Category Archives: Hospital/Care Facility

Adult Care/Rehab Center, Residential

Madisonville, KY – Arson fire at personal care home doused by sprinkler system

A Homestead Personal Care home resident was arrested after apparently setting fire to his mattress at 2:05 p.m. last Monday. There were no reported injuries.  Madisonville Police Department reported Bradley D. Eaves, 40 of Madisonville, was charged with first-degree arson following an investigation.  Police said Eaves ignited his mattress “in an attempt to burn the structure down.”  Eaves was arrested without incident and taken to Hopkins County Jail, where he was being held this evening, pending bond.

PREVIOUS: Several Madisonville Fire Department crews responded to Homestead Personal Care home off Thompson Avenue, where all the residents were evacuated due to a fire that broke out in a room around 2 this afternoon.  MFD Fire Chief Ray Wyatt confirmed a bed had caught fire in one building at the facility.

“Right now, we’re trying to determine whether the fire was accidental or set on purpose,” he said.  Wyatt noted the sprinkler system activated and extinguished most of the flames. Debris was still smoldering in the room when engines arrived. Fire Department members could be seen with fire hoses inside one of the structures.

Residents along one hall of the building where the fire occurred may have to be relocated, Wyatt said.

Madisonville Police Department also responded.

Hospital/Care Facility, Hospital/Medical Clinic

Sioux City, IA – Arson fire at hospital ER contained with help from sprinkler system

A SIOUX CITY MAN TAKEN TO ST. LUKE’S UNITY POINT HOSPITAL TUESDAY NIGHT IS FACING CRIMINAL CHARGES FOR ALLEGEDLY STARTING A FIRE IN THE MEDICAL CENTER.  34-YEAR-OLD DAVID WARNER IS CHARGED WITH FIRST DEGREE ARSON AND CRIMINAL MISCHIEF. COURT DOCUMENTS STATE THAT WARNER WAS BROUGHT TO THE HOSPITAL FOR AN EVALUATION THAT HE REQUESTED SHORTLY AFTER MIDNIGHT.

WHILE THERE, POLICE SAY HE SET A ROLL OF TOILET PAPER ON FIRE IN THE EMERGENCY ROOM EXAM WARD. WHEN THE SPRINKLER ACTIVATED IN THE ROOM, WARNER ALLEGEDLY BROKE THE SPRINKLER HEAD, CAUSING A CONSTANT FLOW OF WATER WHICH FLOODED THE E.R. FIRST FLOOR HALLWAY, AMBULANCE ENTRANCE AND LOWER LEVEL KITCHEN.

WARNER FLED THE HOSPITAL BUT WAS ARRESTED AT 27TH AND JACKSON STREETS. HE WAS BOOKED INTO THE WOODBURY COUNTY JAIL ON TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS BOND.

Adult Care/Rehab Center

Kearney, FL – No injuries after sprinkler system puts out arson fire at women’s shelter

A fire started in the Kearney Center’s women’s wing on Sunday night was quickly put out by its overhead sprinkler system. The Center is now finding alternate sleeping arrangements for its female clients. The fire was started in a laundry bin in the Kearney Center’s women’s wing just after 8 Sunday night, forcing the center to evacuate all its residents. Patricia Johnson, 28, is accused of starting the fire and faces a charge of first degree arson. Now, Kearney Center director Jacob Reiter says about 90 clients of the Kearney Center will have to sleep elsewhere after the wing was flooded by its overhead sprinkler system.

“We had about 87 women sleeping with us last night. We typically have between 80 and sometimes 120, and so we’re prepared to sleep them here on site,” Reiter said. “We kind of will use a different space than the women’s wing, for example like the dining room. And so, we have overflow sleeping accommodations like cots and things like that.” Reiter says the Red Cross has helped out with extra cots, and ServPro has been at the center removing water and dehumidifying the women’s wing. There are no damage estimates yet. At this time of year, the Kearney Center houses about 375 people per night.

Child Care Facility

Lebanon, NH – Overnight fire at child care center extinguished by automatic sprinkler system

A kitchen fire that started on a stovetop at a Lebanon child care center late Wednesday night was quickly extinguished by a sprinkler system that city officials required to be installed throughout the building when it was constructed about a year and a half ago. Without sprinklers, the River Valley Club’s FitKids Childcare center likely would have suffered major damage, or been a total loss, according to Lebanon Fire Chief Chris Christopoulos. Instead, he said, the blaze only resulted in light, cosmetic damage and caused no injuries. An automatic fire alarm called firefighters to the Lafayette Street building in the Centerra office park shortly before 11 p.m. on Wednesday. By the time first responders were alerted, the fire already had been going for about a minute, Christopoulos said on Thursday. Heat from the blaze triggered sprinklers three minutes later, and firefighters arrived on-scene 12 minutes after the alarm struck, he said. “To put it to scale, a fire doubles in size every 60 to 75 seconds,” Christopoulos said in a phone interview. “So every minute that fire burns, it gets bigger.”

Rather than finding a fully engulfed building, he said, first responders instead encountered light smoke and a burned stove top extinguished by sprinklers. The building wasn’t occupied when the fire broke out. An investigation later determined that a maintenance worker had inadvertently turned the electric stove’s burners on while picking himself up from a fall, Christopoulos said. The stove then lit a camera bag left on top, he said.

The child care center was closed on Thursday, as teachers and River Valley Club employees emptied classrooms of furniture, carpets and toys. Some items were laid out in the parking lot to dry, while others were discarded due to smoke damage. “We’re obviously taking 100 percent care in how we’re handling this situation,” said River Valley Club CEO Jennifer Poljacik, who said FitKids would be open Friday.

Poljacik directed further questions to River Valley Club owner Joe Asch, who declined to comment.  Asch objected to the city’s mandate that he install sprinklers in the building after construction was first approved in July 2015. At the request of the Fire Department, the Lebanon Planning Board required that Asch install sprinklers because of the young age of children enrolled in the daycare program. Members of the Planning Board also worried about the length of time it would take for firefighters to respond to an emergency. The National Fire Protection Association recommends a four-minute response time, but Lebanon fire officials estimated it would take seven minutes to get to Lafayette Street from their downtown station.

Asch later appealed the Planning Board’s decision, arguing the sprinkler requirement was overly onerous and would cost an additional $75,000 in construction costs, but opted not to go to court when his appeal to the board failed. The overall budget for the building, designed for 188 children, was estimated at $2 million.

Each classroom in the 9,400-square-foot building would have two doors to the outside and adjacent rooms, he told the board. Asch also cited the International Building Code, which states a child care building is allowed to hold up to 100 children under the age of 2½ without requiring a sprinkler, as long as the children were on the ground floor and had doors to the outside. In a Feb. 2016 column in the Valley News, Asch said the building was designed with safety in mind and would use modern materials.

“It is almost impossible for them to catch fire,” he wrote of new buildings. “The national building codes about sprinklers reflect that.”

Ken Morley, a former Planning Board member, said he still stands by the decision to mandate sprinklers, adding they’re installed in many new, public buildings.

“Well, now, isn’t that interesting,” Morley said when informed of the fire on Thursday. “We felt at the time that because children were included and there were so many different alcoves and rooms in the structure, it would be more prudent for sprinklers to be installed.”

Christopoulos also said he’s happy to have recommended the sprinklers, adding they’ve been proven to save lives and property. If the sprinklers didn’t go off at the FitKids building, he said, a “fair portion” would have been destroyed before firefighters arrived.

“I think (the fire) certainly validated that property loss, in this instance, is economically minimal compared to what it could have been without sprinklers,” he said.

Hospital/Care Facility

Chilliwack, BC, Canada – Sprinklers limit fire damage in supportive housing complex

A sprinkler system is being credited with limiting the fire damage in a supportive housing complex in Chilliwack Monday morning.

Firefighters responded to an alarm just before 3 a.m. from a building located in the 8900 block of School Street.

When they arrived, they determined the alarm had been triggered by a fire on the top floor of the four-storey structure. A sprinkler head had been activated due to a number of fires that had been intentionally set in one of the suites, said the Chilliwack Fire Department.

A single sprinkler had controlled and extinguished the fires.

Firefighters confirmed the fires were out and shut off the sprinkler system.

Majority of the damage in the unit was related to multiple fires apparently set by the lone tenant, the department said. There was minor water damage to the units below.

Crews from Chilliwack Firehalls 1 and 4 responded to call.

There were no firefighter injuries, and fire officials and RCMP fire investigators are continuing their investigation.

Child Care Facility, Hospital/Care Facility

Cornelius, OR – Sprinkler system extinguishes fire set by resident at youth group home

A youth group home operated by the Albertina Kerr Centers was damaged Monday evening, March 5, after a resident allegedly set a fire in his room.

The Cornelius Fire Department received the alarm at the house near the intersection of North 10th Avenue and Holladay Street at 6:01 p.m. Monday, according to spokesman Matt Johnston. He said the fire was extinguished quickly, and there were no injuries.

“The fire was actually put out by fire sprinklers,” said Johnston, adding, “It pretty much just burned a curtain. That was all that was burned. The sprinklers put it out and stopped it.”

Jeff Carr, chief executive officer of the Albertina Kerr Centers, said the sprinklers “went off very quickly” and extinguished the fire before first responders even arrived.

Albertina Kerr operates more than a dozen youth group homes and other mental health and treatment facilities across the Portland area.

Adult Care/Rehab Center, Hospital/Care Facility

Boerne, TX – (No Media Coverage) Utility room fire at long term care facility contained by single sprinkler head

**NO MEDIA COVERAGE – Fire Department Reported ** On 3/2 at approximately 8 am a fire occurred at a long term care facility.  The fire was located in the utility room and was due to a gas fired water heater malfunction.  One sprinkler head activated and contained the fire to the utility room.  Fire loss was under $2500.  Appraised property value is $2.1 million.

Hospital/Medical Clinic

Holmdel, NJ – Fire in hospital ICU limited with help from sprinkler system; No injuries reported

A fire at Bayshore Medical Center caused patients to be transported to Riverview Medical Center. Hospital officials said the fire started in a toaster oven inside the break room of the ICU. Six patients were transported to Riverview Medical Center, according to April Dunic, a spokeswoman for the hospital.

“While the fire damage was very limited, water from the sprinkler system damaged certain areas of the hospital,” Dunic said. “As a result, several patients were relocated to different parts of the hospital and six patients were transferred to Riverview Medical Center. Clean up is underway and we expect normal operations very soon.”

The hospital did not yet have a damage estimate. No patients or staff were harmed by the fire. Bayshore has 211 beds and Riverview Medical Center has 492. Holmdel police said that several agencies responded, including Holmdel Fire and First Aid as well as the Monmouth County Fire Marshal, Hazlet, Union Beach, Keyport Fire Departments and Hazlet, Keyport and Union Beach First Aid.

Apartment Building, Hospital/Medical Clinic, Residential

Newport News, VA – Trash chute fire in multi-use residential building extinguished by sprinkler system

Newport News multi-purpose building was evacuated Thursday afternoon after a fire started in a trash chute, an official said. Firefighters responded to a report of an alarm activation reporting smoke inside the building in the 200 block of Nat Turner Blvd. shortly before 3 p.m., Battalion Chief Matthew Haraburda said at the scene. The building has a medical facility on the first floor with apartments above it, he said. There, they found that fire had started in the chute, but it was extinguished by the building’s sprinkler system, he said. Firefighters checked to make sure the fire had not spread and cleared smoke from the building, he said. No injuries were reported.

Haraburda said it was a good thing the building’s alarm system and sprinklers were working properly. It helped prevent the fire from spreading and ensure people inside got out safely. “When we got here, everybody had evacuated the building, which was good for us,” he said.