidavit.  A short time later, an employee discovers the fire in the ceiling.  Lamberson and Carney are each charged with one count of arson.

Government Office, Government/Military

Farmers Branch, TX – Office fire on 9th floor of Federal Building extinguished by single sprinkler

*** FIRE DEPARTMENT REPORTED – NO MEDIA COVERAGE *** On the afternoon of September 13, 2017, the Farmers Branch Fire Department was dispatched to an automatic fire alarm at a 14-story Federal Building located at 4050 Alpha Rd. Upon arrival, smoke was showing on the ninth floor. A full assignment response was initiated. Upon investigation, fire crews identified an oscillating fan and chair on fire in a ninth floor conference room. One sprinkler head activated and extinguished the fire. Fire was determined to be accidental. No injuries occurred.

Other-Government/Military

Eden Prairie, MN – Firefighters credit sprinkler system from keeping bus garage fire from spreading

Government Office, Government/Military

Riverside, CA – Arson fire at social services building contained by sprinkler system; No injuries reported

A chair and other items in the Riverside County Department of Social Services building in Riverside’s Arlington neighborhood were set on fire Saturday night, authorities say.

Nobody was hurt in the fire, which set off alarms at 7:37 p.m. at the 21,000-square-foot building in the 3900 block of Reynolds Road, behind the Lowe’s on Magnolia Avenue, according to a Riverside Fire Department news release. The statement did not say anyone had been arrested.

Arriving firefighters found that the front door had been forced open and smoke was coming out, the news release said. When they went inside, they found “evidence of vandalism.”

The fire set off the building’s automatic sprinkler system and it was contained to an “office area,” the news release said. That’s where firefighters found a chair and other items that had been ignited. Firefighters shut off the sprinkler system and removed “large amounts of water from the building,” the news release said.

The Fire Department’s Arson Task Force is investigating.

Other-Government/Military

Washington, D.C. – Fire at The Smithsonian Castle contained by sprinkler system

The Smithsonian Castle caught fire and has been evacuated, the D.C. fire department says. A fire broke out on the third floor of the towering, historic building on the National Mall, at 1000 Jefferson Drive SW. The fire was contained by sprinklers and no one is reported to have been hurt, the fire department said about noon Wednesday. It occurred in a non-public area, Smithsonian spokeswoman Linda St. Thomas said.

The castle is closed for the rest of Wednesday as the area is cleaned. The fire what accidental and “electrical in nature,” the fire department said in an update. The castle, also known as the Smithsonian Institution Building, is home to the Smithsonian Institution’s administrative offices and information center. It was completed in 1855 and has items from the collections of each Smithsonian museum. Information was not released immediately on whether any art or artifacts were damaged. The fire department initially said the area where the fire occurred had been under construction; they said in an update that it was not.

 

Government/Military, Other-Government/Military

Portland, OR – Sprinkler system helps stop fire at Metro Transfer Station; No injuries

Portland Fire and Rescue crews quickly put out a fire at Metro Transfer Station in Northwest Portland Monday afternoon.

The fire, which triggered the sprinkler system, was spotted around 12:20 p.m. by employees.

The building was briefly evacuated and no one was injured.

Responding fire crews helped put the fire out and operations were back to normal by 1:10 p.m.

Government/Military, Other-Government/Military

Laconia, NH – Fire in circuit courthouse contained with help from sprinkler system

A fire in a trash can caused the evacuation of the Laconia Circuit Court Monday afternoon.  Meredith’s Vikki Fogg said she opened the door to a ground floor restroom to be met by flames. She told her grandson Nathan, 7, to go tell the bailiff conducting security screenings at the courthouse entrance that there was a fire.

“It was really going,” said bailiff Bill Barnard who grabbed a five-pound dry chemical extinguisher and doused the fire.  Court was in session at the time the fire broke out and security personnel had smelled smoke and were searching all three floors of the building for the source when Fogg opened the door to the first-floor restroom at the end of the hallway between the offices for the probate and family court and the circuit court.

The fire triggered the building’s smoke alarms but not the sprinkler system. Laconia Fire Chief Ken Erickson said his department responded to the fire alarm activation and were advised en route to 26 Academy St. there was smoke in the building, and that security personnel were looking for the source.

“Any time you have a report of a fire in a courthouse it’s of concern. It’s a government building and you have to think whether something else might be going on. Someone trying to create a diversion to get someone out or a disgruntled person trying to lash out,” Erickson said.

Courthouse staff directed people to leave the building after smelling smoke and then joined them gathering in the rear parking lot as firefighters arrived. Fans were set up to help clear the air. Damage was limited to the ruined trash can and to the mess made by the dry powder from the chemical extinguisher.

Security cameras are mounted throughout the building and bailiffs were confident that recorded video images coupled with observations made by people in the courthouse would lead to the source of the fire.

 

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