At least one restaurant at the Petco Park food court was to remain closed Sunday afternoon during some All-Star related events, due to a grease fire in a kitchen. The fire activated the sprinkler system, and was out by the time San Diego Fire-Rescue firefighters arrived on scene, according to spokesman Lee Swanson.
Firefighters were dispatched to Petco Park at about 10:15 a.m. Two engines, one truck and a battalion chief, were sent, but the first crew to arrive cancelled some of the responding firefighters when they discovered the fire had already been extinguished, Swanson said.
It was unclear which restaurant was affected, but Swanson said the San Diego County Health Department would have to re-certify the restaurant before it could serve food again. San Diego Fire-Rescue Chief Brian Fennessy tweeted photos from the scene, showing the fire had been contained to a small area.
Two events were scheduled to take place at Petco Park Sunday, in advance of the Major League Baseball All-Star game on Tuesday. The All-Star Futures game was scheduled for 4 p.m., followed by a softball game at 7 p.m. featuring celebrities, athletes and former MLB players.
A fire that started in a dryer at Cozy Corner Laundromat injured one patron Tuesday evening before firefighters could douse the blaze.
At 6:35 p.m. firefighters responded to an emergency call from the laundromat, located at 255 Main St., and found heavy smoke when they arrived, Assistant Fire Chief Francis DeBella said.
“The sprinkler system held the fire in check, while we were able to get in there and extinguish it in about an hour,” he said.
The fire originated in a dryer, DeBella said, and burned a female customer who had tried to douse the flames.
The woman’s burns were minor ones, he said, and she was evaluated by the Lions Club ambulance crew.
Firefighters from Bradley International Airport responded to the scene with their ladder truck, and police assisted with traffic control.
The fire marshal is investigating the cause of the blaze.
Roofers inadvertently sparked a small fire inside the Feick Contractor Building just after 9:15 a.m. last Wednesday. Sandusky firefighters responded to Hancock and East Water streets, near Civista Bank’s downtown branch, where they saw white smoke billowing from an elevator shaft.
A ladder truck lifted several firefighters atop the structure’s roof, where they extinguished the fire. With help from an automated sprinkler system, activating before firefighters arrived, first responders quickly neutralized the situation.
“The fire started when (the roofers) were trying to attach some rubber flashing around the roof so it would adhere to glue,” Sandusky fire Chief Dave Degnan said. “We’re investigating it right now, but we’re leaning toward roofers just heating up the wood and starting the fire.”
The fire didn’t spread beyond the elevator shaft. People residing in an adjacent apartment, meanwhile, shouldn’t fret about their living situation, Degnan said. “I don’t believe anyone is going to be displaced,” Degnan said. Additionally, it doesn’t appear anyone sustained any injuries as a result of the fire.
A business’s sprinkler system did exactly what it was designed to do when it contained a small fire in the 18600 block of 72 Avenue South on Tuesday, the Kent Regional Fire Authority reported.
No one was in the business at the time of the fire, though firefighters checked neighboring businesses as a precaution.
The system, which also sent a signal of a possible fire to the alarm company that monitored it, activated at 5:30 a.m. The closest emergency unit to the call was a fire engine from Tukwila. When they arrived, they found water coming from inside the large two-story, concrete tilt-up building. Because they knew that a sprinkler head had activated, they upgraded the incident to a “commercial fire,” which brought a full fire response.
Once additional firefighters from the Kent RFA and Renton RFA were able to get inside the building they found it filled with smoke, which made locating the fire more difficult. Once they found the seat of the fire, they were able to extinguish it quickly and shut down the sprinkler system to reduce additional water damage.
A fire investigator determined that there were two locations at the business where fire started. One was inside, which activated the sprinkler system, and one was on an exterior loading dock.
The cause of the fire was spontaneous combustion, after paper and filtering material, which were both saturated with paint, were placed in containers, fire officials said. Certain materials, when in a limited space, can self-generate heat until they catch fire. Paints, oils and compost are common causes of this type of combustion.
The fire is considered accidental.
The Titusville Fire Department was busy on Friday putting out two fires — one occurred at a Titusville business — the other was on Park Avenue near the intersection of High Street. According to Assistant Chief Joe Lamey, the first fire happened at 5:30 a.m., Friday, at ITU [formerly Farley’s Industrial Laundry] on West Spring Street.
Lamey said an automatic fire alarm went off, and when firefighters arrived on the scene, the water flow alarm [sprinkler system] was on, but no smoke was showing. He said firefighters forced entry into the structure and the building’s interior was full of smoke.
Lamey said Hydetown and Pleasantville volunteers were called to assist. He said one of the overhead bags the laundry uses had a contaminant, possibly an oil substance, that spontaneously combusted.
“The sprinkler system did a great job, but there’s water damage,” Lamey said. “They will have a lot of clean up. There was little damage to the facility and it will probably be ruled accidental.” He said firefighters were on the scene until 8 a.m.
Reporting on lives and property saved by fire sprinklers
