Category Archives: Residential High Rise

Kitchen fire at senior high-rise apartment building suppressed with help from sprinkler system (Owensboro, KY)

The call that every Owensboro firefighter fears came in at 12:07 a.m. Saturday: A fire on the 16th floor of Roosevelt House I, 2920 Yale Place.  “It was a kitchen fire,” Chief Steve Mitchell said later Saturday. “The sprinkler system had been activated, and we were able to knock the fire down fairly quickly.”  But more than 200 senior citizens live in the 18-story building, Owensboro’s tallest, and the 911 system was flooded with calls from people needing help evacuating the building, Mitchell said.  There were no serious injuries.

High rise apartment fire put out by sprinkler system (Hinsdale, IL)

Fire sprinklers helped to save residents of a 17-story apartment building from injury on Tuesday evening. A fire began in the kitchen of one of the residences on the sixth floor, and the occupants escaped without injury. Several surrounding fire crews responded to the fire to find that a single fire sprinkler had put out the fire.

Fire sprinklers limit fire damage in high rise fire (Mt. Prospect, IL)

Fire sprinklers extinguished a fire that began in a high rise apartment the morning of Sunday, March 2. Just before 2 a.m., fire crews responded to a fire alarm activation at the building, and when they arrived, they found that the fire, which had begun in the laundry room, had already been extinguished by the fire sprinkler in the room. Investigators believe the fire was caused by oily rags, which spontaneously combusted. There were no injuries reported.

Sprinkler system extinguishes fire in lower parking garage of high-rise building (Chicago, IL)

** NO MEDIA COVERAGE – FIRE DEPARTMENT REPORTED **

Early this morning, the Chicago Fire Department reported that a fire sprinkler system in the Franklin Center commercial high-rise at 227 W. Monroe extinguished a fire that was caused by an automobile in a lower level parking garage. 

 

“Too often we hear about the unsprinklered fires that cause major damage and injuries or deaths, but it’s even more important to highlight when larger fires are prevented thanks to the quick response of fire sprinklers,” says Tom Lia, executive director of the nonprofit Northern Illinois Fire Sprinkler Advisory Board. “Today, a fire sprinkler system extinguished a car fire and prevented any harm to humans. That is why fire sprinklers are in the national model codes. They are vital to life and property protection in high-rises and all other occupancies as well.”

Fire extinguished by sprinklers at high rise (Fargo, ND)

An unattended lit candle was the culprit for the fire which began in a 15th floor apartment on Tuesday, December 16. According to reports, the resident discovered the fire when she re-entered her bedroom; the fire had ignited her pillow and bedspread. The resident attempted to put out the flames on her own with no success. The room’s fire sprinkler system activated from the heat of the fire and put out the blaze before fire crews arrived. No injuries occurred in the entire situation.

** Blog Editor’s Note – Please let us know what you think of the coverage by the INFORUM and Archie Ingersoll, who focused on water damage rather than the lives and property saved by the automatic fire sprinkler system**

Sprinkler system extinguishes fire at high-rise apartment building (Boise, ID)


Boise firefighters responded with a full high-rise response after an alarm from the 15th floor of the Grove Hotel. The alarm and sprinklers were apparently activated by a candle burning in a Halloween decoration left outside one of the residential condominiums. The hotel suffered no fire damage. The hotel was briefly evacuated with only a minor disruption to ongoing business.

High-rise condo fire on 18th floor controlled by sprinkler system (Honolulu, HI)

The fire broke out on the 18th floor of the King Tower at Liliuokalani Gardens. Fire officials said everyone in the building evacuated. The occupant of the unit where the fire started was not at home at the time of the blaze. Since the mid-1970s, all high-rise building on Oahu above 75-feet-tall were required to have a sprinkler system. Liliuokalani Gardens was built in 1984 and had its sprinklers built in. “The fire was controlled by a sprinkler head in the room where it began,” said Honolulu Fire Department Capt. Terry Seelig. “It appears that it began in the living room.”