Category Archives: Residential

Apartment Building, Residential

Franklin, TN – Single fire sprinkler controls apartment kitchen fire, protecting occupants and building;

A single fire sprinkler head controlled a kitchen fire in a three-story, 24-unit apartment building Thursday night, protecting the occupants as well as the building.

According to Franklin Fire Investigator Will Farris, the family of four was not home when their second floor unit in the IMT Cool Springs apartments, 101 Gillespie Dr., caught fire. 

Farris said the fire appeared to have been caused by a pan of oil that was left heating on the stovetop which ignited after the family left the residence. 

Farris said one fire sprinkler head above the stove activated, and the flow of water triggered an automatic fire alarm.  The Franklin Fire Department was dispatched by the fire alarm monitoring company just after 6:30 PM.   Upon arrival firefighters forced entry to the apartment.  They found the fire being controlled by a single sprinkler, completed extinguishment, and shut off the fire sprinkler system.

Farris said in addition to the apartment where the fire originated, two other apartments sustained water damage.  He estimated total damage at $30,000.  Farris stressed that the fire would have become deadly within minutes and the building would have sustained far more fire, smoke and water damage had it not been equipped with sprinklers.

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Gardnerville, NV – Fire sprinklers put out box of hot dog buns that ignited at senior center

A steam table that ignited a box of hotdog buns resulted in an early morning kitchen fire at the Douglas County Community & Senior Center on Thursday.

A single sprinkler head in the senior center’s fire suppression system doused the blaze in the 4:20 a.m call.

Douglas County Sheriff’s deputies and the East Fork firefighters responded shortly thereafter.

The steam table was accidentally left on, causing the cardboard box containing the hotdog buns to ignite. No damage to the Douglas County Community and Senior Center kitchen was reported.

“Staff of the Douglas County Community and Senior Center are extremely thankful to the well-designed fire suppression system within the building and the first responders of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and the East Fork Fire Protection District who prevented what could have been a very serious structure fire,” county officials said.

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Bennington, VT – Fire at senior housing complex contained thanks to fire sprinklers; No injuries reported

An emergency response was launched by firefighters, police and rescue personnel Wednesday afternoon after a fire was reported at the 50-unit Brookside Apartments senior housing complex on South Street.

Bennington Fire Chief James Wright said a fire in one of the apartments was called in at 2:55 p.m. The fire was confined to a closet area, he said, and did not cause significant damage.

However, the “sprinkler system did was it is supposed to do,” he said, resulting in smoke and water damage in the apartment on the building’s second level and damage on the ground level when water seeped through the ceiling near the front entrance.

Many residents evacuated when smoke alarms sounded, he said, while others were advised to shelter in place while firefighters dealt with the fire.

Residents standing outside near the parking lot at about 3:30 p.m. said some tenants likely would have required help evacuating because of limited mobility.

Wright said no injuries were reported, but the tenant where the fire occurred was not expected to be able to move back in for a few days. He said the Red Cross was called in the event temporary housing was needed.

Other tenants on the first level were temporarily kept out of their apartments while the water was cleaned up by Bennington Housing Authority personnel, he said.

As to the cause, Wright said, “We are looking at a candle,” which he said the woman said she had lit.

Firefighters were at the scene until shortly after 4 p.m.

The brick complex at 323 South St. has 26 one bedroom apartments and 24 efficiencies on five floors, according to the housing authority’s website. It was constructed in 1975.

Apartment Building, Residential

Beloit, WI – Sprinkler system prevents apartment fire from spreading after improper use of smoking materials; No injuries reported

 No injuries were reported following a house fire caused by improper use of smoking materials on Tuesday, according to the Beloit Fire Department.

A sprinkler system at an apartment building in the 400 block of Olympian Boulevard “likely saved lives,” a fire department Facebook post said. The sprinkler system prevented a fire in the common room from spreading further.

The fire started at around 11:20 p.m. on Tuesday. A couch in the common area caught fire from the careless use of smoking materials, but the fire was extinguished by the sprinkler system, with the blaze causing approximately $7,000 in damages, the department said

Apartment Building, Residential

St. George, UT – Sprinkler system extinguishes third floor apartment fire; No injuries reported

A structure fire that started in the kitchen of a three-story apartment displaced the tenants of two of the apartments and garnered the interest of more than 40 residents as firefighters tended to a chaotic scene Sunday evening.

Shortly after 8 p.m., firefighters responded to a fire alarm activation at the Oasis Palms apartment complex on Dixie Drive involving a structure fire that reportedly started in the kitchen area, St. George Fire Battalion Chief Robert Hooper said.

“We were paged out on the fire alarm at first,” Hooper said. “When 911 received a call from someone in the complex reporting they saw smoke coming from one of the third-floor apartments a few minutes later, we did an all-out page for all staff.”

The tenants were safely evacuated by the time the first engine arrived on scene. Crews encountered a fire alarm that continued ringing and smoke coming from the upstairs apartment, while a small crowd was gathered outside after exiting their apartments when the alarm sounded.

Firefighters entered to find that any active flames were already extinguished by an automatic sprinkler system installed throughout the complex. As the water continued to spray from the sprinkler, Hooper said, it ran into the unit located directly below on the second floor of the complex.

Shortly thereafter, the fire alarm and sprinkler system were deactivated and fire crews checked for any burning material and began the process of removing a large amount of water from both units.

Both apartments sustained “heavy, heavy water damage,” Hooper said, as well as smoke and fire damage. So much so, that both apartments were left uninhabitable until repairs could be completed, leaving the two families displaced.

The American Red Cross was contacted and responded to the scene to provide emergency shelter and provisions to the tenants displaced by the blaze.

Hooper said the fire appeared to have started near the stove.

“It looks like it started with a cooking fire, possibly grease,” he said. “But it was obviously hot enough to activate the sprinkler system.”

He went on to say that as a fire burns and gets hotter, the heat melts the wax plug placed over the head of the sprinkler, and once it completely melts away, the sprinkler automatically turns on, which is what happened Sunday.

No injuries were reported and an estimate of the damage was not yet available at the scene.

Apartment Building, Residential

Lexington Park, MD – Stove fire at apartment controlled by fire sprinkler; No injuries reported

On Sunday, June 14, 2020, at approximately 5:10 a.m., police responded to the 21200 block of Lexwood Drive in Lexington Park, for the reported suicidal subject.

Police arrived on the scene to investigate the apartment and found the adult male was no longer on the scene. Police made contact with the subjects family and started a search in the area for the subject who left on foot. Three Deputies stood by at the apartment to secure the residence.

A short time later, police requested the fire department due to multiple fire/smoke alarms going off inside the apartment. Two minutes after the Bay District Volunteer Fire Department was alerted for a commercial fire alarm, firefighters from Bay District, NAS Patuxent River, and Valley Lee were alerted for the now reported structure fire.

Police investigated the apartment after the smoke alarms went off, and observed the oven was turned on and set to 500 degrees with the apartment filling with smoke. Deputies started evacuating the residence and nearby neighbors for safety, and waited for the arrival of firefighters.

13 firefighters from Bay District and NAS Patuxent River responded and arrived on the scene within minutes of dispatch to find a two story apartment building with nothing evident, firefighters found an extinguished fire on the oven that was contained by sprinkler systems, and an active fire in the oven. Firefighters removed the oven from the apartment and found personal and miscellaneous items on the over, and batteries in the oven.

No injuries were reported.

Officers located the subject a short time later in Lexington Park and placed the subject in custody where he was then transported to an area hospital with no known injuries.

The Office of the Maryland State Fire Marshal was requested to the scene.

Residential, Townhouse / Condominium

Redding, CA – Sprinkler system in townhouse garage stops fire from spreading; No injuries reported

A faulty light fixture caused a garage fire at College View Townhomes in Redding.

Firefighters say it happened on Saturday, June 13 around 6:30 p.m. when they responded to a report of a structure fire at the College View Townhomes in the 1300 block of College View Drive.

Someone who lived at the home called 911 after they heard water flowing into her garage from a sprinkler system. Firefighters say when she opened the door to her garage, she noticed that the garage was full of smoke so she closed the door and quickly evacuated her family from the home.

Firefighters arrived and extinguished the fire.

No injuries were reported.

Firefighters say the cause of the fire was determined to be a faulty light fixture.

There was about $1,500 in damage to the home as a result of the fire, officials say.

Apartment Building, Residential

Mountain View, CA – Fire sprinkler system suppresses apartment fire; No injuries reported

Three people were displaced by a fire at a Mountain View apartment building Wednesday night, authorities said.

Crews were called to the 600 block of Franklin Street about 8:30 p.m. for a report of a fire alarm sounding from an apartment in a three-story building, the Mountain View Fire Department said in a news release. A smoldering box was found on top of the kitchen range.

The fire department said the blaze had been suppressed by the building’s sprinkler system.

Crews turned off the sprinkler system and made sure the fire was fully extinguished, the fire department said. No injuries were reported.

The fire department said a total of three residents from the apartment and one below it were displaced by the fire. Damage to then contents and structure was estimated at $50,000.

The precise cause of the fire is under investigation.

Apartment Building, Residential

Durango, CO – Single fire sprinkler puts out grease fire at apartment complex; No injuries reported

A Durango family was displaced Wednesday after a fire at their apartment complex, but fire officials say the blaze could have been much worse.

Karola Hanks, fire marshal for Durango Fire Protection District, said there was a report of a structure fire Wednesday afternoon at an apartment complex on Primrose Circle in Three Springs.

But by the time emergency responders arrived, a single fire sprinkler had put out the blaze. No one was injured, but the family in the unit is temporarily displaced and is being assisted by Red Cross, which is providing temporary housing.

Hanks stressed, however, how destructive the fire could have been, if not for a single sprinkler.

The apartment where the fire originated was the center unit in the complex, which has 12 units in total, plus there are adjacent apartment buildings that make up one large facility for affordable housing.

The family had been cooking in oil when a grease fire broke out, spreading onto the cabinets and then the ceiling. The sprinkler, which activates at temperatures around 155 degrees, went off and extinguished it.

“It was one of those situations where everything that was supposed to go right all fell into place,” Hanks said. “It was an awesome day.”

In the city of Durango, there’s no requirement for sprinkler systems in single-family homes, though more than 500 homes are equipped in the fire district’s jurisdiction, Hanks said.

Newly adopted codes, however, require apartment complexes with more than 16 units to have sprinkler systems. The complex in question had only 12 units, but because it’s used for affordable housing, it falls under different regulations.

“This was good news,” Hanks said. “It all worked like it was supposed to.”

Residential, Residential High Rise

Niagara Falls, NY – Fire sprinkler helped suppress fire on 15th floor of high rise apartment building

A driver for the Meals on Wheels program helped avert a potential tragedy in an apartment building in the 900 block of Cedar Avenue late Friday morning.

Falls firefighters said the driver was making a lunchtime delivery on the 15th floor of the Niagara Towers apartment building when he discovered a fire there.

“He saw smoke coming out of an apartment and a person on the ground,” Falls Fire Chief Joe Pedulla sad.

Pedulla said crews from the 10th Street Fire Station, just around the corner from the apartment building, were returning to their hall at the time the fire call came in.

“It’s ironic but they had spent the morning at the fire training tower working on high-rise structure fires,” the fire chief said. “It’s mot something we train for extensively, but the timing was good today.”

As firefighters arrived on the scene, they found the Meals on Wheels driver and the occupant of the 15th floor apartment outside the building on the front lawn. Both were suffering form smoke inhalation. “(Firefighters) saw smoke coming out of the 15th floor, and the driver had helped the resident downstairs,” Pedula said. “We feared that they might be more people on the 15th floor with smoke inhalation.”

But when firefighters arrived on the 15th floor they found no additional victims.

The driver and the occupant of the apartment were hospitalized for treatment.

Pedulla said firefighters attached a hose to a 14th floor standpipe and then battled the fire in the apartment. A sprinkler system in the building helped suppress the fire and kept it from spreading.

The chief said the fire damage was “extensive” but limited to the apartment where the blaze began. He said other floors in the building suffered water damage from the sprinkler system.

The cause of the fire was listed as electrical, stemming from an air conditioner being powered off of an extension cord.