Category Archives: Residential

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Niles, MI – Sprinkler system contains pantry fire at nursing home

Around 8 a.m. Monday, the Niles fire department responded to a pantry fire that broke out at Chalet of Niles, a nursing and memory care center at 911 S. Third St.

Firefighters arrived to find the fire contained by a sprinkler head that was set off. No fire damage occurred.

A few residents were briefly evacuated during the fire, and one staff member who inhaled smoke and was sent to Spectrum Health — Lakeland’s hospital in Niles.

Fire chief Larry Lamb said the incident brought about two lessons.

First was the importance of properly taking care of items with oils on them. While the investigation is not yet complete, he said the department was confident that the fire started by rags that had been used to sop up oils in the kitchen.

Lamb said fires like this start when oiled rags are washed, dried and left in a compacted state, such as in a full laundry basket. The heat and the compacted nature lead to residue oil on the rags catching fire.

“If they do have to clean up those types of things, either don’t launder [the rags] or make sure that once you do launder them, they’re put in a safe place until they’re completely cool,” he said.

The second lesson Lamb thought the incident brought about was the importance of a sprinkler system. If a sprinkler head had not detected the fire, the situation could have been much worse.

“A lot of people say, ‘Well, what about the water damage?’ said Lamb, referring to discussions on sprinkler systems. “If there’s water damage, it’s only there because there would’ve been fire damage, which is much, much worse.”

Apartment Building, Residential

Rochester, MN – Kitchen fire contained to one apartment by fire sprinkler system

The Rochester Fire Department was called to the 1700 block of Quarry Ridge Place Northwest around 11:44 pm. Firefighters say they arrived on scene to find residents evacuating and visual and audible alarms going off. Water was seen flowing from underneath an apartment door and crews forced their way to help a person inside get out of the building.

Firefighters say a small kitchen fire in the apartment had been put out by an activated sprinkler system. Crews shut off the sprinkler, ventilated the apartment, and then used vacuums and squeegees to remove the excess water.

One apartment resident was transported by Mayo Clinic Ambulance for evaluation and treatment. The Rochester Fire Department says the cause of the fire is not know but there was flame damage to the kitchen, water damage to the apartment and adjacent hallway, and smoke damage throughout the apartment.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Residential, Townhouse / Condominium

Lake Delton, WI – Automatic sprinkler system completely puts out fire at Kalahari condo; No injuries reported

Authorities say no one was hurt after a kitchen fire started inside a resort condo unit.

According to Delton Fire Department, firefighters found the Kalahari Resort condo full of smoke when they arrived around 6 p.m. on Sunday. Everyone had gotten out safely.

Fire officials say automatic sprinklers were able to put the fire out completely. Firefighters used fans to remove smoke and helped clean up the water.

A teenager left the room while cooking on the stove and forgot to turn the burner off, according to investigators.

Someone else inside the condo woke up to flames in the kitchen and saw the sprinklers turn on right away. Officials describe it as a volatile grease fire.

The condos had to be evacuated for about 45 minutes but the Kalahari is still open for business.

In a Facebook post Sunday night, fire officials say this incident is an example of the importance of functioning sprinkler systems.

Apartment Building, Residential

Venice, FL – Stove fire extinguished by fire sprinkler; No injuries reported

Just before 9 p.m. on Tuesday, June 4, Venice and Sarasota County Fire Departments responded to 221 Harbor Drive for a structure fire.

Upon arrival, firefighters found light gray smoke coming from unit two of the residence.

Crews entered the structure and found a fire sprinkler spraying water onto a stove fire.

Crews extinguished the fire and shut the water to the unit. The Salvation Army was contacted to assist a mother and child with relocation efforts. No injuries were reported.

Other - Residential, Residential

Visalia, CA – Dryer fire at homeless shelter stopped by fire sprinkler activation; No injuries reported

Visalia’s largest homeless shelter had a close call after a industrial-sized dryer caught fire early Tuesday morning, according to Visalia Fire Department.

Thankfully the damage was minimal but Visalia Rescue Mission (VRM) will be in the market for a new dryer and possibly a fresh coat of paint. 

At 1:07 a.m., firefighters responded to a reported fire at the rescue mission, located at 322 Northeast First Avenue. The fire was reported in a laundry room toward the back of the men’s facility.

VRM offers meals and laundry services to many Visalia families and residents. 

When the first crew arrived, they didn’t see smoke coming from the building. Eventually, fire crews found the fire coming from a dryer in the laundry room, according to Battalion Chief Darrin Hughes.

The fire was contained to the laundry room. The fire caused a sprinkler to activate which stop the spread of flames, Hughes said. 

Mission staff and Visalia police helped evacuate those who were in the building. It’s unknown how many people were inside the building when the fire was reported.

No injuries were reported, firefighters said. 

Utilities to the facility were left on so the mission could operate normally, Hughes said.

The cause was “undetermined,” Hughes added. The fire caused more than $5,000 in damage to the dryer. Water damage was minimal. 

The property is worth approximately $350,000.

Finance Director Shon Baldwin encouraged anyone looking to support the mission in light of Tuesday morning’s fire to donate through the nonprofit’s website. 

Apartment Building, Residential

Augusta, ME – Third-floor apartment fire mitigated by sprinkler system; No injuries reported

Fire Chief Roger Audette said the quick response from city firefighters — and an operational sprinkler and alarm system — subdued a potentially dangerous fire downtown on Monday.

The fire at 227 Water St. was reported by an alarm around 4:40 p.m. Monday. Firefighters closed down a portion of Water Street until about 5:45 p.m.

There was heavy smoke on the third floor, Audette said, but it was not visible from the street.

He said the fire started in a third-floor apartment’s closet after rags, coated with a combination of wood stain and polyurethane used to finish hardwood flooring, “spontaneously combusted” because they were not disposed of properly.

Audette said the fire was not suspicious.

“It was in a bad spot,” he said. “It could have gone up into the attic, (where it would have been more difficult to fight).”

Audette said a sprinkler head in the closet kept the fire down until crews could extinguish it completely. He said there was “quite a bit of damage” to the building, as well as water damage to some electrical systems.

No one was hurt in the fire.

The building, which contains Guerrette Properties and other businesses, is owned by Smithtown Four LLC, according to city tax records. Representatives from Guerrette Properties did not return a request for comment by presstime.

Crews from Gardiner, Chelsea and Hallowell offered station coverage while Augusta crews were on the scene.

Code Enforcement Officer Keegan Ballard said the city uses the National Fire Protection Agency Life Safety Code, as recommended by the state fire marshal’s office. He said the code does not require sprinklers in buildings explicitly. Ballard said fire protection standards for buildings are done on a case-by-case basis.

“New mixed-use occupancies are required to have a sprinkler or fire separation,” he said. “It really depends on the use (of the building) or if the floors above are utilized.”

Ballard said the city relies on separation between residential buildings to mitigate the risk of large fires engulfing multiple structures. In a downtown area where buildings are connected, he said, fire safety protocols are much more important.

“It’s absolutely very important,” Ballard said of using the standards. “In a downtown where there’s no separation, it’s crucial … to buying time for emergency services to get there.”

Apartment Building, Residential

Fort Bend County, TX – (No media coverage) One sprinkler head extinguishes apartment fire; No injuries reported

On June 1, 2019 at approximately 21:18 hours, Investigators from Fort Bend County Fire Marshal’s Office responded to an apartment fire located at 16731 Beechnut St. Houston TX 77083 (Greens at Brentford Apartments). Community Fire Department requested investigators from the Fort Bend County Fire Marshal’s Office respond. Upon arrival, investigators found that a small cooking fire had occurred in an apartment. One sprinkler head activated and extinguished the fire. The affected apartment had minor damage. No damage was reported to any other living units. No injuries were reported.

Apartment Building, Residential

Orange, TX – Sprinkler system activation controls apartment fire

Firefighters in Orange say a group of Samaritans forced entry into an apartment Sunday to extinguish a fire.

Orange Fire Department was dispatched to a fire at approximately 2 a.m. Sunday at the Velma Jeter Apartments, in the 5700 block of Velma Jeter Drive in Orange.

According to residents at the scene, they were awakened by the sounding fire alarm going off from the blaze. 

Several residents noticed the fire in the apartment and quickly grabbed nearby fire extinguishers to extinguish the blaze.  

One man broke the glass to retrieve an extinguisher stored in the complex’s sidewalk, kicked in the apartment door and extinguished the fire. The man had to be treated on the scene by fire responders due to smoke inhalations after he collapsed from going inside the burning unit. 

He did not require transport to a hospital.

When firefighters arrived, the fire was mostly out with heavy smoke coming from the unit. They did spend some time verifying the fire was out and that the damage was limited to the single unit.

The occupant of the apartment was not home at the time, and according to neighbors, the resident was seen moving out earlier in the day.

The fire could have been much worse had the sprinkler system not done its job and the residents had not teamed up and worked together according to firefighters.

Nine portable fire extinguishers were used by the neighbors before the fire department arrived.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation by the City of Orange Fire Marshal.

Apartment Building, Residential

Charlottesville, VA – Sprinkler systems puts out dryer fire, keeps fire from spreading to entire apartment complex

Some people living in an apartment complex near the University of Virginia Corner are without a home after an early morning fire.

Firefighters were called to the 200 block of 14th Street Northwest just after 2 a.m. Tuesday, June 4. When they got on scene, they found a dryer on fire on the fourth floor of the building.

Crews credit the sprinkler system for keeping the fire contained to just the dryer.

“One of the lessons of an incident like this is just how important it is to have a working sprinkler system and alarm system,” Charlottesville Fire Chief Andrew Baxter said. “That sprinkler system saved lives tonight, there’s no question about it.”

No one was inside the apartment at the time of the fire.

Baxter says people living inside two apartments have temporarily been displaced due to smoke and water damage throughout the building.