Category Archives: Apartment Building

Apartment Building, Residential

Rochester, MN – Sprinkler system prevents apartment fire from spreading; No injuries reported

An apartment sprinkler system is being credited for preventing a more serious fire — and possibly injuries, officials said today.

A sprinkler activation alarm at 8:40 p.m. Tuesday sent Rochester fire crews to 2350 Valleyhigh Drive NW. The family, including children ages 4, 2 and 1, was outside when trucks arrived, said Larry Mueller, assistant fire marshal.

A woman in the home had been making pastries in an oil-filled pot on the stove, Mueller said. She left the kitchen for a moment, and when she returned found three- to four-foot flames coming from the pan.

The sprinkler system above the stove extinguished the fire, Mueller said, leaving only slight water damage to cabinets and nearby carpet.

“The sprinkler saved thousands of dollars in damage, and possibly the family,” he said.

Though the home was habitable, the Red Cross put the family up for the night because of the age of the children and the clean-up necessary, the report says.

Apartment Building, Residential, Residential High Rise

Waipahu, HI – Kitchen fire in high-rise apartment building extinguished by sprinkler

Unattended food on a stove caused the evacuation of the high-rise building Tuesday night.  The fire was reported at 9:36 p.m. at the Plantation Town Apartments located at 94-979 Kauolu Place.

Seven fire companies staffed with 23 personnel arrived at 9:42 p.m. to find residents leaving the 12-story apartment building. Firefighters discovered the kitchen fire had been extinguished by an activated fire sprinkler.  The activated sprinkler system caused significant flooding to ten additional units.

Paramedics treated a resident injured evacuating the building and took the resident to the hospital.  The fire was isolated to the kitchen area of a fourth floor unit.  Damage is estimated at $5,000 to the structure and $2,000 to its contents.

The water damage had not been evaluated Tuesday night.  No other injuries were reported.

Apartment Building, Residential

Lexington, KY – Sprinkler system confines apartment fire to attic; No injuries

A passerby spotted smoke coming from the roof of a building at the Forest Creek Apartments on Appian Crossing Way and called 911 around 6:30 a.m.  Everybody made it out of the building safely.

Firefighters say the fire started in the attic and sprinklers confined it there until crews arrived. The fire did not cause much structural damage, but some of the residents’ belongings did sustain some water damage. Officials say 12 families live in the building, but the fire only impacted two.

Firefighters say it appears the fire was likely caused by an electrical problem. They say the sprinkler system likely saved the building.

Apartment Building, Residential

Rapid City, SD – Sprinkler stops fire on apartment balcony from spreading into unit

A Saturday fire that started on an apartment unit’s balcony was stopped almost completely before it entered the unit, thanks to a sprinkler that activated in a bedroom.

According to a press release from the Rapid City Fire Department, at 12:34 p.m. Saturday, firefighters went to the Homestead Garden Apartments at 4831 Homestead St.

Everything on the balcony was damaged, the release said, the windows between the balcony and bedroom were broken, and the window blinds were melted.

But the sprinkler in the bedroom doused the fire before it could cause more damage, and there were no injuries. No cause had been determined as of late Monday afternoon.

Apartment Building, Residential

Vancouver, BC, Canada – No injuries in early morning apartment blaze after sprinklers successfully activate

More than 40 residents of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside were displaced from their homes Saturday after an early morning apartment fire.

Capt. Jonathan Gormick, a spokesman for Vancouver Fire and Rescue, said staff with emergency social services were working with the residents to find them accommodation until they can return to their apartments, likely next week.

The fire broke out in the attic of the apartment complex on East Cordova Street at around 5 a.m. Firefighters arrived to find heavy smoke and flames on the roof. Gormick said the building’s sprinkler system was activated and all the residents escaped unharmed.

Firefighters put out the fire before it damaged any of the suites, however he said many of them sustained water damage from the sprinklers. The cause of the blaze is unknown and firefighters continue to investigate.

 

Apartment Building, Residential

Viera, FL – Sprinklers activate to help limit damage in apartment kitchen fire; No injuries

One second floor apartment unit was damaged by smoke and fire and sprinkler water, and another was damaged by sprinkler water as part of a cooking fire that originated on a second floor structure at the Mission Bay apartment complex in Viera on Thursday afternoon, according to Brevard County Fire Rescue. Units from BCFR and the Rockledge Fire Department responded to a call just before 4:30 p.m.

There were no injuries as a result of the fire, BCFR adds.

Apartment Building, Residential

Dumfries, VA – Kitchen fire extinguished by apartment’s sprinkler system

A sprinkler system put out a fire that broke out in the kitchen of a Dumfries apartment Wednesday afternoon, causing about $5,000 in damage.

There were no injuries reported in the blaze, but a building inspector posted two units in the complex as unsafe, according to the Prince William County fire department.

At about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, fire and rescue crews were dispatched to the fire at a row of apartments in the 17000 block of Islip Loop in Dumfries, the fire department said. As they entered the complex, they went to the kitchen of the unit where the fire originated.

They saw that the apartment’s sprinkler system had been activated, suppressing and extinguishing the fire, the department said. Smoke remained throughout the unit with minor fire damage.

The Prince William Fire Marshal’s Office determined that the fire originated on the kitchen stove, and it was accidental.

Apartment Building, Residential

Tulsa, OK – Sprinklers quickly extinguish sixth floor apartment fire

The 420 Mayo Building in downtown Tulsa was evacuated after a fire on the sixth floor. The sprinkler system quickly put the fire out – but caused water damage on that floor and the two below.

The small fire broke out before 11 p.m. Saturday at the Mayo 420 Building, an apartment building at 420 South Main, according to Captain Justin Banks of the Tulsa Fire Department. It was a kitchen fire caused by something left on the stove, according to TFD.

Water was flooding the floors when crews arrived.

“We’ve got a lot of water running down the elevator shafts right now and a lot of water running down the stairs too,” he said.

Banks said the sprinkler system kept the fire from spreading, but left a significant amount of water to push from the building. 

“You have to get in front of quickly,” he said. 

“It’s got all the beauty of the old, but it’s got all the technology of the new,” he said of the apartment building. “Thankfully it’s just an issue of water damage as opposed to an extensive fire.”

Residents – many with their pets – stood outside the downtown residential complex as firefighters responded. Banks said his crews were helping residents whose apartments were flooded.

“I know if this was my home, I would want to expect this kind of service from my fire department,” he said. “These people shouldn’t expect anything less. We’re there to serve them and try to do everything we can to get them back to at least as close to as comfortable state in their own home as we can.”

Banks said most of the residents would be able to return overnight.

There were no injuries.

Restoration crews are on scene for the clean up Sunday. 

Apartment Building, Residential

Richland, WA – Sprinkler system contains apartment fire started by improperly discarded cigarettes

A pair of apartment fires in Richland were likely started by smoldering cigarettes put in flower pots. Fire officials are warning people not to put cigarettes out in flower pots following the fires on Buena Court and Queensgate Drive. 

The Buena Court fire broke out July 25 about 1:30 p.m. and the Queensgate blaze started Monday about 2:15 a.m., fire officials said. A sprinkler system helped put out the second fire. No injures were reported.

Apartment Building, Residential

Foster City, CA – Sprinkler system keeps fire from spreading in attic of apartment building

Firefighters responded at 10:46 a.m. last Thursday to an apartment building at 720 Bounty Drive in Foster City and found smoke coming from the attic of a three-story building. Neither firefighters nor civilians were injured, but police and firefighters assisted an occupant with medical needs, fire officials said.

Firefighters said they believe the fire started accidentally in the wall of a second floor unit where plumbing repairs were underway. Firefighters said the fire was burning above two third-floor apartments and damaged at least six of the building’s ten apartments. The fire spread up the wall to the attic where a sprinkler system kept the fire from spreading until firefighters extinguished it, fire officials said.