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.
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.”
Reporting on lives and property saved by fire sprinklers
