Officials say the multiunit apartment’s fifth floor sprinkler system contained the fire before crews arrived at the scene, located at 1630 Main Street.
Crews said the fire was contained to one apartment and they made sure the fire was promptly extinguished.
The fire displaced two families who were given temporary shelter by a CT Transit bus. The American Red Cross is working to assist the displaced families.
Officials say no one was injured and the incident is under investigation.
The battery caught fire while charging in a unit in an apartment building on Minna near Sixth Street around 3:15 p.m., according to the fire department.
A fire sprinkler slowed the progress of the fire and firefighters rescued two dogs from the unit.
No injuries were reported, according to the fire department.
The fire started in an electrical outlet when a resident was not home. Thanks to the sprinkler system, the damage was limited to some scorched drywall, a burned dresser and water damage. There were no injuries.
“It’s a textbook example of why sprinkler systems are important,” said Dalton Fire Marshal Donnie Blankenship. He’s using the incident as a reminder of the importance of making sure sprinkler systems are in good working order. “Those are concrete floors (in the apartment) but if I’m not mistaken there’s a lot of heavy timber in there … they may have put concrete over the timber … but you had the potential of another Thread Mill-style fire with that building. Other than some water damage to some apartments below it, there was minimal damage.”
“There was a dog and two cats in the apartment,” Blankenship added. “And all those survived.”
Blankenship is in charge of the Dalton Fire Department’s Prevention Division. The firefighters in that division are tasked with inspecting the fire prevention systems in new buildings and making sure they are up to code as well as inspecting the fire safety systems in existing businesses and apartment buildings on an annual basis.
“We go out to these buildings and make sure they’re maintained annually and that way, when (a fire) does happen, the sprinklers and alarms work properly,” Blankenship said. “We don’t see many (systems) that are totally inoperable, but we see the majority of them have some type of issue that we usually address with (the owners) to get them to fix it.”
The fire department also receives reports from sprinkler and fire alarm contractors who do any work in the city, and the department reviews those reports to make sure the systems are working properly. If any deficiencies are noted, the department contacts the companies to make sure they’re fixed.
Blankenship said if any building managers or property owners are concerned about the condition of their sprinkler systems or other fire safety equipment, they can contact the Dalton Fire Department to request an evaluation.
“We’ll come out and inspect it, and their sprinkler contractors usually are set up to come out at a certain time, usually once a year, to inspect them, too,” Blankenship said.
The fire in the 20 block of South D Street was reported at 8:05 a.m. Tuesday and extinguished by the building’s sprinkler system before firefighters arrived, according to the Riverside County Fire Department.
The Red Cross was requested to provide assistance for eight adults displaced in the fire, the fire department reported.
No firefighter injuries were reported.
Austin Police Department (APD) personnel were on scene for a check welfare call at the residence and directed fire crews to the scene. The fire had been brought under control by the building’s fire sprinkler system. Crews finished extinguishing the flames and reset the sprinkler system before the scene was turned over to AFD Investigations.
Fire investigators processed the scene and spoke with Steve Manor, the apartment’s resident, who had been detained by APD. Mr. Manor confessed to intentionally starting the fire to elicit a response from APD or AFD. The physical evidence at the scene validated Manor’s admission.
Steve Manor was transported to the Travis County Jail. He has been charged with arson, a state jail felony. His bond has been set at $15,000.
The damaged to the residence and contents are estimated to be approximately $12,000.
Bangor firefighters responded to reports of smoke and water coming from an apartment on the fourth floor of 35 Main St. at 2:25 p.m. on Monday, said Assistant Fire Chief Chandler Corriveau.
First responders discovered a fire in an apartment building on the fourth floor that was contained on the stove, but had spread to the nearby kitchen cabinets, Corriveau said. The sprinkler system activated and extinguished the fire before firefighters arrived.
The tenant who lives in the apartment where the fire began was not home at the time of the fire, Corriveau said. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
The sprinklers caused damage in 11 of the 13 apartments in the building, all of which are occupied, and the commercial space on the first floor, which holds the Salty Brick Market, Corriveau said. None of the tenants were staying in the building Monday night.
“The sprinkler system did exactly what it was supposed to do – it put the fire out,” Corriveau said. “If the sprinkler system hadn’t put the fire out, we would have used way more water trying to extinguish an apartment fire that had grown larger in size than just being on the stovetop.”
Firefighters tried to salvage and protect merchandise in the Salty Brick Market and protect it from water that was pouring down from the floors above, Corriveau said, but some items in the store were certainly damaged.
The American Red Cross was assisting the building residents and the building owner also enlisted a company to clean up the water on Monday, Corriveau said.
Firefighters closed a portion of Main Street from where the road intersects with Broad and Middle and Water streets from roughly 2:30 to 3:40 p.m. on Monday to address the fire and water damage.
Firefighters were called to Azalea Pl. in the 8300 blk. of 14th Ave. around 10 p.m. Friday.
A fire which originated on the outside of the one-story structure got into the attic, setting off at least one sprinkler head and activating alarms, said Battalion Chief Ryan McNeely Saturday.
Residents and staff were safely evacuated, and the sprinkler system kept the fire in check until firefighters arrived.
Although the water collapsed a small part of the ceiling, the structure itself was not compromised, according to McNeely.
The 19 residents spent the night in a hotel in preparation for transfer to other area facilities run by the company, Frontida Assisted living.
McNeely praised the company for having an emergency response plan in place, and also noted the obvious benefits of having sprinklers in the attic. “It no doubt saved lives,” he said. Also, a fire door limited damage to one wing of the building.
The cause of the blaze has been narrowed to a pair of possibilities, although arson is not one of them, according to McNeely. For now, the cause will be listed as undetermined.
It’s not known how long it’ll take to repair the damage.
Firefighters were called to the YWCA on E. Mifflin Street at 3:30 pm Wednesday for an activated fire alarm. Engine 3 arrived on scene 4 minutes later and firefighters were told by residents coming down the stairs that there was a kitchen fire on the 10th floor. The call was immediately upgraded to a structure fire response, bringing additional fire units to the scene.
Upon reaching the kitchen and seeing that the fire was extinguished, firefighters turned off the flow of water to the sprinkler and began cleaning up the water on the floor.
All residents and staff evacuated the building without injury. Once it was deemed safe, residents were allowed to return to the building.
The fire caused approximately $5,000 in damage. The American Red Cross assisted several residents by providing blankets, personal care items, and other emergency assistance.
Shortly after midnight, the LTFPD was called to the scene in the 1300 block of Mews Lane where crews found a fire had broken out on the balcony of a second-floor apartment unit.
According to the fire district, the building’s sprinkler system was triggered by the smoke and kept the fire from spreading, allowing crews to quickly extinguish it.
The building’s exterior reportedly suffered some damage, and the interior of the impacted unit also sustained minor damage.
Although the occupants were home at the time of the fire, no injuries were reported.
Lockport Fire Investigators still are investigating the specific cause of the fire, but, according to the initial report, the cause “appears to be accidental.”
According to Chesterfield Fire and EMS, they received a call at 7:54 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 17 about a fire at an apartment building in the 300 block of Karl Linn Drive.
The first units were on scene within five minutes. It was determined that a stove top fire happened within a single apartment on the first floor, and the fire did not spread outside the apartment.
The fire was extinguished by an automatic sprinkler and there were no reported injuries. The person who lived in the apartment has been displaced.
All others in the building that were evacuated temporarily will be able to stay in the apartments unaffected.
This is the second stove fire that has happened at this apartment building within the past two months, the other happening back in September.
