Category Archives: Residential

Apartment Building, Residential

Bangor, ME – Sprinkler system activated for fire at apartment complex

At least 13 downtown Bangor residents were displaced Monday when their apartment units were damaged by water from the sprinkler system.  

Bangor firefighters responded to reports of smoke and water coming from an apartment on the fourth floor of 35 Main St. at 2:25 p.m. on Monday, said Assistant Fire Chief Chandler Corriveau.

First responders discovered a fire in an apartment building on the fourth floor that was contained on the stove, but had spread to the nearby kitchen cabinets, Corriveau said. The sprinkler system activated and extinguished the fire before firefighters arrived.

The tenant who lives in the apartment where the fire began was not home at the time of the fire, Corriveau said. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

The sprinklers caused damage in 11 of the 13 apartments in the building, all of which are occupied, and the commercial space on the first floor, which holds the Salty Brick Market, Corriveau said. None of the tenants were staying in the building Monday night.

“The sprinkler system did exactly what it was supposed to do – it put the fire out,” Corriveau said. “If the sprinkler system hadn’t put the fire out, we would have used way more water trying to extinguish an apartment fire that had grown larger in size than just being on the stovetop.”

Firefighters tried to salvage and protect merchandise in the Salty Brick Market and protect it from water that was pouring down from the floors above, Corriveau said, but some items in the store were certainly damaged.

The American Red Cross was assisting the building residents and the building owner also enlisted a company to clean up the water on Monday, Corriveau said.

Firefighters closed a portion of Main Street from where the road intersects with Broad and Middle and Water streets from roughly 2:30 to 3:40 p.m. on Monday to address the fire and water damage.

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Kenosha, WI – Sprinkler system activated for fire at assisted living facility

A sprinkler system in the attic of a Kenosha assisted living facility saved lives and limited damage in a Friday evening fire, according to a Kenosha Fire Department battalion chief. 

Firefighters were called to Azalea Pl. in the 8300 blk. of 14th Ave. around 10 p.m. Friday.

A fire which originated on the outside of the one-story structure got into the attic, setting off at least one sprinkler head and activating alarms, said Battalion Chief Ryan McNeely Saturday.

Residents and staff were safely evacuated, and the sprinkler system kept the fire in check until firefighters arrived.

Although the water collapsed a small part of the ceiling, the structure itself was not compromised, according to McNeely.

The 19 residents spent the night in a hotel in preparation for transfer to other area facilities run by the company, Frontida Assisted living.

McNeely praised the company for having an emergency response plan in place, and also noted the obvious benefits of having sprinklers in the attic. “It no doubt saved lives,” he said. Also, a fire door limited damage to one wing of the building.

The cause of the blaze has been narrowed to a pair of possibilities, although arson is not one of them, according to McNeely. For now, the cause will be listed as undetermined.

It’s not known how long it’ll take to repair the damage.

Residential, Residential High Rise

Madison, WI – Sprinkler system extinguishes 10th floor kitchen fire in high-rise building; No injuries reported

Everyone is safe following a fire in a downtown Madison high-rise thanks to the building’s automatic sprinkler system.  A single sprinkler extinguished the cooking fire in the 10th floor kitchen, preventing damage to the building and injuries to the people living there.

Firefighters were called to the YWCA on E. Mifflin Street at 3:30 pm Wednesday for an activated fire alarm. Engine 3 arrived on scene 4 minutes later and firefighters were told by residents coming down the stairs that there was a kitchen fire on the 10th floor.  The call was immediately upgraded to a structure fire response, bringing additional fire units to the scene.

Upon reaching the kitchen and seeing that the fire was extinguished, firefighters turned off the flow of water to the sprinkler and began cleaning up the water on the floor.

All residents and staff evacuated the building without injury.  Once it was deemed safe, residents were allowed to return to the building.

The fire caused approximately $5,000 in damage.  The American Red Cross assisted several residents by providing blankets, personal care items, and other emergency assistance.

Apartment Building, Residential

Romeoville, IL – Sprinkler system activated for early morning apartment fire; No injuries reported

The Lockport Township Fire Protection District responded to an apartment fire in Romeoville early Wednesday.

Shortly after midnight, the LTFPD was called to the scene in the 1300 block of Mews Lane where crews found a fire had broken out on the balcony of a second-floor apartment unit.

According to the fire district, the building’s sprinkler system was triggered by the smoke and kept the fire from spreading, allowing crews to quickly extinguish it.

The building’s exterior reportedly suffered some damage, and the interior of the impacted unit also sustained minor damage.

Although the occupants were home at the time of the fire, no injuries were reported.

Lockport Fire Investigators still are investigating the specific cause of the fire, but, according to the initial report, the cause “appears to be accidental.”

Apartment Building, Residential

Chesterfield, County, VA – Sprinkler system extinguishes stove top fire at apartment complex; No injuries reported

A fire that took place in Chesterfield on Sunday night caused an apartment building to be evacuated and one person to be displaced.

According to Chesterfield Fire and EMS, they received a call at 7:54 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 17 about a fire at an apartment building in the 300 block of Karl Linn Drive.

The first units were on scene within five minutes. It was determined that a stove top fire happened within a single apartment on the first floor, and the fire did not spread outside the apartment.

The fire was extinguished by an automatic sprinkler and there were no reported injuries. The person who lived in the apartment has been displaced.

All others in the building that were evacuated temporarily will be able to stay in the apartments unaffected.

This is the second stove fire that has happened at this apartment building within the past two months, the other happening back in September.

Apartment Building, Residential

North Liberty, IA – Sprinkler system activated for overnight fire at apartment complex

Emergency responders took two people to University of Iowa Health Care after a fire started in their apartment.

The city of North Liberty says firefighters responded to the fire at 1010 Rachel Street just before 4:30 a.m. Monday. Police who arrived on the scene first warned smoke was coming from the second floor of the building and a sprinkler system was working.

Firefighters broke their way in to find smoke in the living room, but the fire mostly out from the sprinklers.

Crews found two children in a bedroom and a dog inside the apartment and got them out.

There’s no word on the extent of injuries for those taken to the hospital.

Investigators are trying to determine how it started, and how much damage the fire caused.

The North Liberty Police Department, Coralville Fire Department, Johnson County Ambulance Service and Johnson County Emergency Communications Center all helped on the call.

Apartment Building, Residential

Forest Hill, MD – Sprinkler system extinguishes fire at apartment complex

Yesterday morning, volunteer firefighters from the Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company and additional support from surrounding companies responded to a reported apartment fire in the Forest Hill, Maryland neighborhood. According to a post shared by Harford Co., MD Fire & EMS on social media, the fire occurred in the 2000 block of Rock Spring Road. Thankfully, the fire was controlled and extinguished promptly due to the building’s fire sprinkler system.

This is the second fire of the day successfully controlled by sprinklers in the area. The Harford Co., MD Fire & EMS X account stated, “Fire sprinklers knocked down the fire,” emphasizing their importance in preventing damage and saving lives.

Details about the damage or injuries from the fire haven’t been released, but volunteer firefighters responded quickly, and the situation was under control. As more information becomes available, fire officials may share more about the cause of the fire and how well the response worked.

Residential, Residential High Rise

Des Moines, IA – Sprinkler system activated for fire at high-rise building

The Des Moines Fire Department says a sprinkler was key to containing a fire in a high-rise building.

The DMFD released photos of the damage on its Facebook page. The department says the sprinkler system helped contain the fire until firefighters arrived and the fire was limited to one unit.

The fire department did not say where the fire happened or if there were any injuries.

Apartment Building, Residential

Urbana, IL – Sprinkler system activated for fire at apartment complex; No injuries reported

A fire just before 4 p.m. on Halloween left two apartments in Urbana uninhabitable.

The Urbana Fire Department responded to a fire alarm at an apartment complex on Lincoln Avenue at 3:55 p.m. on Oct. 31. Initially, three engines, one ladder and one command officer were dispatched.

When the crews arrived, there was no sign of fire coming from the building, but after investigating, crews found water coming from an apartment.

The crews forced the apartment door open and found it was full of smoke. While the fire did damage the stove, microwave and cabinets, it was kept from spreading throughout the unit by the sprinkler system.

More firefighters were dispatched to the scene and crews were able to extinguish the fire within 10 minutes. The apartment residents were not home at the time of the fire, and no injuries were reported from responding crews or other residents living in the apartment complex.

The residents living in the apartment that experienced the fire, and the apartment directly below were told that their residences were not inhabitable at this time.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation and damage estimates have not been determined at this time.

Apartment Building, Residential

Langford, BC, Canada – Sprinkler system controls fifth-floor fire at apartment complex

Sprinklers prevented a fire in a six-storey Langford housing complex on Saturday night from turning into something much worse, says Langford Fire Rescue Chief Chris Aubrey.

Aubrey said his department was called about 8:30 p.m. to Hockley House on Hockley Avenue, and residents reported smoke on the fifth floor when crews arrived.

There were also some reports of an explosion being heard, which prompted a request for assistance from departments in Colwood, View Royal and Esquimalt.

Langford crews found a fifth-floor unit where a small fire had been controlled by the sprinkler system.

Since it turned out to be a relatively minor incident, the other departments were told to stand down, Aubrey said. “The fire could have been much larger but the sprinklers controlled it.”

He said nothing was found in the suite that indicated there had been an explosion.

“It might have been the sound of the sprinklers activating — sometimes they make a loud bang,” Aubrey said. “And we’re checking to see if there were any aerosol cans or something like that that might have been affected by the fire.”

Residents were evacuated from the 120-unit building but all but one were able to get back inside in a few hours, Aubrey said. One person was checked out by paramedics and did not have to be hospitalized.

The street was reopened by 10:30 p.m.

Reporting on lives and property saved by fire sprinklers