Category Archives: Residential

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Madison, WI – Fire at senior living facility extinguished by sprinkler system

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One person was taken to a hospital after a small fire at a senior living facility Wednesday night, a Madison Fire Department spokesperson said.

Crews were called to the building along Jupiter Drive, just north of Cottage Grove Road near I-39/90, at around 10:22 p.m. Multiple people called 911 to report smoke and water coming from a third-floor apartment.

First-arriving firefighters found that the sprinkler system had already put out the fire, which had originated in the apartment’s kitchen area. Other crews shut off the sprinkler system and ventilated the unit.

The person living in the apartment was taken to a hospital in stable condition for further evaluation. The Red Cross was contacted to assist them.

Damage to the apartment was minor, however nearby apartments also sustained minor water damage. On-site staff organized overnight lodging for residents of those units.

A damage estimate from the fire was unknown as of Thursday morning, however a fire department spokesperson said the sprinkler system minimized damage to both life and property.

Other - Residential, Residential

Eugene, OR – Cooking fire contained by sprinkler system

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Eugene Springfield Fire responded Thursday to 3648 N. Delta Highway for a cooking fire that was controlled with a residential sprinkler system.

Officials say the resident was cooking and had a stovetop fire that spread up to the kitchen cabinets before being controlled by the sprinklers.

Fire crews on scene assured extinguishment, searched, salvaged belongings, and overhauled the scene to assure no spread.

“Ladder 11 from the Santa Clara station, Truck 1, Battalion 1 and the Fire Investigator are on scene,” the fire department said Thursday afternoon.

Apartment Building, Residential

Alameda, CA – Sprinkler system activated for fire at apartment complex; No injuries reported

A small fire triggered the sprinkler system inside an apartment complex in Alameda, forcing people – many of them elderly – to find somewhere else to stay. 

The fire was reported just after midnight on Tuesday on West Atlantic Avenue.

Firefighters found smoke on the first floor and immediately evacuated everyone.

The fire activated the sprinkler system, which put out the fire, but left behind enough water to displace the residents.

It was a scary alarm to wake up to.

“This is shocking,” Sharon Kidd said. “We have a lot of seniors here that have a lot of water damage and won’t be able to sleep in their apartments tonight. I hope I can sleep in mine tonight.”

Resident Salvador Villegas said the fire started on the third floor, one floor above his.

“That’s kind of a close call for us,” he said.

The Red Cross came out to help make arrangements. The fire department said no one was injured.

Residential, Townhouse / Condominium

Chesapeake Beach, MD – Sprinkler system activated for kitchen fire at townhouse; No injuries reported

A fire suppression system is being credited with halting a kitchen fire before it could spread through a Chesapeake Beach townhouse Sunday afternoon, May 18, 2025.

Crews responded to the scene following a report of smoke coming from a residence in the 2600 block of Deerfield Lane. Units from multiple jurisdictions, including North Beach, Dunkirk, Huntingtown, Prince Frederick, and Anne Arundel County, responded to the scene.

Units first to arrive reported visible smoke from a two-story townhouse.

Firefighters quickly located a kitchen fire that had already been contained by a single sprinkler head from the home’s automatic fire suppression system. Crews confirmed the fire was extinguished, shut off the sprinkler system, and ventilated the residual smoke.

Officials said the fire damage was limited to the kitchen. No injuries were reported, and the occupants were not home at the time of the fire.

Residential, Townhouse / Condominium

Brick, NJ – Sprinkler system activated for fire at home; No injuries reported

A sprinkler system installed during renovations at a Brick Township home helped to limit a fire at the home on Thursday morning, Brick Township fire officials said.

The home on Cedar Island Drive was unoccupied when the fire broke out, said Kevin Batzel, chief of the Brick Township Bureau of Fire Safety. There were no injuries reported.

The fire was reported about 6:30 a.m. and was confirmed by Officer Joseph Sansone, who then called in the remainder of Brick’s fire companies to fight the fire.

The fire started on the lower part of the exterior of the home, according to the preliminary investigation, Batzel said. It traveled up the house and broke through into the interior on the upper floors of the house.

He said the sprinklers had been installed as part of recent reconstruction, and sprinkler heads in bedrooms on the second and third floors activated, “which held the fire in check until the fire department arrived.”

The sprinklers slowed the spread of the fire throughout the home and “gave firefighters valuable time to extinguish the fire and minimize damage,” Batzel said.

“Residential fire sprinklers are required in some larger constructed or renovated homes such as this one,” he said, adding that they provide another layer of protection to go along with smoke detectors.

Assistant Fire Marshal Robert Kurilla is investigating.

Batzel praised Brick Township’s firefighters and thanked all of the mutual aid partners for their assistance with the fire.

Apartment Building, Residential

Seattle, WA – Sprinkler system extinguishes fire on fourth floor of housing building

A small fire in a fourth-floor bathroom at Uncle Bob’s Place on Monday was quickly put out by the building’s sprinkler system, preventing what could have been a much more serious incident.

Property managers arrived after getting an alert from the building’s alarm and sprinkler system. They found that a towel had caught fire in the bathroom. No one was home at the time, and according to the Seattle Fire Department, it wasn’t clear whether the fire was set intentionally.

No one was displaced, and damage was limited to some smoke staining in the bathroom and minor water intrusion in the unit below.

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Seymour, IN – Sprinkler system activated for fire at assisted living facility; No injuries reported

The Seymour Fire Department (SFD) was dispatched to an assisted living facility after reports of a structure fire on Monday at around 12:30 a.m.

Upon arrival, fire crews advanced an attack line while simultaneously executing a room-to-room search of the building to evacuate the residents. Many occupants had already been evacuated by the facility’s staff before SFD arrived. Firefighters and Jackson County EMS helped evacuate one bedridden patient.

Seymour Community Schools Transportation Director Tim Fosbrink provided a bus to transport the residents to a hotel where they were checked into rooms.

Upon investigation, the fire was contained to one room at the facility, and the point of origin was a wall-mounted heat/AC unit that experienced an electrical/mechanical failure. The unit was taken to the Seymour Fire Department for further examination.

The facility’s sprinkler system was activated, and the centralized alarm performed appropriately. There were no reports of injuries, and all residents were accounted for.

Apartment Building, Residential

Collegedale, TN – Sprinkler system extinguished fire at apartment complex

A sprinkler system prevented a major fire at an apartment complex in Collegedale Sunday, May 5.

The Tri-Community Volunteer Fire Department says they were dispatched to Hawthorne at the Summit apartments around 4:30pm after a fire alarm was activated.

When crews arrived, they discovered that an unattended candle caught a towel on fire inside one of the units, which activated the sprinkler system.

The fire was out before firefighters even made it on scene.

Flames were contained to the bathroom. Two apartments sustained water damage from the sprinkler.

Residential, Residential High Rise

Hollywood, CA – Sprinkler system extinguishes fire in 22-story high rise; No injuries reported

A sprinkler system put out a fire that broke out in a 22-story high rise in Hollywood Sunday morning, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Firefighters responded to 1522 N. Gordon St., north of Sunset Boulevard, just before 11 a.m. Sunday, according to the LAFD.

“Firefighters made entry and determined there was a sprinkler activation on the 14th floor. Upon arriving on the fire floor, crews located a ‘fire out,'” the LAFD said.

No injuries were reported.

Firefighters remained on the scene to conduct salvage operations and remove water that had accumulated due to the sprinklers.

Apartment Building

Sprinklers Limit Fire Damages At Ashburn Residential Complex

ASHBURN, VA — Sprinklers helped contain a fire at a multifamily residential building in Ashburn Saturday, according to Loudoun County Fire and Rescue.

Units responded to a fire alarm around 7:20 a.m. Saturday to the 20000 block of Lazy River Terrace. Multiple 911 calls alerted emergency personnel to smoke coming from the first floor and alarms throughout the building. The incident was upgraded to a structure fire response, bringing in units from Lansdowne, Ashburn, Leesburg, Kincora, and Sterling. Crews found a small fire that had been extinguished by the sprinkler system in the garage space on the first floor. There was no extension of the fire beyond the garage space.

No residents or firefighters were injured.

The fire marshal’s office said the cause of the fire was combustible materials stored against a golf cart’s battery charger. The battery unit did not have adequate airflow to cool, leading to combustible materials catching fire. Damages were estimated to be $7,000.

Loudoun County Fire and Rescue said the fire caused potential for significant property damage and loss of life without the sprinkler system. The building had working fire alarms and automatic sprinkler systems. The fire department has been advocating for requiring automatic fire sprinklers in more residential homes. A National Fire Protection Association report notes that home fire fatalities 2017 to 2021 were 89 percent lower with fire sprinklers, and firefighter injuries were 48 percent lower with home sprinklers.