Category Archives: Residential

Apartment Building, Other - School / University, Residential

State College, PA – Late night fire at off-campus student apartments halted by sprinkler system

Some local college students narrowly avoided a disaster when their apartment building almost went up in flames.  A blaze broke out just after 11:30 Wednesday night in building Q at the Lion’s crossing apartments on Viaro Boulevard in State College.

Officials tell us a resident was heating oil on the stove when it caught fire and he then tried to extinguish it by throwing water on it. Crews are crediting the sprinkler system for activating and stopping the fire from spreading.

Shawn Kauffman, Assistant Alpha Fire Company Chief said, “In these types of residential buildings, the apartments are occupied by students and if there hadn’t been sprinklers it would have devastated their finals week.”

All residents were evacuated while the crews were on scene and they were allowed to return about 40 minutes after the fire broke out.

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Delray Beach, FL – Kitchen fire at assisted living facility quickly contained by sprinkler system

Two floors of an assisted living facility in suburban Delray Beach were evacuated Monday night when a small fire started in the kitchen of an apartment, Palm Beach County Fire Rescue reports.

The fire started just before 9:15 p.m. in the 14000 block of Sims Road at Grand Villa of Delray Beach, north of Atlantic Avenue and west of Military Trail.

The building’s fire alarm and sprinkler system were activated and crews were quickly able to get the fire under control, said Capt. Albert Borroto, spokesman for Fire Rescue. The first and second floors of the facility were evacuated as a precaution.

There was no fire extension into any of the other units, Borroto said.  At 10:30 p.m., the building was being ventilated and residents from the second floor were allowed back into their homes.  It was not known how many residents from the first floor remained displaced late Monday.

 

Apartment Building, Residential

Harrisburg, PA – Single sprinkler keeps apartment fire from spreading

A single fire sprinkler kept a kitchen blaze from spreading through a Harrisburg apartment complex on Monday night, city fire Chief Brian Enterline said. Crews responded to a building fire call in the 200 block of Mary Street at about 5:08 p.m. and found smoke pouring from a second-floor apartment.

However, firefighters found that a fire sprinkler head, which activates when the temperature reaches 155 degrees, quickly extinguished the blaze and stopped it from spreading to adjoining apartments, Enterline said. No one was injured, and Enterline credited the sprinkler for preventing what he called “catastrophic consequences.”

Firefighters used a ventilation fan and a wet/dry vacuum to help clean up the damage. Two apartments took on water damage and apartment management is assisting residents displaced by the fire. Affected residents should be able to return to their apartments by the end of the week, Enterline said.

“This fire could have had catastrophic consequences to both lives and property had it not been for the fast work of a single operating fire sprinkler head, which quickly contained and extinguished the fire,” Enterline said. “Firefighters were able to literally fight this fire with a fan and mop bucket.”

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

Hibbing, MN – Single sprinkler contains early morning fire at senior high rise apartment building

A fire at Hibbing’s Androy Building Sunday morning drew a full response from the Hibbing and neighboring fire departments. But when they arrived, they found the fire had already been contained by a single sprinkler head.

The Androy Building houses senior high-rise apartments, an Elks Club banquet center and an orthodontics clinic. According to the Hibbing Fire Department, firefighters arrived shortly before 6 a.m. when an automatic fire alarm was triggered. The found smoke coming from a vent near the kitchen of the Elks Club and tenants starting to to evacuate the building.

Inside, crews found smoke in the Elks side of the building but the fire down to a smolder. Crews put out the remaining smoldering material and ventilated the smoke from the banquet room. By 7:10 a.m., it was deemed safe enough to allow tenants back in.

Hibbing Fire Marshal Bryan Fagerstrom determined the case was accidental — a steam table had been left on which overheated and ignited the wood buffet table. He stressed the importance of having a properly maintained sprinkler system. “The sprinkler system in this fire was serviced and maintained per code and did exactly as it should by containing the fire and keeping it from spreading,” he said in the release.

Apartment Building, Residential

Wilmington, NC – Sprinkler system contains apartment fire to kitchen; No injuries

Wilmington Fire Department crews responded to an apartment fire located at 106 N. Water St around 2:45 p.m. Saturday. Battalion Chief Chris Nelson said a sprinkler system located in the apartment controlled the fire, keeping it contained to the kitchen where the fire started, until firefighters arrived on scene.

The occupant was home at the time, but no one was injured. A total of seven trucks responded as well as units from NHRMC EMS and Wilmington Police Department.  Nelson said there was minimal fire damage to the apartment and some water damage to apartments below where the fire started.

Apartment Building, Residential

St. Catharines, ON, Canada – Sprinklers activate during fire at 7-story apartment building

Firefighters evacuated the seven-floor apartment building at 5 Louis Ave. Tuesday after a blaze broke out on the fifth floor.

About 200 residents were forced from their homes for about six hours until the building was considered safe to re-enter.

“There was a lot of smoke that migrated throughout the building — so it had to be ventilated,” Deputy Fire Chief Larry Jones said. “We had to make sure all the units were safe.

“We went floor by floor with our air monitoring equipment and kept the fans going until we had zero readings.”

The Salvation Army and Red Cross provided the residents with sandwiches and coffee. Two buses from the City of St. Catharines were used as shelter. The Humane Society also attended, to assist with the pets of the residents.

Some tenants from the fifth floor will have to wait to re-occupy their units, Jones said. The Red Cross is helping them.

“Once we are finished our investigation, cleanup will commence,” Jones said. “The cleanup will focus on getting the displaced tenants back first. I can’t imagine it will be too long. There was some water damage to the floors. We had to isolate part of the sprinkler system so that will have to be repaired. They will have to deodorize and clean the walls. The units — for the most part — are fine.

Apartment Building, Residential

Richmond, VA – Cooking fire quickly doused by sprinklers at Shockoe Bottom apartment building

The Atrium Lofts at Cold Storage, located at 500 North 18th Street, was evacuated around 2 a.m. after a small fire started in an apartment on the 5th floor, according to Richmond firefighters. As soon as the fire started,  the sprinkler system kicked-in and put the fire out.

Everyone was allowed back into their apartments by 5:30 a.m. No one was hurt in the fire and no serious damage was reported.

Residence Hall/Dormitory, Residential

Riverside, CA – Sprinklers hold flames in check at UC Riverside dormitory

A trash compactor blaze triggered fire sprinklers that held the flames in check at a UC Riverside dormitory.

The sprinkler alarm went off at 3:39 p.m. Saturday, April 25, at Lothian Residence Hall, 500 West Big Springs Road.

When firefighters arrived, smoke was billowing from the basement and first floor, and occupants were evacuating, Battalion Chief Thomas Jay said in a written statement.

Crews found the fire in a basement trash compactor.

Fire sprinklers held the blaze in check, and the crews of two fire engines and two ladder trucks soon put out the flames.

Apartment Building, Residential

Salina, KS – Loft apartment fire brought under control with help from sprinkler system

Firefighters had a fire that started in a loft apartment above Laura’s Antiques in the 100 block of South Santa Fe Avenue in downtown Salina under control within about 40 minutes Tuesday night, said Salina Fire Marshal Roger Williams.

Williams said the fire was initially seen in a patio area of the loft apartment above Laura’s Antiques, 109 S. Santa Fe. He said it might have spread into the loft apartment above That 1 Bar, 111 S. Santa Fe, which is protected by an automatic sprinkler system. “It (the sprinkler system) did activate, and that definitely helped our operation,” Williams said.

Williams said there were no people in either loft apartment, and a small number of people in the bar were safely evacuated. There was smoke visible at the scene, but no flames.

The loft above Laura’s Antiques was being renovated. During that work in early March, some plaster was removed from what had been the exterior wall of 111 S. Santa Fe to reveal a sign painted on the wall from Salina’s earliest days.

The black-and-white sign was for “G. Sauer, Boots and Shoes,” a company that opened in 1870 and had closed by 1885. About 20,000 pounds of plaster was removed from the walls during renovation.

Apartment Building, Residential

Phoenix, AZ – Sprinkler system helps control fire in three-story apartment building

An apartment fire in North Phoenix left six residents displaced on Saturday morning, according to Captain Aaron Ernsberger with the Phoenix Fire Department.  The fire happened on the third floor of a three-story apartment building near Tatum Boulevard and Union Hills Drive.

Crews from the Phoenix Fire Department quickly got the fire under control, and immediately began trying to stop the water flow to the sprinkler system from damaging the lower units.  The Phoenix Fire Department is assisting the residents on all three floors that were displaced because of the water damage.  The cause of the fire is unknown and is under investigation.