Category Archives: Apartment Building

Apartment Building, Residential

Victoria, BC, Canada – Late night apartment fire extinguished by single sprinkler

The fire, believed to have been caused by oil in a pan on a stove, broke out at 10:45 p.m. in a suite at Quadra Street and Caledonia Avenue. The fire was extinguished by a single sprinkler near the stove. However, four floors directly below were flooded, causing damage, said acting Battalion Chief Lance Mitchell of Victoria Fire. The resident of the suite received second-degree burns to one of his hands while trying to extinguish the blaze. He was taken to hospital by B.C. Ambulance. Several displaced residents will be given assistance with housing through the Victoria Emergency Management Agency, the fire department said. The department’s fire inspector reminds people cooking with oil not to leave the pot or pan unattended and to have a lid nearby in case of fire.

Apartment Building, Residential

St. Cloud, MN – Sprinkler system douses overnight apartment fire; No injuries

An apartment fire late Sunday caused about $6,000 damage at Empire Apartments, 54 Fourth Ave. N. The person who lived in the apartment left the apartment with the stove on, according to fire investigators. Items on the stove caught fire and burned the cabinetry above the stove. Two sprinkler heads activated and put the fire out. No injuries were reported.

Apartment Building, Residential

Riverside, CA – Overnight apartment fire extinguished by sprinkler system; No injuries

Two families were displaced after a sprinkler system put out a garbage can fire at an apartment in Riverside early Sunday morning, Nov. 15.  Riverside firefighters were dispatched to 9800 County Farm Rd. in Riverside about 1:05 a.m., fire officials wrote on an incident fact sheet.

Firefighters discovered that the fire had been in a bathroom wastebasket and had been put out by the apartment’s sprinkler system, the fact sheet said.  It took fire officials two hours to clear the water from the building.  The families were placed in lodging by Red Cross, the fact sheet said. Nobody was hurt in the incident.

Apartment Building, Other - School / University, Residential

Greeley, CO – Off-campus apartment fire extinguished by sprinkler system; No injuries

Four students were displaced from their homes Tuesday after a fire in one apartment touched off the sprinklers at the Arlington Park Apartments. Greeley firefighters were called around 7:45 p.m. Tuesday to a fire at the Arlington Park Apartments, Building No. 3, 2315 9th Ave.

Firefighters arrived to heavy smoke showing. The fire was contained to one apartment and was put out by the building’s sprinkler system. But students living in two rooms would be displaced because of smoke and water damage, said University of Northern Colorado spokesman Nate Haas.

Students were evacuated and there were no injuries, reported Greeley Firefighter Battalion Chief Rick Hinchcliffe.  Firefighters were clearing the building as of 8:30 p.m., and the fire was out minutes later. Custodians were called in to clear the water.

The immediate damage was contained to the apartment with a fire, with water damage to the apartment immediately below, Hinchcliffe said.  Haas said university residence officials were working Tuesday to find temporary housing for the students in the college’s residence halls.

Hinchcliffe said three fire trucks, one ladder truck and one heavy rescue truck responded, with a total of 15 firefighters on scene. There is no word yet on a cause or a damage estimate.

Apartment Building, Residential

Lynchburgh, VA – Overnight trash chute fire at apartment building is put out by sprinkler system

Everyone made it out safely after a fire broke out at Jefferson House Apartments in Lynchburg. It happened around midnight.  Officials say the fire started in a trash chute that connects all of the floors.  The fire was put out by the sprinkler system before crews got there.

About 30 people evacuated from the apartments, but were allowed back in around 2:30 a.m. on Thursday after each floor was cleared.

Apartment Building, Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential, Residential High Rise

Fall River, MA – Sprinklers extinguish fire on 6th floor of apartment building with over 100 elderly and disabled residents; No injuries

An early-evening fire sent elderly and disabled residents of Borden Place West, 181 S. Main St., out of their apartments. The fire started around 5:30 p.m. in the trash compactor, according to Fall River District Fire Chief Douglas Sullivan. The exact cause was being investigated, but Sullivan said it appeared accidental.  The sprinkler went on in the trash compactor and extinguished the fire.

“The system worked the way that it should have,” Sullivan said. “The fire was contained.”

Wendy Carvalho, who acts as the fire warden on the sixth floor where she resides, said someone may have dropped an ashtray or cigarette into the trash chute “I knocked on everyone’s door,” Carvalho said. “They all came out.”

Most of the 100-plus residents in the building are elderly or disabled, with many using walkers and in wheelchairs. Heavy smoke hung in the hallways even after the fire was extinguished, and many residents sat outside waiting to get back into their apartments. Other residents were inside the community room on the street level, and out of harm’s way.

Resident Joseph Blanchard, who has lived in the building for 25 years, said it wasn’t the first fire at Borden West, but it was the worst. “There was really a lot of smoke,” Blanchard said.

Sullivan said Borden West owner Peabody Properties called in professional cleaners to remove the excess water from the apartments that were flooded on the first floor. All residents were allowed back inside within a couple of hours.

No residents were injured. One firefighter fell and injured his shoulder but was able to continue working. Responding to the fire were four engines, two ladder trucks, Rescue No. 1, Special Services, and Fall River police.

Apartment Building, Residential

Hartford, CT – Apartment fire put out by sprinkler system; No injuries

A small fire in a kitchen at 76 Pliny St. was put out by sprinklers last Thursday evening, fire officials said. Firefighters found out about the fire about 4:40 PM and found the fire in one of the apartment’s kitchen, Capt. Ted Kolosky said.

The building was evacuated and no one was injured. The fire marshal is investigating the cause of the fire.

Apartment Building, Residential

Rochester, MN – Fire officials credit sprinkler system in extinguishing apartment blaze

Officials with the Rochester Fire Department are crediting a “sprinkler save” with extinguishing a fire inside an unoccupied apartment Thursday evening. Firefighters were sent at 5:54 p.m. to 2804 Second St. SW in response to a sprinkler alarm — sent by facilities when the sprinklers have been activated.

When they arrived, the apartment was full of smoke, said Deputy Chief Vance Swisher, but the flames had already been extinguished, thanks to the sprinklers. A preliminary investigation indicates a lamp that had been left on fell onto some combustible materials in a children’s bedroom, he said. The ensuing fire activated two sprinkler heads, putting out the fire before it could spread.

“It could have been a significantly larger fire,” Swisher said, “and certainly done more damage to the building.” The residents of that apartment were unable to stay there because of the water damage, he said, and the apartment below it may have sustained some damage, too.

Apartment Building, Residential

Berkeley, CA – Sprinkler extinguishes kitchen fire in fourth floor apartment; No injuries

The Berkeley Fire Department responded Monday to an apartment fire on University Avenue.  Interim Berkeley Fire Chief Avery Webb said the fire department received a report just before 10:40 a.m. of a water-flow alarm from the fire suppression system at 1122 University, just east of San Pablo Avenue.

The city dispatched a single-alarm assignment for a possible structure fire.

When firefighters got to the 5-story building — four stories of residential over ground-floor commercial — they found light smoke on the fourth floor, and water flowing from under an apartment door. 

Webb said firefighters used forcible entry to get into the apartment. They encountered heavy smoke inside the apartment and an activated fire sprinkler head.

The fire had occurred on the kitchen stove, Webb said, but was extinguished by the activated sprinkler.

The fire was confined to the stove top, and smoke affected a small portion of the building. But water from the fire sprinkler affected the fourth floor and all floors below it, causing the majority of the building damage, Webb said.

Webb said damage was estimated to be approximately $100,000. No injuries were reported.

Apartment Building, Residential

Athens, GA – Sprinkler system contains arson fire in apartment following domestic dispute

Felton Wendel Teasley Jr., 25, was arrested Sunday in connection with an alleged arson fire the day before at the home he formerly shared with his girlfriend at Oak Hill apartments, Athens-Clarke County police said.

According to the girlfriend, she wanted to end her relationship with Teasley and told him to move out Saturday, when he allegedly lit some clothes on fire in a closet, police said. The fire set off the apartment’s sprinkler system and caused the building’s occupants to be evacuated. Police said they put out the fire with an extinguisher.

Water from the sprinkler system caused an estimated $10,000 in damages to the woman’s apartment and the one directly below, according to police. Teasley fled the scene but was located and arrested the next day, police said. He was charged with first-degree arson and criminal damage to property.

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