A sprinkler system is being credited with preventing a potentially large fire last Thursday evening at the Newark Manor Nursing Home on West Pearl Street.
Dick Colacino, the Newark Volunteer Fire Department’s public information officer, said firefighters responded to the site following an automatic box alarm and calls to 911. Assistant Chief Kevin Velte, who was first on the scene, reported smoke in the building and Chief Gerald VanDewalle called for mutual aid from Fairville and Lyons to assist with possible evacuation.
The cause was determined to be a portable air conditioner that caught fire. The blaze was doused by a sprinkler in a data closet housing the nursing home computers, preventing more extensive damage.
VanDewalle said a combination of the automatic smoke and fire alarm system, and a working sprinkler, prevented a much more serious incident. There was fire and smoke damage in the data room, as well as damage to computers and other equipment.
VanDewalle commended nursing home staff, firefighters, Newark police and EMS personnel for evacuating and isolating residents. Thirty-five firefighters were at the scene for more than two hours, clearing smoke from the building with fans.
Colacino said the working sprinkler system is a testament of their value, and firefighters are disappointed that the state Legislature has not passed a fire sprinkler law for all new one- and two-family homes.
An electrical fire forced several elderly residents to temporarily evacuate from the CareOne Nursing-Rehab Center in Northampton early Saturday morning.
Mark Spees told 22News his wife lives there. He said he rushed to her side as soon as he heard what had happened. “Got up this morning got a cup of coffee, turned on the news… the coffee’s still on the table because I just started moving,” he said.
When Spees got to the CareOne Nursing-Rehab Center, he was relieved to find out his wife was safe and sound. “Unbelievable, you know, all I could think was what’s happening? What’s going on? How’s my wife? When you’ve been married for 43 years you tend to worry,” he said.
Northampton Deputy Fire Chief Timothy McQueston told 22News an air conditioning unit plugged into an outlet on the third floor sparked the fire. Fortunately, the building’s sprinkler system helped keep the fire from spreading, and no one was seriously hurt.
Later that morning, crews were still cleaning up pieces of shard glass where firefighters had to bust open a window to rescue a woman trapped inside. She was one of three people taken to the hospital by ambulance, as the building’s staff ushered the other residents to safety.
At least 30 people on the third floor of the building had to be moved to other locations temporarily because of the damage.
The experience highlighted a fear that many children, husbands, and wives have as their family members get older and require extra care.
Leann Worsnop of Easthampton told 22News it’s hard not to worry about your parents when they no longer live under your care. “It’s as if it was your own child, the same thing, the same feelings, just you know, what can you do? It’s a feeling of helplessness, and then the whole fear of what actually happened,” she said.
The three residents who went to the hospital are expected to be ok. No one was else was injured.
A cooking fire at a senior housing development in Clinton was able to be quickly extinguished thanks to a sprinkler system, but it did not come without significant water damage, evacuations and one woman transported for treatment.
At about 2:20 p.m. Tuesday, the Clinton Fire Department along with departments from Halls, Taylors Bridge, Herring and Salemburg, with ladder truck in tow, responded to a commercial structure fire alarm at Sampson Square Apartments on College Street.
Once on scene, Clinton Fire Chief Scott Phillips said he could not see anything. He made contact briefly with a woman who was the sole resident in the second-floor apartment at the time. She said she was cooking when the fire occurred.
“The sprinkler system activated and extinguished the fire,” said Phillips. “There was not much in the way of fire damage, but there was water damage and it was leaking downstairs. Once we got there and figured out what was going on, we were able to turn some of the (fire units) around.”
However, Phillips and other fire officials ensured all residents were accounted for using a log provided by the apartment manager.
“We made sure everyone was safe and everyone was evacuated to a centralized location,” said Phillips, who noted the female resident of the apartment requested to be transported by EMS. “I’m not sure if she had smoke inhalation. She was talking and it appeared her injuries were non-life-threatening.”
A two-story, 40-unit senior housing development constructed and opened in 2010, Sampson Square is located at 804 College St. It is one of many developments managed by United Property Management (UPM) toward providing residents age 55 and older an affordable housing option. The company oversees 35 communities throughout the state of North Carolina, offering nearly 2,000 rental units across the state.
Phillips said there were about 20 people outside once the building was evacuated, but the fire chief noted that others could have also been “out” away from the Sampson Square campus as it was the middle of the afternoon.
A UPM employee at Sampson Square on Wednesday confirmed that there was no smoke or fire damage in the building, but that the water damage was extensive. He called the incident a “grease fire” and noted that Keshonda Ruffin, regional manager who oversees general management of UPM properties across the state, was expected to further assess the damage at the housing complex later in the day.
Reporting on lives and property saved by fire sprinklers
