Grocery Store / Super Center, Retail Yakima, WA – Sprinkler system contains suspected arson fire at Bi-Mart store January 18, 2017 viking210 Authorities say a fire that caused an estimated $1 million damage at the Bi-Mart store on North 40th Avenue early Tuesday morning was deliberately set and may have stemmed from a burglary. Evidence suggests it was arson, said Capt. Jeff Pfaff, spokesman for the Yakima Fire Department, which is working with police to determine the exact cause of the fire and where it started. Firefighters were called to the store, 1207 N. 40th Ave., at 2:15 a.m. on a report that water was flowing in the building’s sprinkler system. Arriving crews found smoke coming from the back of the building and cardboard boxes burning in a second-story storage area, Pfaff said. The building’s back doors were open, suggesting someone entered after the store closed for the night, said police spokesman Mike Bastinelli. A search of the area with a police dog was not successful. It is unknown if anything was taken from the store, Bastinelli said. Twenty-four firefighters worked to put out the fire, which Pfaff said was confined to the upper storage room due to the sprinkler system. However, smoke went through the building and water pooled in the storage area damaging merchandise, Pfaff said. Fire officials estimate damage at $1,005,000. Officials said it is unknown how much of the store’s stock, including food, can be salvaged. The store will close for an indefinite time while it is cleaned up and the merchandise is assessed, said Don Leber, Bi-Mart’s vice president of advertising and marketing. Leber said the store, which opened in November 1959, employs about 55 people. Some of them will be transferred temporarily to the Bi-Mart on South Fifth Avenue to help with the additional shoppers expected there, while the rest will be assisting with the cleanup at the North 40th Avenue store. Bi-Mart is also transferring prescriptions for customers of the North 40th Avenue store to its other Yakima location, Leber said. He said the company hopes to reopen the pharmacy in the next couple of days, but people will have to use the outside window. Bastinelli said Bi-Mart was one of four reported burglaries within a 3-mile radius that police were investigating Tuesday. However, he said Bi-Mart does not appear to be related to the other cases. Detectives are investigating break-ins at the Conoco gas station at 4708 Tieton Drive; Tom-Tom Espresso, 412 S. 40th Ave.; and the Sunshine Mart, 6712 Tieton Drive, Bastinelli said.
Grocery Store / Super Center, Retail South Lake Tahoe, CA – Fire in attic mechanical room at Target store contained by sprinkler system January 8, 2017 viking210 A fire broke out in a furnace room at the South Lake Tahoe TJ Maxx store just before 7:00 p.m. Monday night, resulting in the store filling up with smoke and water. South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue personnel responded, and found the store’s sprinkler system was able to keep the fire from spreading and it was contained to the one room. The furnace was located above the store’s dressing rooms. With all of the water used to put out the fire, the ceiling collapsed and created quite a mess in that portion of the store. “Much of the floor is very wet,” said SLTFR Battalion Chief Tim Spencer. “There was light smoke inside so there may be some smokey clothing.” With the freezing temperatures in South Lake Tahoe, Spencer said they had concern about frozen water. As of 8:45 p.m., they are in clean-up mode and making sure the scene is safe. “We are ready to turn the store back to manager,” said Spencer. “It’s now up to the insurance and restoration companies.” Firefighters from Lake Valley Fire also responded to the store which is located at the Y.
Grocery Store / Super Center, Retail Marietta, OH – Sprinklers activate to help fight fire at supermarket bakery November 15, 2016 viking210 An afternoon fire leaves the Giant Eagle in Marietta closed until further notice. According to the Marietta Fire Department, the oven in the bakery caught on fire shortly after 1:00 PM. The employees say the oven had a sudden spike in temperature, so they shut it off. Then, there was a minor explosion. The sprinkler system was activated and the fire department arrived on scene.The store was evacuated and is closed until further notice to assess the damage. Fortunately, there were no injuries.
Grocery Store / Super Center, Retail Dillingham, AK – Arson fire at grocery market knocked down by sprinkler system October 12, 2016 viking210 An automatic sprinkler system kept early morning fires set inside the N&N Market down, but not out, and the Dillingham Volunteer Fire Department was called to the scene before 8:00 a.m. “When we made entry, the building was full of smoke, pretty heavy smoke,” said Assistant Fire Chief Malcolm Wright. “There were fires in several different places, and they’d been knocked down by the sprinkler system. The sprinklers did their job, but there was still a lot of smoke, and [we] had to overhaul the materials that had burned.” Wright said there appeared to be two spots fires were started in the store. One was back in the clothing section near the footwear, and another was where bulk paper towels are sold on an aisle end cap, next to the produce section and the freezers. Those were areas firefighters focused on pulling apart materials to stamp out the fire. Wright, a veteran firefighter, had no doubt the fires had been set intentionally. “Yeah, there is no way I could waffle on that. But I want to leave it to police to say more when they’re ready,” he said. As to the extent of the damage, Wright said it was “pretty heavy” inside, but credited the sprinklers with preventing the fire from spreading further. “There was a bunch of stuff [damaged] on the shelves, some shelving, some lights, but probably much more water damage I would think. Took us a while to get the sprinklers turned back off,” he said. Two Dillingham police officers were inside collecting evidence immediately after the firefighters cleared the building. Chief Dan Pasquariello could not be reached for comment Sunday morning. A witness at the scene, who asked not to be named, told police that noises were heard and the power was out at N&N around 3:30 a.m., and not long after a vehicle sped quickly from behind the store and drove a ways down the road before turning its lights on. Other store employees at the scene said the perpetrator or perpetrators had broken a window in the rear of the building to gain entrance. No injuries were reported. The N&N Market was closed for business Sunday. There are city cameras around the port entrance, and in the past N&N Market has operated cameras in the store which have helped lead to the arrest of other burglars. So far Dillingham Police have not said what evidence was collected, what if anything was stolen, or if they are looking for any suspects. The volunteer crash rescue squad also responded to a vehicle accident north on Lake Road earlier in the morning, and the fire department was pulled away from the scene of the N&N fire after a report of a fire in HUD housing was called in. That turned out to be a false alarm; smoke from fireworks shot into the woodline to scare off a bear had been mistaken for a fire. Update, 12:45 p.m.: Dillingham Police Chief Dan Pasquariello issued a press release, confirming an arson and burglary investigation is underway, though no suspects have been named. “Investigation revealed that person(s) had broken into the building, stole numerous items from the store, and deliberately set the store on fire,” he wrote. Pasquariello said the ATM had been targeted, but did not want to comment on other items stolen. He did not say how many people had been involved, or if the Department has suspects in mind. The chief said the police are in the early stages of their investigation, and has asked anyone with information regarding burglary and arson at N&N early Sunday morning to contact DPD at 842-5354.
Grocery Store / Super Center, Retail Phoenix, AZ – Sprinklers extinguish blaze after fireworks set on fire at Walmart; No injuries June 17, 2016 viking210 The Phoenix Fire Department is asking for the public’s help identifying three people — two males and a female — who are seen on surveillance video leaving the scene of a fireworks display that was set on fire inside a Walmart store Wednesday night. Firefighters responded to the Walmart store at 5250 W. Indian School Road on Wednesday night after the fire started. The fire department received numerous 911 calls and when they arrived at the store, there was a lot of smoke. The fireworks can be seen on video burning in a large flame as the trio walk away. According to Phoenix Fire, the sprinkler system helped to quickly extinguish the blaze. Firefighters said several people suffered from smoke-related complaints but no one was taken to a hospital or injured in the incident. Authorities are looking for the three people believed responsible for the incident. Anyone with information about them is asked to call the Phoenix Police Department at 480-WIT-NESS.
Grocery Store / Super Center, Retail Marshall Town, IA – Freezer fire at grocery store controlled with help from sprinkler system May 20, 2016 viking210 Firefighters were sent to a grocery store on a report of a fire in a freezer Thursday. Crews were sent to the Aldi’s store at 2405 South Center Street at 9:20 a.m. The store was evacuated as workers tried to track down which freezer the burning smell was coming from. The fire was seen coming from the back side of a freezer. By the time fire crews arrived, moderate smoke has filled the entire store, but no fire was visible from the entrance. As they started work, firefighters reported the sprinkler system activated. No injuries were reported. The investigation found the cause of the fire to be electrical and damage is estimated at $75,000.
Grocery Store / Super Center, Retail Yuma, AZ – Fire in grocery store storage room extinguished by sprinkler system May 11, 2016 viking210 In one of three fires that happened in Yuma over the weekend, a sprinkler system at a grocery store extinguished a fire Friday afternoon that started in a storage room. Yuma Fire Department spokesman Mike Erfert said that at about 1 p.m. a water flow alarm was received, indicating the fire sprinkler system had activated inside the Del Sol Market, located at 367 W. 16th St. Erfert said firefighters responded to the scene and quickly made entry into the building, where they found that a fire had been extinguished by an activated sprinkler head. Firefighters ensured the fire was completely out and assisted with clean-up. Damage was limited to the exhaust fan that had caught fire. “Fire sprinkler systems can keep fires from spreading and can also extinguish them,” Erfert said. Erfert explained that the fan was located in the ceiling of a storage/utility room and could have easily caused serious damage, disrupting operations of the market, if it had not been extinguished by the nearest sprinkler head.
Grocery Store / Super Center, Retail East Hampton, NY – Sprinkler system helps contain fire at grocery store April 30, 2016 viking210 Stop and Shop in East Hampton Village reopened Wednesday evening after a fire broke out in a mechanical room hours earlier. East Hampton Fire Department Chief Richard Osterberg Jr. said a sprinkler system helped to contain the fire, which appeared to have been caused by debris, such as cardboard, that had been placed too close to a generator. Employees at the grocery store at 67 Newtown Lane called 911 when they saw smoke, which had spread to the main part of the store, the chief said. They got customers out of the building, he said. Simultaneously, police dispatchers received a call from the alarm company about an automatic fire alarm that had been activated. Smoke was coming out of the back of the store, though it was hard to see because it is up against trees in Herrick Park, he added. Gerry Turza, the second assistant chief, was the first chief to arrive, and he began “an aggressive interior attack” of the fire, Chief Osterberg said. Within 15 minutes, firefighters used 350 feet of hose to douse the flames “before damage really spread,” he said. Only some of the contents of the room, which also contains refrigerator compressors and circuit breakers, were damaged. The building itself was not compromised. Chief Osterberg notified the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, which oversees grocery stores, because there was a risk of food contamination from the smoke that spread to the store. He said a representative was to visit the store from the Brooklyn office and would have to sign-off on the reopening. A Stop and Shop representative could not immediately be reached, but an employee at the store Wednesday evening said it had reopened around 6:30 p.m. Managing the fire scene was no easy task, as the store is located in the middle of the village business district, off the busy Reutershan parking lot, with many cars and people coming and going, the chief said. The East Hampton Village Police Department was a tremendous help, he said, in closing off the parking lot to additional cars and keeping the entrances open for fire trucks to get through. “P.D. was really phenomenal,” he said. The Stop and Shop staff of about 20 was also helpful; they didn’t panic, they evacuated the building, and then stayed together in the parking lot so that they could all be accounted for and there was no question whether firefighters needed to search for anyone. “They have a plan in place that they do run practice on,” the chief said.
Grocery Store / Super Center, Retail Knoxville, TN – Grocery store fire put out by sprinkler system; Store quickly returns to normal operations March 31, 2016 viking210 Fire crews filled the parking lot at a North Knoxville grocery store Monday night after a vent fire in a back bathroom filled the store with smoke. The call came just before 10 p.m. at Kroger, 2217 N. Broadway, in the Broadway Shopping Center. Crews say the fire appeared to have started accidentally in an electrical vent in a back bathroom. The store’s sprinkler did its job and put the fire out. The store filled with smoke and 20 people were evacuated. Investigators say no one was injured. Knoxville Fire Department spokesman Capt. D.J. Corcoran says fire inspectors were called to the scene to address inventory storage practices as store stock was blocking the cutoff for the sprinkler system. The store later returned to normal operations
Grocery Store / Super Center, Retail Jerome, ID – Fire officials credit sprinkler system after early morning fire at market March 30, 2016 viking210 Jerome fire officials are crediting a store’s fire suppression system for preventing what could have been a major disaster Sunday. According to the City of Jerome fire crews were called to Ridley’s Family Market at around 6 a.m. to a report of a fire. Jerome Police arrived and found smoke and fire in a back room not open to the public. The store was quickly evacuated before fire crews arrived on scene. The fire spread quickly with help from combustible material inside the store. But, within several minutes the sprinkler system kicked in and halted the spread of the blaze. Once fire crews arrived they searched for any hidden fires and didn’t find any. Investigators believe the fire was accidental. Officials say that the business was able to open several hours after the fire thanks to the sprinkler systems. The City of Jerome says this is the second building saved by a sprinkler system in the last 18 months.
