Category Archives: Single Family Home

Residential, Single Family Home

Ventura, CA – Fire in single family home contained by residential sprinkler system; No injuries reported

Crews responded to a fire at a home Friday afternoon in Ventura, officials said.  The incident was reported fire just after 3:50 p.m. in the 100 block of South Dunning Street, according to the city of Ventura Fire Department.

Upon arrival, crews found a fire in the kitchen on the second floor of a home and had it extinguished within 10 minutes, officials said. A sprinkler system was activated as a result of the fire and contained it, but caused water damage on both floors of the residence. Three adults were displaced as a result of the fire, officials said.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.  There are two homes on the property where the incident was reported, authorities said. The fire was in a house behind the main house, authorities said.

Residential, Single Family Home

Camas, WA – Fire in house under construction is extinguished by sprinklers

A fire started in a Camas home under construction sometime over the weekend, and fire sprinklers installed in the house put out the fire before anyone noticed.

The home, at 3210 N.W. Hood Court, Camas, is in the sheetrock phase of construction, according to an email from Randy Miller, deputy fire marshal at the Camas-Washougal Fire Department, and the fire started in the laundry room wall and burned into the home’s entry way and attic.

Even though there were plastic protective cups over the sprinkler heads to protect them during construction, “the plastic covers still melted away in time for the two heads that were heat activated to control and extinguish the fire,” Miller wrote.

The fire department was called Monday morning after the subdivision supervisor for Pahlisch Homes unlocked the house and saw the damage. Fire Marshal Ron Schumacher and Miller investigated the fire, and “give credit to the fire sprinklers for avoiding to have our fire crews dispatched to a fully involved structure fire with exposures in the form of other homes under construction,” Miller wrote.

This was the fourth Camas house fire put out by a home sprinkler system, according to Miller. At the Camas city council meeting on April 18, the councilors voted unanimously in favor of an ordinance requiring all newly built homes in the city to contain fire sprinklers, although many residents in Camas have been installing them in new homes for more than a decade because of a fee waiver the city put in place in 2003.

Last year, 215 new homes were built in Camas, and all but one of them were built with a fire sprinkler system.

 

Residential, Single Family Home

Napa, CA – Residential sprinkler system suppresses garage fire; No injuries reported

A smoke alarm and sprinkler system helped to snuff out a fire that broke out in a north Napa home Saturday night, according to firefighters.

Napa Fire was sent to the 2000 block of Trower Avenue at 11:15 p.m. after reports that a garage was on fire, Capt. Ty Becerra reported. The first of three fire units to arrive at the home saw light smoke coming from the garage, and firefighters found an ashtray inside the garage that had ignited combustible chemicals, according to Becerra. 

The homeowner, who had been in the garage that evening before going to bed, was awakened by a smoke alarm, took his wife and an infant outside and called 911. As firefighters were arriving, a sprinkler head activated in the garage and suppressed the flames, Becerra said. 

Fire crews stayed for about 45 minutes to help the homeowner clear out the remaining combustibles and control the sprinkler flow, according to Becerra. No injuries to the family or firefighters were reported.

A damage estimate was not immediately available, but Becerra said damage appeared to be limited to items inside the garage.

Residential, Single Family Home

Mountain View, CA – House fire held in check by sprinkler system; No injuries reported

Mountain View firefighters on Sunday extinguished a house fire in the 200 block of Mariposa Avenue. The blaze started in the kitchen when all of the residents were out.  The fire was first reported at 11:10 a.m. on Sunday when people passing by began to notice smoke billowing out of the two-story house. By this time, the house’s fire sprinkler system had triggered and began suppressing the blaze.

Fire crews arrived on the scene within minutes and had the fire fully extinguished by 11:22 a.m. Exactly what sparked the fire remains unclear, and fire officials said Monday that they are still investigating the incident. Damage from the fire was limited to the kitchen area.

“This did demonstrate that a sprinkler system will hold a fire in check,” said fire spokesman Lynn Brown. “It was a happy ending. Shortly afterward the family arrived home, and searched for their cat. The missing feline was eventually found, Brown said.

Residential, Single Family Home

Pensacola, FL – Sprinkler system activates to help control house fire; No injuries

No one was injured, but a family was displaced by a house fire Sunday afternoon, an Escambia County news release said. At 4:10 p.m., Escambia County Fire Rescue responded to a residential fire in the 1600 block of Governors Drive near East Johnson Avenue.

When firefighters arrived, they found light smoke showing from the entry way of the home. The fire was brought under control at 4:26 p.m., and the residents of the home were displaced because of water damage from the sprinkler system.

Escambia County Fire Rescue reminds citizens to never leave cooking food unattended and to keep cooking areas clean and free of grease and other combustibles (potholders, towels, rags, drapes and food packaging), which can catch fire easily.

The blaze Sunday resulted in the eighth green light being replaced for the “Keep the Wreath Green” fire safety campaign. The “Keep the Wreath Green” fire safety campaign is a collaborative initiative with City of Pensacola and Santa Rosa County to promote fire safety during the month of December. During the month-long campaign, five-foot wreaths will be on display at 23 different county fire stations.

Every time firefighters respond to a residential fire, a green light bulb will be replaced with a red one to remind citizens of the dangers posed by holiday decorations.

Residential, Single Family Home

Tucson, AZ – Sprinkler system keeps fire from spreading in single-family home

A house fire in the 4700 block of east Starflower street was extinguished quickly and without incident. Rural Metro Dire Dept. says that a quick response time, successful tactics and a well maintained sprinkler system played a significant role in snuffing out the house fire.

The fire is said to have started in the kitchen and thanks to the sprinklers it was contained there.  The prevention department of Rural Metro fire says that this situation goes to show that checking smoke detectors and other preventative methods can help immensely. 

As of now the investigation is ongoing, the cause of the fire is unknown and there is no information as to cost of the damage.

Residential, Single Family Home

Brentwood, CA – Residential sprinkler system contains garage fire at house

Fire crews were called to the 1300 block of Castello Ranch Road around 1:45 p.m. Monday and found a fence on fire between two houses, Battalion Chief Jeff Burris of the East Contra Costa County Fire Protection District said in a statement. The fire also extended into garage of one of the houses.

Crews extinguished the fire on the fence, while the fire in the garage activated a residential sprinkler system that limited the damage to the exterior of the left side of the garage wall, Burris said. Investigators determined that ashes from a barbecue that were thrown into a plastic garbage bag stored next to the fence likely started the fire.

The fence between the homes was destroyed. Investigators said the financial damages to the fence and garage were approximately $50,000.  Nobody was injured.

Residential, Single Family Home

Rockland, ME – House fire quickly extinguished by sprinkler system

Two house fires were quickly extinguished but could have had severe consequences if not for safety systems in each residence, the local fire chief said in a press release Monday. The first fire call came in shortly before 11:30 p.m. Friday when Rockland police officers heard an exterior bell connected to the sprinkler system as they passed by a home on Union Street.

A resident had dumped the contents of an ashtray into a plastic bag and left the bag on the first floor before going to bed on the second floor. The bag ignited within 30 minutes but was put out by an automatic sprinkler system. The activation of the sprinkler awoke the resident who came downstairs to begin a cleanup.

While the sprinkler alarm went off, Fire Chief Adam Miceli said that the only smoke detector found in the residence had not gone off during the fire. The chief said that could have been because the sprinklers doused the fire before enough smoke had been generated to activate the smoke alarm. He said that the fire was located near the stairs and that there was not a second exit.

 

Residential, Single Family Home

Chapel Hill, NC – Home cooking-related fire put out by sprinkler system

1 Comment

A sprinkler system extinguished a cooking-related fire Tuesday at a home in the Southern Village Neighborhood in Chapel Hill. Just before 1 p.m., Chapel Hill fire received a call from an alarm monitoring company reporting a fire at 500 Market Street.

Six trucks responded to the call as a sprinkler system was able to put the fire out. Responding fire fighters worked to ensure the fire was out. Chapel Hill fire officials said the cause of the fire was cooking related. No one was injured in the incident.