The blaze was reported at about 8:10 a.m. in the 3700 block of Main Street at a restaurant on the ground floor of the California Tower, according to the Riverside City Fire Department.
The fire sprinkler system was able to control the flames until firefighters arrived and doused the remaining fire, Battalion Chief Mike Allen said.
No injuries were reported.
Smoke spread from the Villa eatery into the adjacent Kim Moon Chinese & Japanese restaurant, 718 Philadelphia St. and upper level apartments at 722 Philadelphia St. above the vacant storefront last occupied by the Europa gift shop.
“Fortunately, this was only 30 seconds from the fire station, so the guys make a really quick hit,” said Ron Moreau, first assistant chief of the Indiana fire department.
Indiana firefighters ran hoses from hydrants at the Seventh and Eighth street intersections and climbed ladders to reach the rooftops to search for any extension of the fire, Moreau said.
“The majority of the heat and damage appeared to be in the kitchen area, said Third Assistant Chief David Smith, the officer in charge of the incident this morning. “The fire was held in check by the sprinkler system. We did have some extension into the roof of the structure which took up the majority of the time because the initial fire was under control in 15 minutes.”
The search for fire under the rubber roofing of the rear extension of the building stymied the crews long after the fire was out in the kitchen. Some were on the scene until about 6 a.m.
Smith said officials were “not 100 percent certain” of how the fire began and referred the investigation to the state police fire marshal office, “just as a precaution being that it is a business.”
Moreau said Villa II would be out of commission for an undetermined time for repair and cleaning. Some residents appeared to have re-occupied their apartments at 722 Philadelphia St. after firefighters controlled the fire.
Smith later said the tenants living above the restaurants also were permitted to return.
Moreau praised the fast response of neighboring companies from Homer City, Clymer, Black Lick, Creekside and Blairsville. Volunteers answered the alarms from the Indiana County 911 center at 12:35 and 12:43 a.m. and teamed up in biting, 23-degree cold to head off the fire.
“We got all of these gentlemen out there tonight because of this,” Moreau said. “We have common basements, common second floors, so whenever you have a downtown fire, you always call for help.”
Tenants of the upper-level apartments all fled safely. Paramedics from Citizens’ Ambulance Service staged from at least two medic units at the scene and said they didn’t have to treat any patients.
Two workers from Indiana Borough Public Works spread rock salt by hand in the vicinity of the fire, wherever water trickled from hose connections and posed a risk of icing on the street.
Indiana County Transit Authority sent an IndiGo bus to serve as a warming station for first responders at the scene.
Well after firefighters pulled ladders back from the buildings, but while officials still searched for possible extension of fire in the ceilings, manpower was drawn down due to an alarm for multiple fire companies on Pizza Barn Road in Derry Township. Blairsville and Black Lick fire departments responded from Indiana along with the Clyde and Tunnelton-Conemaugh Township fire companies when alarms were sounded about 2:45 a.m.
Firefighters extinguished a blaze at a Mill Plain café on Friday.
The Danbury Fire Department was called to the Starbucks at 115 Mill Plain Road for the report of fire coming from an outlet.
First responders found a small fire that was being contained by the active sprinkler system, but still required one hose line to be stretched before it could be extinguished.
Smoke made its way into adjacent areas but was quickly ventilated and the fire damage was held to Starbucks. No injuries were reported.
The Health Department was requested to the scene, and the Danbury Fire Marshal’s office is investigating the cause of the fire.
Adjoining businesses near the bar suffered minor smoke and water damage but will remain in business.
The fire was contained by the automatic sprinkler system.
“A small fire had been kept from spreading by the sprinkler system and firefighters used a fire extinguisher to finish putting the fire out,” Bowling Green Fire Department spokeswoman Marlee Boenig.
Firefighters used fans to clear the building of smoke.
The response was upgraded to a commercial fire resulting in South County Stations 1,2,6 being added along with Spring and Porter Fire Department. L-114 arrived on the scene and found smoke coming from the restaurant which was not open for business at the time. Crews entered the structure and found the fire sprinklers had activated and were keeping a small fire in the kitchen area from spreading. The crews extinguished the remaining fire preventing any further damage. The scene was determined under control within 5 minutes of arrival and other responding units were placed in service.
The fire is being investigated by the Montgomery County Fire Marshal’s Office
Smoke was pouring from the second floor of the large restaurant when firefighters arrived about 8:20 a.m., said Manchester Fire Capt. Jon Starr.
The smoke was coming from a fire in a smoker, he said. The building’s sprinklers kept the fire in check until firefighters could extinguish it with a hose, he said.
Water damage to two kitchens was extensive, he said. The Fire Department turned the restaurant over to the city Health Department, which will determine when it can reopen.
The restaurant and brewery is located at the site of the former Yard restaurant.
In a Facebook post, the restaurant said no one was injured and the building suffered no structural damage.
“We are going to work as hard as possible to get up and running again,” a post read. Four-packs of their brewery products remain available for sale, they said.
Bend Fire & Rescue crews were dispatched around 4 a.m. to the report of a possible structure fire at Broken Top Bottle Shop & Ale Café on NW Pence Avenue, Battalion Chief Trish Connolly reported.
Crews arriving on scene saw smoke in the building, forced entry into the business and found a small sprinkler-controlled fire in the dining area, Connolly said.
The sprinkler system also set off all alarms in the building, alerting occupants in the apartments above the business, who evacuated with the help of police as fire crews arrived on scene. They were able to return to their apartments within an hour, Connolly said.
Fire crews made sure the fire was out and ventilated the businesses to reduce smoke damage, Connolly said.
The sprinkler system put out the fire, which began in the dining room from kitchen rags placed on a table, in laundry bags. Connolly said the fire was caused by spontaneous combustion from laundered rags which still had kitchen oils on them and were not separated after being dried.
Because the linen rags were in laundry bags and were not separated, the heat from the rags rose high enough to ignite the bags of linen.
Connolly said it’s more likely to occur in restaurants, spas and businesses where linens are used to clean up combustible substances, such as oils.
“Laundering does not get out all the residual oil, especially when the rags are used over and over with oil substances, so the residual oil builds up over time,” Connolly said.
Suggested laundry safety guidelines say separating rags after being laundered is important to avoid such fires.
Damage was estimated at $5,000 to the restaurant and $2,500 to the contents.
Fire damage to the building was minimal due to the quick dousing of the fire by the sprinkler system. On average, Connolly said, fires are controlled by activation of one or two sprinkler heads, which not only put out the fire but keep water damage to a minimum.
The first fire happened late last week in the early morning hours of June 5th, at Flavors of Italy Bistro, located at 513 Atlantic Avenue. Ocean City firefighters forced entry into the building, discovering that the fire sprinkler had activated in the kitchen area and extinguished the fire. Damage was contained to the appliance and adjacent kitchen hood.
The second fire happened just before 3 p.m. on June 8th, at the Trimper’s Apartments in the 700 block of the Ocean City Boardwalk. Firefighters arrived on scene and found smoke on the second floor of the apartment, but on entry they discovered that an activated fire sprinkler had extinguished the fire. Damage was contained to a small area above the stove.
As a result of the quick response of the fire sprinklers and the fire department, the restaurant and apartment building did not sustain serious damage. Both fires have been ruled accidental.
Investigators were asked to assist Cypress Creek Fire Department with a fire at Pho X Trang on Monday in the 21500 block of SH 249.
There were a couple of lessons learned from this incident.
The fire was ruled an accident and there were no injuries reported.
