Category Archives: Nursing Home/Senior Living

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

Pittsburgh, PA – Fire chief credits sprinkler system in preventing worse situation in high rise senior apartment building fire

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The Pittsburgh fire chief credited a sprinkler system with likely preventing a worse situation for seniors evacuated by a fire Saturday at their high-rise apartment building in Hill District.

“Thankfully, this 10-story building had a working sprinkler system,” Chief Darryl Jones said in a news release.  The residents of Ebenezer Towers on Dinwiddie Street were evacuated from the 99-unit apartment building after the two-alarm blaze broke out shortly after 5 p.m. The fire was quickly contained to two units.  Two people were transported to the hospital — an 85-year-old woman who was burned on her foot and a man who needed evaluation for a pre-existing condition. The man since has been released; the woman was in stable condition.

One resident was rescued from a second-floor balcony, according to the release. During the fire, police took several elderly people and families to the Zone 2 station for shelter. The city said residents on the upper floors were allowed to return to their apartments. The 24 residents of the first two floors were displaced due to smoke and water damage.

Apartment Building, Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Plum, PA – Fire in senior apartment building contained by sprinkler system; No injuries reported

Multiple fire departments responded to a stove top fire in a senior citizens apartment building in Plum shortly before noon on Sunday, according to authorities.  Residents of the four-story building along the 600 block of Repp Road were evacuated as smoke filled the building.  Authorities say the fire is believed to have started in an apartment on the fourth floor and was extinguished by the building’s sprinkler system, according to Tribune-Review news partner WPXI-TV.  No one was injured in the blaze, according to Allegheny County Chief Fire Marshal Matt Brown. He said the fire was accidental, and limited and contained by an automatic fire sprinkler system. The American Red Cross was summoned to the scene to provide assistance to residents who may have been displaced as a result of the fire. A web page for the building where the fire was reported lists it as the Retirement Residence of Plum, which is open to people 55 and older who meet certain income requirements.

Apartment Building, Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Ferndale, MI – Fire in 68-unit apartment building for elderly, disabled, and low income residents extinguished by sprinkler system

At about 8:30 pm last Monday night some residents of Withington West apartments were evacuated due to a fire that started in a fourth floor apartment.  Withington West is a 68-unit property of the Ferndale Housing Commission. It is home to elderly, disabled and low income residents. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

The fire started on a stove, by a resident cooking chicken. Fire Chief Kevin Sullivan further explained that walls in the building are made of concrete, so fire remain contained. “The fire protection system did exactly what it was designed to do, enough heat was released to set of the sprinkler head in the kitchen, effectively extinguishing the fire. The fire pump came on when the head opened, the water pressure dropped, the fire pump made up the difference,” he said. He confirmed there were no injuries. He also clarified that only apartments immediately around that where the fire started were evacuated.

Residents were permitted back into the building once the fire was extinguished, and restoration crews were on the scene as of 10pm working to clean up water from the sprinkler system and fire department. The Fire Marshall was also on hand to conduct the investigation.

Housing Director Heather VanPoucker confirmed there were no injuries and that efforts to protect residents went smoothly. “Fire suppression worked exactly as intended.” VanPoucker said. “The fire department response was excellent as always.”

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Spartanburg, SC – Cooking fire at senior living facility extinguished by sprinkler system

A Spartanburg senior living facility was evacuated after a cooking fire spread smoke through the hallways.

The fire happened shortly after 9 p.m. Tuesday at Pacifica Senior Living on Skylyn Drive. 

Firefighters said the fire started after a resident fell asleep while cooking.

There were reportedly no working smoke detectors in that unit, and sprinklers at the facility put out the fire. The sprinkler system is back up and running at this time.

A Drayton Fire Department’s fire marshal said on Wednesday that the room where the fire happened is unlivable, and has water and fire damage.

The fire marshal said they will be conducting more inspections to get a complete estimate on damage at the facility.

No one was reportedly hurt. 

“She’s very lucky the sprinkler system did what it’s designed to do. Had the sprinkler system not been in there then this probably would’ve turned out a different scenario,” Drayton Deputy Fire Marshall Todd Mason said.

Investigators will look into the lack of a working smoke detector in the unit. 

Drayton, Whitney, Converse, city of Spartanburg and Glendale fire crews responded to the scene. 

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Houma, LA – Nursing home fire caused by lightning strike controlled by sprinkler system; No injuries reported

Several residents were evacuated Saturday night after lightning ignited a fire in a Houma nursing home, authorities said.  Around 5:45 p.m. lightning struck the Maison De’ville Nursing Home at 107 S. Hollywood Road, sparking a fire in the attic, Bayou Cane Fire Chief Ken Himel said. The flames then activated the building’s automatic sprinkler system, which helped crews bring the fire under control in about 20 minutes, Himel said. About half of the facility’s residents were evacuated during the incident while the remaining occupants were sheltered in place.  No injuries were reported.
“The sprinkler system did its job holding the fire in check until we arrived and the nursing home staff did a fantastic job evacuating and relocating residents,” Himel said. “A really bad situation was averted.”

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

London, ON, Canada – Fire at retirement community extinguished by sprinkler system; No injuries reported

A heating pad is getting the blame after a small fire broke out a retirement community in London.  The London Fire Department said on Monday around 7:25 p.m., a smoke alarm notified fire crews of the fire in an apartment unit at The Manor Village at 230 Victoria St. When firefighters arrived, smoke could be seen coming from the apartment but the fire had already been extinguished by the building’s sprinkler system.  According to fire officials, the fire was caused by a heating pad that had been left too close to combustibles and resulted in a living room chair catching fire.

All of the residents affected were safely moved from the area by staff at the retirement home before firefighters arrived. No injuries have reported.  The fire and smoke damage were contained to the one apartment unit.

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Coventry Twp, OH – Fire at senior housing complex contained with help from sprinkler system; No injuries reported

A fire trapped residents in part of a Portage Lakes senior citizen housing complex Saturday morning until firefighters and a building sprinkler system doused the flames enough to rescue them.  The Coventry Township Fire Department reported no injuries in a news release.  What started the apartment fire and how much damage it caused remains under investigation.  People displaced by the blaze were being helped by the American Red Cross at the nearby Kiwanis Civic Center.  The fire department statement said an automatic fire alarm came in to the fire station from the Kiwanis Towers in the 300 block of Portage Lakes Drive about 10:30 a.m. Saturday.

As firefighters battled the blaze with a hose on the fourth floor of the apartment building, Summit County Sheriff’s Office employees and others began rescuing trapped residents. Help arrived from surrounding first responders and others, including an Akron Metro bus, to treat and shelter evacuees. A photo posted on the Facebook page Portage Lakes Rocks showed about 30 people at the civic center.  “Sprinklers and smoke detectors save lives,” the fire department said in its release about the incident.

Apartment Building, Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Newport, RI – Kitchen fire at historic senior apartment building controlled by sprinkler system

Two apartments at Clarke School Apartments, 24 Mary St., remained uninhabitable as of Friday afternoon due to fire, smoke and water damage in one apartment and water damage in a second apartment below it, according to Fire Chief Brian Dugan.  The report of a fire in a third-floor apartment came in on Wednesday at about 2:10 p.m. and people were evacuating the building when firefighters arrived, Dugan said.

There was a stovetop fire in the kitchen that had activated the sprinkler system, which did a good job of controlling the damage, Dugan said. The fire was doused within 10 minutes after firefighters arrived, and most of that time was spent getting hoses and equipment up to the apartment, he said.  No cause of the fire had been established as of Friday and it remains under investigation, Dugan said.

One of the tenants has received living accommodations through the Red Cross, according to the fire chief. Reports from tenants said three elderly residents in all have not been able to return to their apartments.  Residents said there is some water and smoke damage in other apartments that remain occupied.

The Clarke School was built in 1915 and underwent a historic renovation in 1994 when it was developed into more than 50 privately operated affordable apartments. The apartments are reserved for people 55 or older, as well as disabled individuals, and some income restrictions apply.

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Oak Ridge, TN – Overnight fire at assisted living facility extinguished by sprinkler system

Oak Ridge city officials say a sprinkler system was key in putting out a fire at an assisted living facility Friday before it spread to other parts of the building.  The fire was reported around 12:38 a.m. Friday at NHC Healthcare on Laboratory Road. An employee reported seeing fire coming from a clothes dryer and then saw water in the dryer area.

The fire crew controlled the water coming from the sprinkler, closed the gas and disconnected power from all three dryers. No one was injured and there was no fire damage around the dryer.  The facility was back to normal operation within 24 hours.

The Oak Ridge Fire Department says this was the second time within 24 hours that a lifesaving device properly performed its function in the case of a fire. A house fire was reported on Thursday on East Drive where a smoke alarm woke up the resident and likely saved his life.

Fire officials want to remind everyone that having working smoke alarms and a working home sprinkler system increase your chances of surviving a fire by 80 percent. They also note that all sprinklers do not activate at once, only the one closest to the fire. Ninety percent of the time, one sprinkler contains the fire.

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Rochester, NY – Sprinkler system contains fire at assisted living center

Dawn Laesser considers the residents at Shire Assisted Living family.  Her daughter serves as administrator there and, when Dawn heard about the fire that forced part of the complex to evacuate, she jumped right in to help.

She started by gathering clothes.

“It was a blessing no lives were lost,” Laesser said. “It gives me chills thinking about it because they’re like family to us.”

Some of those residents are being housed elsewhere in the building.  The Ridge Culver Fire Department says about 160 residents in all were evacuated from the basement, first and second floors.  This type of evacuation can be tricky because this building is what’s considered a high-hazard occupancy, with the people inside needing assistance getting out.

 “A lot of them have difficulty with mobility, they’re wheelchair bound or they have a walker to assist them, so they’re not able to move quickly, they’re not able to necessarily remove themselves easily from the location,” said Chief Steven Sessler of the Ridge Culver Fire Department.

Four residents and a firefighter were taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

The fire chief says recent updates to the building’s fire alarm and sprinkler systems made a world of difference in getting everyone out safely and quickly.  

“That sprinkler activated properly and was able to contain the fire and keep it at a small state until we could get in there and extinguish it so that’s extremely helpful,” Sessler said.

He also credited the fast action of police, fire and ambulance crews from around the area that answered the call to assist in the evacuation.