A sprinkler system is being credited for averting a possible major fire or disaster at a downtown hotel early Friday morning. The Brockton Fire Department received a 911 call about 1 a.m. reporting there was an unknown fire in one of the rooms at the Elmcourt Hotel, at 33 West Elm St. When firefighters arrived, they learned that the sprinkler system had been activated on the fourth floor.

“The contents of the room, including the mattress, were on fire,” said fire Capt. Jeff Marchetti. “The sprinkler heads were flowing and kept the fire from spreading.”

The fire was caused by the careless disposal of smoking materials, the captain said.

The actual fire was contained to only the one room on the fourth floor. Firefighters had to tap into a standpipe system in the building to use a small amount of water to extinguish the parts of the fire that the sprinkler didn’t, Marchetti said.

The fire was extinguished about 12 minutes after the initial 911 call reporting it.

Although the fire was contained to one room, there was a large amount of water damage to multiple floors due to the sprinkler system, Marchetti said.

“Because of the water damage from the sprinkler heads flowing, they had to shut down power to some of the hotel,” he said.

The fire is estimated to have caused about $100,000 in damage, Marchetti said.

Fire officials said several people had to be relocated because they couldn’t stay in the rooms directly below where the fire occurred due to water damage.

But Chip Yannone, the owner of the Elmcourt, said everyone was able to stay in the hotel, some just had to switch rooms.

“We are fortunate enough to be able to keep everyone here,” he said.

Yannone said that insurance adjusters hadn’t been to the building as of late Friday morning and he wanted to wait for their investigation to be complete before discussing the possible damages.