Category Archives: Government/Military

Other-Government/Military

Waukesha, WI – Fire at municipal garage controlled with assistance from sprinkler system

Waukesha police and fire responded to the Municipal Garage on Sentry St. after a sprinkler water flow alarm was set off just before 8 p.m. Friday. According to the police report, a small fire was located inside a dump truck approximately 200 feet in the property. The report stated that the fire was knocked down with a water can several minutes after the alarm was reported.

Other-Government/Military, Power / Energy Facility

Hibbing, MN – Sprinkler system assists crews in extinguishing conveyor fire at power plant

A fire at the Hibbing Public Utilities Power Plant caused $70,000 in damage on Sunday.  According to Hibbing Fire Marshal Bryan Fagerstrom, the blaze broke out at the top of a 5-story conveyer belt on the bio-mass side of the power plant just after 2:30 p.m. “The conveyor carried wood chips to a loading area to be burned for steam generation,” the press release said. It was equipped with a sprinkler system which assisted in controlling the fire. Crews from Hibbing, Chisholm and Keewatin remained on the scene for several hours to ensure all the hot spots were extinguished. No one was injured. The fire appeared to have been caused by a bearing failure on the conveyor belt.

Other-Government/Military

West Mifflin, PA – Fire at atomic research lab extinguished by automatic sprinkler system

A small fire at an atomic power laboratory near Pittsburgh has been extinguished without incident or injury by the building’s sprinkler system.  Officials at the Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory say there was no threat to the public from Sunday night’s fire in West Mifflin.  The government-owned facility is operated for the Department of Energy and the U.S. Navy by Bechtel Bettis, Inc.  The technology developed there is used to power U.S. nuclear-powered warships.  The cause of the fire was still being investigated Monday. It occurred in an area that contains low-level radioactive material, none of which was released as a result of the fire.

Government/Military, Other-Government/Military

Kent, WA – Early morning fire at transit station parking garage contained with help from sprinkler system

A vehicle fire briefly shut down the Kent Station parking garage early Wednesday morning and delayed a few Sounder trains. The fire about 6:10 a.m. on the fourth floor of the garage, 301 Railroad Ave. N., set off an automatic fire alarm, said Kyle Ohashi, spokesman for the Kent Regional Fire Authority.  Firefighters saw heavy grey smoke coming from the fourth floor and initially upgraded it to a commercial fire due to the unknown source of the fire, Ohashi said. Once on the fourth floor, they found a car fire that the building sprinkler system helped contain. The cause of the fire is unknown.  Kent Police also responded to the call as officials closed the garage until the fire was out.  Sound Transit delayed several trains from entering Kent Station because of the garage closure and fire. Once emergency personnel opened the garage, trains ran again.

Government/Military, Other-Government/Military

Chicago, IL – Fire at Ogilvie Transportation Center quickly doused by sprinkler system

A small fire at the Ogilvie Transportation Center was quickly doused by a sprinkler, according to a Chicago Fire Department spokesman.

The fire at the building at 500 W. Madison St. a little before 9 p.m. was put out by sprinklers, and while there was some smoke in the building, fire officials quickly declared the fire under control, the spokesman said. No one was injured, he said.

Fire crews opened doors and used fans to air out the building.

Metra train operations weren’t being disrupted because riders were able to enter and leave the train platform from exits other than the main one on Madison, said Tom Miller, a Metra spokesman. Some CTA buses were rerouted in the area because of the large Fire Department response for the high-rise.

A few dozen people huddled near the Madison entrance until fire officials cleared the building.

Corey Tate, 28, a Forest Park resident, said he was working with at least five other people on the 32nd floor when the fire alarm went off.

“We decided it’s probably not safe to stay up on the 32nd floor so we took the stairwell all the way down,” Tate said. “It made my heart beat so fast. I didn’t know what the heck was going on.”

A traffic reporter who works at the building, also known as the Citigroup Center, said in a tweet that his office was being evacuated because of the fire, after it was declared out.

Government/Military, Other-Government/Military

Wheaton, IL – Sprinkler system contains fire at public works garage; No injuries reported

No injuries were reported in a small fire Monday night at the Wheaton public works facility that apparently started in the bed of a pickup truck inside the fleet maintenance garage. Firefighters responded at 7 p.m. to the facility at 821 W. Liberty St. and found the fire had been brought under control within minutes by the building’s sprinkler system.

Firefighters spent about 30 minutes at the scene clearing smoke and extinguishing some minor smoldering material. The cause of the fire is undetermined but does not appear to be suspicious. Damage estimates were not immediately available.  The building was turned back over to public works officials after the fire and the building was open for business on Tuesday.

Government/Military, Prison / Jail

Burlington, KY – Laundry fire at county jail contained with help from sprinkler system

A fire that broke out in a commercial dryer last Monday night at the Boone County Jail was ruled accidental and caused by bedding materials that overheated in the unit.

Crews from the Columbia Fire Department and Boone County Fire Protection District were sent to the jail, 2121 County Drive, at 10:54 p.m. Monday and found neither smoke nor fire visible from the outside, according to a news release.

Fire district personnel arrived first and were taken to the laundry area, where there was light smoke and fire coming from the unit. Firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze. One sprinkler activated before crews arrived, helping contain the fire to the single unit, the release said.

No injuries were reported. Boone County sheriff’s Detective Tom O’Sullivan said the dryer is a loss, and damage to it and some light smoke damage in the building is estimated to cost about $6,000. The dryer was left on too long, and the heat setting was too high, he said.

Government/Military, Prison / Jail

Columbia, MO – Fire at Boone County Jail kept in check by sprinkler; No injuries

A fire that broke out in a commercial dryer Monday night at the Boone County Jail was ruled accidental and caused by bedding materials that overheated in the unit.

Crews from the Columbia Fire Department and Boone County Fire Protection District were sent to the jail, 2121 County Drive, at 10:54 p.m. Monday and found neither smoke nor fire visible from the outside, according to a news release.

Fire district personnel arrived first and were taken to the laundry area, where there was light smoke and fire coming from the unit. Firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze. One sprinkler activated before crews arrived, helping contain the fire to the single unit, the release said.

No injuries were reported.

Boone County sheriff’s Detective Tom O’Sullivan said the dryer is a loss, and damage to it and some light smoke damage in the building is estimated to cost about $6,000. The dryer was left on too long, and the heat setting was too high, he said.

Other-Government/Military

Wilmette, IL – Storage room fire at public works garage controlled by sprinkler system; Damage minimized

Wimette’s fire chief is crediting sprinklers for keeping a Tuesday storage room fire at the Wilmette public works garage from potentially engulfing the entire building.  The garage at 711 Laramie Ave. in west Wilmette sustained an estimated $15,000 damage in the incident, which was called in as an alarm shortly after 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to Fire Chief Mike McGreal, but the cost could have gone much higher, he said Sept. 7.

He praised village administrators and fire prevention bureau officials who decided a little over eight years ago, at the time the village added an addition to the public works building, to retrofit the garage with a sprinkler system.

“They didn’t have to, but they had the forethought to do it,” McGreal said. “That is a multimillion dollar facility, plus the vehicles in the garage that are very expensive, and very difficult to replace. In minutes, this could have been a total loss if there hadn’t been a sprinkler system.”

Had flames from the storeroom not been dampened by sprinklers, they could have spread to the building’s wooden roof, he said.  The 15,400-square-foot public works garage houses most of the village’s public works vehicles and equipment, including front end loaders, back hoes, dump trucks and sewer vac trucks, he said. Wilmette’s daily public works services would have suffered significant problems if that equipment had been lost in a fire, he said.

McGreal said fire crews that responded to the alarm found the sprinklers in use and smoke coming out the garage’s main bay. They upgraded the alarm, which called in help from the Winnetka, Northfield, Evanston, Glenview, Skokie, Morton Grove and Highland Park fire departments. However, fire crews found most of the fire under control in a storage room used by the village’s sewer department, where it appeared to have started, he said. Crews put out the remaining flames, and the incident was cleared by 4:15 p.m.

There were no injuries, Engineering and Public Works Director Brigitte Berger said Tuesday.  Investigators are still trying to determine what caused the fire, McGreal said.  “All’s well that ends well,” McGreal said. “They’re back in business and they’re cleaning it up now.”

Government/Military, Other-Government/Military

Fort Lauderdale, FL – Sprinkler system assist firefighters in extinguishing fire at Fort Lauderdale Hollywood Airport

Because of a small fire in an employee break room, Terminal 1 at Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport was briefly evacuated Thursday morning, officials said.  Allan Siegel, a spokesman for Broward County Aviation, said the fire caused a sprinkler system to go off and emergency personnel were able to quickly put the fire out.

There were no immediate reports of injuries and the cause of the fire was being investigated.  By shortly after 10 a.m., security personnel were being called back to their stations in order to resume passenger screening, Siegel said.