Category Archives: Residential

College/University (on campus), Residence Hall/Dormitory

Greencastle, IN – Early morning fire at DePauw University residence hall extinguish by sprinkler system; No injuries

No students were injured in a small early-morning Tuesday fire at a DePauw University residence hall.  At 3:12 a.m., the Greencastle Fire Department was dispatched to Mason Hall at 402 E. Anderson St. on the report of a fire alarm.

Fire crews arrived two minutes later and began a search of the building. They discovered light smoke in Room 310, with the sprinkler system having already extinguished a small fire.

Greencastle Fire Chief John Burgess reported the fire appears to have originated from a piece of electrical equipment, but the case remains under investigation. The fire and sprinkler activation were contained to a single room, with an estimated $20,000 in damage occurring due to water.

Burgess reported no structural damage, noting that the sprinkler system performed its function of containing and extinguishing the fire. “Everything worked like it should,” he said.

The alarm led to the evacuation of the building. In an early morning email to faculty and staff, university president Mark McCoy reported that many students went to the Memorial Student Union Building or other campus structures.

McCoy further stated that a total of 140 students are housed in Mason but many had already left campus for Thanksgiving.

“As a campus, let’s give thanks for the fact that everyone is safe,” McCoy wrote to the staff, “and that is in large part to the great work of the Greencastle Fire Department, campus police and our caring and capable student life staff.”

Firefighters remained on the scene until 6:14 a.m. The building was reopened to students later Tuesday morning.

Mason Hall is a four-story structure situated on the Ubben Quad of the DePauw campus.

While false alarms are common in DePauw structures, longtime members of the campus community know they are not something to be taken lightly.

In April 2002 Rector Hall, which had been adjacent to Mason Hall, was destroyed by fire.

Although all students escaped safely, a pair of firefighters were injured in the large blaze that required 12 departments to combat.

The Rector Hall fire was caused by an electrical problem.

Apartment Building, Residential

Oak Creek, WI – Sprinkler system activates to help limit damage in apartment kitchen fire

Oak Creek police and fire responded to the Oak Shores apartment on Nov. 10 on a report of a fire.  According to the police report, an apartment resident was cooking diner with oil on the stove when the stove caught fire.  Oak Creek fire advised there was no fire damage to anything, however the fire caused the sprinkler system to go off, causing water damage to multiple units.

Residential, Residential High Rise

Chicago, IL – Sprinkler system extinguishes fire in low income residential high-rise

Last Friday, fire sprinklers controlled and extinguished a fire in a trash compactor room at the Lawson House YMCA at 30 West Chicago Avenue in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood. The 24-story residential high-rise, which was built in 1934, is the largest single-room occupancy supportive housing facility in the Midwest with nearly 600 apartment units.

“Some of the residents in the low-income building are formerly homeless, so a fire that could potentially displace them again would be devastating. Fire sprinklers saved the day for the hundreds of people that live there,” says Tom Lia, executive director of the nonprofit Northern Illinois Fire Sprinkler Advisory Board.

Lia also notes that the fire sprinkler save is a good reminder to Chicago high-rise building owners that the city’s deadline to retrofit high-rises with fire sprinklers by January 1, 2017, is fast approaching.

Residence Hall/Dormitory, Residential

Tallahassee, FL – Fire at Florida State dormitory kept in check by sprinkler system

A Wednesday evening trash compactor fire filled Florida State’s Salley Hall dormitory with smoke, forcing residents to evacuate.

At 6:19 p.m., Tallahassee Fire Department crews were called to the residence hall located on West Call Street near Chieftan Way.

An automatic sprinkler system kept the fire under control. When firefighters arrived, they cleared the smoke from the seventh and eighth floors. Residents have since returned to the dorm. No fire damage or injuries were reported.

FSU’s website said Salley Hall has the capacity to house 570 students. It was built in 1962 and renovated in 2000. Named after longtime professor Nathaniel Moss Salley, it once housed the FSU football team and was the first on-campus dorm to become co-ed.

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Gatineau, QC, Canada – Fire at seniors’ residence put out by sprinklers; No injuries

Gatineau firefighters concentrated on assisting residents of a seniors’ centre early Thursday after a sprinkler system was able to douse a small blaze.

Fire alarms sounded at about 4:30 a.m. at the residence on 250 St. Raymond Blvd.

A number of residents were temporarily moved for security reasons and may be displaced for a few days, officials say.

There were no injuries. First indications were the fire may have been caused by smoking materials.

Other - Residential, Residential

Victoria, BC, Canada – Fire at homeless shelter extinguished by sprinkler system; No injuries

Victoria Fire crews and police were on scene at the Central Care Home at 844 Johnson Street after a fire broke out late this afternoon.

The shelter, operated by the Portland Hotel Society, is home to many former residents of Victoria’s tent city.

Emergency crews responded to a report of smoke coming from a suite on the fourth floor just after 4 p.m.

Upon arrival, crews confirmed that the fire had been extinguished by the sprinkler system.

But there is extensive water damage in parts of the building.

Fire officials say no one should be displaced because there are empty units that can be used to house those affected.

There is no word yet on what caused the fire and there were no reports of any injuries.

Residential, Townhouse / Condominium

Palm Beach, FL – Sprinklers help douse car fire in condominium parking garage

Residents of the La Bonne Vie condominiums got a lucky break Monday evening when a longtime volunteer firefighter helped extinguish a car fire that broke out in their parking garage.

Fire-Rescue Division Chief Sean Baker said the incident happened about 7:10 p.m. in the lower parking garage below the condos, 3475 S. Ocean Blvd.

“The front end of the car was fully involved in fire,” Baker said. The cause of the fire has not been determined.

Stephen Miller, one of the residents, said he and his wife Arlene were sitting in their living room when they heard a pop.

“I said ‘That’s not good,’ and then the fire alarms went off,” Miller said Tuesday.

He went downstairs and tried to use a fire extinguisher to put out the fire. The burning Mercedes was parked right under a sprinkler head.

“The sprinkler system held it, but I wanted to make sure it didn’t get near the other cars,” Miller said.

Crews finished extinguishing the fire shortly after arriving.

Miller, 70, said he was a volunteer firefighter for 52 years in North Brunswick, N.J. “I’m like an old war horse, a fire horse,” he said, laughing. “It happened and I reacted.”

Apartment Building, Residential

Stamford, CT – Fire started by unattended space heater contained by sprinkler system

A fire caused by an unattended space heater in a Pequot Drive apartment early Friday afternoon was mostly contained by an overhead sprinkler system.

The sprinkler system brought the fire completely under control by the time firefighters arrived at the Southwood Square Apartments about 2 p.m. Friday, fire Capt. Paul Newman said.

Newman said no one was in the apartment at the time and there were no reported injuries. Newman said because of the sprinkler system, most of the damage was contained to the bedroom with smoke damage to a hallway.

Chief Fire Marshall Charles Spaulding said just before the fire was reported, a man using a space heater in the apartment went to the grocery store.

While he was gone, the space heater caught an adjacent chair on fire, Spaulding said.

The man has declined help from the American Red Cross and Spaulding said he could be back into his apartment as early as Monday.

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Sacramento, CA – Sprinkler system slows spread of fire that started in electric player piano

A fire that is believed to have begun in an electric player piano at a senior assisted living center in south Sacramento led to four residents being taken to the hospital.

The fire suppression sprinkler system slowed the spread of the small blaze, but smoke filled parts of the Regency Place assisted living center, 8190 Arroyo Vista Drive, about 1 a.m. Thursday. Residents had to be helped from the smoky center in the Valley Hi neighborhood.

“The fire stayed confined to the piano and the general area around it,” said Sacramento fire Capt. Dave Lauchner. “It was controlled by the fire sprinkler and extinguished by the first crews.”

The piano was in the front area of the assisted living center, Lauchner said.

“The main problem was not so much fire, but the smoke that filled the place up, including the hallways,” Lauchner said. “After putting out the fire, we had to get people out. I believe four went to the hospital. There were different injuries. All minor.”

Lauchner said the fire eventually went to two alarms to bring enough firefighters to help with building evacuation.

Apartment Building, Residential

Lansdale, PA – No injuries as sprinkler system contains third-floor apartment fire

A kitchen fire inside 536 Station Square Blvd. in the Station Square Apartment Homes in Upper Gwynedd was knocked down in five minutes, but it has left two apartments uninhabitable.

Upper Gwynedd Fire Department Assistant Chief Chris Sharkey said the kitchen fire started in a third-floor apartment in the 500 building.

“The fire marshal is still investigating the cause,” Sharkey said.

He said the fire was isolated to the corner kitchen island.

“The sprinkler system did a good job in containing the fire,” he said.

Three windows were broken out to ventilate the fire and smoke.

“Smoke had banked down to about a foot off the ground,” he said.

The fire was knocked down within five minutes, he said.

“The neighbor called it in,” he said.

The entire 500 building — 18 apartments in all — were evacuated.

Both the third-floor apartment and the second-floor apartment are inhabitable; the former due to water and smoke damage and the latter, 526 Station Square Blvd., due to water damage.

No one was home at the time of the fire. The elderly female renter was called to the scene, consoled by Station Square management and Upper Gwynedd Township Police Officer Ted Caiola.

There were no injuries.

Assisting Upper Gwynedd Fire Department at the scene were Fairmount Fire Co., North Penn Vol. Fire Co., Hatfield Vol. Fire Co. and Volunteer Medical Service Corps of Lansdale.