Category Archives: Apartment Building

Apartment Building, Residential

Huntsville, ON, Canada – Sprinkler system minimizes damage in apartment fire; No injuries reported

Firefighters are crediting the sprinkler system with minimizing the damage at an apartment fire.  At roughly 2:30 p.m. on Mar. 5 a fire was reported at a 60 unit apartment building on Sabrina Park Drive in Huntsville. When crews from Huntsville Station 1 arrived on scene they found the fire, which was located in the garbage room, had already been extinguished by an activated sprinkler head.

Damage from the fire was limited to the garbage and recycling containers in the room. Firefighter’s say if not for the working sprinkler system the fire could well have spread to other parts of the building.  All occupants were allowed to return to the building only hours later and noone was injured.  Police and the Fire Marshall are investigating to determine the fire’s cause.

Apartment Building, Residential

Fayetteville, NC – Another off-campus apartment saved from fire by sprinkler system

Four Fayetteville State University students were displaced Tuesday evening after the stove in their apartment caught fire, activating the sprinkler system, which then extinguished the blaze. Firefighters were dispatched at 6:56 p.m. to 1302 Coley Drive at University Apartments, off Murchison Road adjoining Fayetteville State University, according to a news release from the Fayetteville Fire Department.

When firefighters arrived, they didn’t see any visible fire from outside and saw the residents had begun to evacuate. The sprinkler system contained the fire to just the stove. Firefighters were able to stop the flow of water from the sprinkler head while salvaging property and removing the smoke, the release said. The apartment received light damage from the water and smoke.

Firefighters restored the fire protection system and assisted the university in finding housing for the four students. There were no injuries reported, the release said. The three-story building contains 24 apartments.

Apartment Building, Residential, Residential High Rise

Redington Shores, FL – Fire at high-rise condo building extinguished by single sprinkler

Firefighters responded to the 2-alarm structure fire at 8:06 a.m. Tuesday at the Anglers Cove Condominium located at 17450 Gulf Boulevard. The firefighters discovered that there was a fire in a storage room adjacent to the condominium office that had been extinguished by the building’s sprinkler system. There were no injuries, and damage was limited to smoke and water damage to the office area. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Management of Anglers Cove stated that the 48 unit building was at nearly full occupancy at the time of the fire. Upon arrival Firefighters found the building being evacuated and light smoke showing from the north side of the building on the ground floor. Gulf Boulevard was shut down for about 20 minutes, and more than 200 residents had evacuated and were waiting in adjacent parking lots for the firefighters to complete their work.

“It is important to recognize the significance of this fire being controlled by the building’s sprinkler system, one single sprinkler head prevented this from being a much greater incident and prevented injuries and greater loss of property,” said City of Seminole Fire Rescue Public Education Officer Brad Dykens in a news release.

The fire had escalated to two alarms due to the special hazards that exist when dealing with a fire in a high rise building and to ensure the safety of all the residents. During the course of the evacuation one resident in a wheelchair was assisted down the stairwell by firefighters.

Units from Seminole, Pinellas Suncoast, Madeira Beach, Pinellas Park, Clearwater, and St. Petersburg fire departments responded.

Apartment Building, Residential, Residential High Rise

Columbus, OH – Kitchen fire on 9th floor of high-rise apartment building put out by sprinkler system

The fire happened around 5 a.m. in the Skyview Towers on Sawyer Boulevard, just south of I-670. According to the fire chief, the blaze started on the 9th floor, where a stovetop caught fire. The building’s sprinkler system activated and effectively put out the flames. All evacuated residents are now safe and back inside.

Apartment Building, Residential

Syracuse, NY – Sprinkler system helps contain off-campus apartment fire at Syracuse University

A camp stove fire in an apartment on the corner of Euclid and Livingston avenues set off the sprinkler system in the apartment Sunday night. 

A senior in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications who asked not to be identified by name said he was experimenting with a new camp stove in preparation for a camping trip during Spring Break when the flame of the stove escalated beyond its intended height, setting off the sprinkler system. The fire, located in an apartment building at 320 Euclid Ave., was reported just after 9 p.m. Sunday night. The Syracuse Fire Department left the scene just before 9:50 p.m.

The student, who lives on the third floor of the apartment building, said nothing was burnt. He said that when he saw the flame rise, he went to the bathroom sink and extinguished the flame, but the sprinkler system went off.

Syracuse Fire Department District Chief Robert Whitehead said the sprinkler system did exactly what it was supposed to. There was still water in some light fixtures and some electricity was shut off in the building, but that “everything was handled,” he said.

A National Grid van came to the scene around 9:30 p.m. and remained at the scene past 10 p.m.  Chelcie Pellegrino, a senior communication and rhetorical studies major who lives in the apartment building, said she was inside when the fire started, but said she did not hear an alarm. Pellegrino said she heard fire trucks come to the scene and heard people running up the stairs of the building. She added that if she was not able to stay in her apartment tonight, she had friends who lived on Livingston.

Apartment Building, Residential

Gainesville, FL – Fire at off-campus apartment building extinguished with help from sprinkler system

A fire at southwest Gainesville apartment complex that began under a television was extinguished Saturday afternoon before it had spread to other areas, reported Gainesville Fire Rescue.  Acting Chief Don Campbell credited the sprinkler system and the quick response of firefighters in keeping the fire in check.

The fire was reported about 12:10 p.m. at Campus Club Apartments at 3700 SW 40th Blvd., according to a GFR press release.   Firefighters arrived to find smoke coming from an apartment and forced entry into it. They found that two sprinkler heads had activated.  A small fire was in the entertainment center under the TV.

Firefighters finished extinguishing the fire. No one was home at the time.   “This fire would have definitely been bigger, with the potential for extension into the rest of the building,” Chief Campbell said in the release.

Apartment Building, Residential

Madison, WI – Cooking fire in apartment building put out by sprinkler system

The Madison Fire Department credits sprinklers with putting out a cooking fire in an apartment on West Mifflin Street.  Firefighters were called to the 500 block of W. Mifflin just before 3 p.m. Friday. They say someone in a third floor apartment was cooking when oil in a pan ignited. The flames set off a sprinkler head in the kitchen. The fire department says there was minimal smoke damage from the fire, but some water did flow into lower floors.  Seventeen people in the apartment building are safe.  The fire department says there’s no word on when residents would be able to get back into their apartments, but all of them were able to arrange a place to stay overnight.

Apartment Building, Residential

Sechelt, BC, Canada – Fire sprinkler averts major downtown blaze

The Sechelt fire department is praising the use of fire sprinklers, which averted a major fire in downtown Sechelt last Thursday afternoon. Fire Chief Bill Higgs said the fire occurred just after lunch on Feb. 19 at a residential apartment building when a pot of grease was left on a stove unattended.

 “Upon arrival it was observed that a fire had occurred in the kitchen of a second-floor suite,” Higgs said. “The heat from the blaze had activated just one sprinkler head, which extinguished the fire. The fire department was automatically called by the monitored sprinkler/fire alarm system and the residents were alerted to the fire by the alarm bells. We were on scene within five minutes and quickly learned that we were only needed to ventilate the building and begin cleanup.”

Higgs said the fire had the potential for catastrophic life and property losses. “Thankfully, this fire occurred in a building protected by fire sprinklers and therefore had been completely extinguished by the automatic system that had been installed throughout the building,” he said.

In less than an hour, the 17 volunteer firefighters and four fire trucks had returned to the fire hall. No civilian or firefighter injuries occurred. “Only one tenant was displaced from the building for a couple of days, and everyone else reoccupied their suites that day,” Higgs said. “The total dollar loss to the $3-million structure was less than $5,000. Had this fire occurred in a similar unsprinklered building, at least three other fire departments from the Sunshine Coast would have been called to assist with the suppression effort, lasting at least half a day, with the follow-up investigation, demolition and rebuilding lasting months.”

The Sechelt fire department recommends the installation of fire sprinklers to all building owners ranging from single-family homes right up to multi-family or commercial buildings, new and old. “At less than $1.50 a square foot in new construction, why not?” Higgs asked. “Come and see us to learn what we have witnessed about the community cost saving benefits of automatic fire sprinklers in our town of just 12,000 people. We encourage others to learn from our experiences and to support our efforts in the promotion and continued use of commercial and residential fire sprinkler systems.”

Apartment Building, Residential

Bismarck, ND – Firefighters credit sprinklers for knocking down fire in 24-unit apartment building

The Bismarck Fire Department responded to the fire alarm at 5:12 am at 3945 N 19th Street.  When firefighters arrived, smoke was spreading throughout the building and coming from heat registers.
The cause of the fire was an electrical junction box in the mechanical room.  The short caused insulation to catch on fire. Firefighters say a sprinkler in the room activated, knocking the fire down. Occupants of the building were evacuated, and there were no injuries. There was no damage outside the mechanical room. The estimated fire loss was limited to approximately $5,000.

Apartment Building, Residential

Wilmington, DE – High-rise apartment fire controlled with help from sprinkler system; No injuries

Residents safely evacuated their high-rise apartments last Thursday night after a fire on the ninth floor of Compton Tower Apartments in Wilmington, officials said.  Approximately 35 fire and EMS personnel responded to the fire at 325 East 5th St., which was reported about 7 p.m.

After assessing the damage, residents were allowed back into the building, where they were held on the first floor while firefighters continued to take the fire under control.