Category Archives: Warehouse

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San Leandro, CA – Fire at warehouse with polystyrene foam contained with help from sprinklers

Firefighters contained a 1-alarm blaze to a warehouse in San Leandro Wednesday evening with the help of the building’s sprinkler system. Alameda County Fire Department crews were dispatched a commercial warehouse in the 2400 block of Polvorosa Avenue at 5:33 p.m.

Blocks of polystyrene foam were burning and filling the structure with a large volume of black smoke, but a sprinkler system stopped the spread of the fire until firefighters arrived. No injuries were reported. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

 

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Hebron, OH – Fire at Owens Corning warehouse contained with help from sprinkler system

Insulation at Owens Corning’s Hebron building caught fire Thursday, bringing fire crews from multiple departments to the warehouse. Newark Fire Department Assistant Chief Tom O’Brien said the sprinkler system contained the worst of the fire. O’Brien said he was not aware of any injuries.

Crews will rotate in an out as they find and extinguish all the bundles of insulation. The process could take hours.

Storage / Warehouse, Warehouse

Charlotte, NC – Warehouse fire “mostly extinguished” by sprinkler system, according to fire officials

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Charlotte fire crews responded to a two-alarm warehouse fire Saturday in north Charlotte. It happened around 1 p.m. on Century Place. The fire was caused by an electrical issue with a light fixture, fire officials said.

The battalion chief said crews initially responded to a water overflow call but saw the smoke when they got on scene. No one was inside the building at the time of the fire and no injuries were reported.  According to the battalion chief, the fire was mostly extinguished by the building’s sprinkler system.

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Elgin, IL – Sprinkler system holds warehouse fire in check

A fire damaged the inventory Monday morning in an Elgin warehouse that sells shipping and storage boxes, fire officials said.

The fire started just after 9 a.m. at Boxpartners.com, 2650 Galvin Drive, in the northwest corner of the warehouse, Elgin fire officials said in a news release.

A  sprinkler system held the fire in check until firefighters arrived to extinguish it. Nobody was injured. The blaze caused about $25,000 in damage. It remains under investigation.

Storage / Warehouse, Warehouse

Hanover Twp, PA – Warehouse fire held in check by sprinkler system

A fire in the warehouse of CVS Caremark is under investigation. Crews responded to the facility shortly before 7 a.m. for commercial fire alarm — scanner reports indicated a commercial structure fire a short time later.

Lt. Bill McDaniels of the Hanover Township Fire Department said that the fire was in the warehouse area where medicine was stored on racks. The fire did not spread and cause any structural damage to the building.

“The sprinkler system activated, held it right there until we got in there,” he said. McDaniels added that crews extinguished the blaze quickly. Smoke billowed out of the building from a loading dock, and crews used fans to help ventilate the building. McDaniels said employees were in the building at the time of the fire, and said employees in the office portion of the building would be able to continue working.

The warehouse, he said, would be off limits until the smoke cleared. McDaniels said the source of the fire is still under investigation. No injuries were reported.

Storage / Warehouse, Warehouse

Hampton, VA – Vehicle fire in warehouse held in check by sprinkler system

A business caught fire in the Copeland Industrial Park this afternoon. The fire started in a warehouse around 2:30 p.m. in the 100 block of E St. after a vehicle’s engine went haywire, Hampton Division of Fire and Rescue Battalion Chief Anthony Chittum said in a news release.

Firefighters got there and saw smoke coming from inside the warehouse and got reports that all employees had already evacuated, Chittum said.  They went inside and discovered a commercial vehicle ablaze, with the fire spreading to nearby storage containers, he said.

The building’s sprinkler system helped keep the fire in check, and firefighters extinguished it within 15 minutes, Chittum said. Investigators ruled the fire an accident after determining there was a mechanical failure in the vehicle’s engine, he said.

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Petaluma, CA – Warehouse fire fully extinguished by sprinkler system; damage limited

A fire safety sprinkler system installed inside of a warehouse complex on Petaluma’s Industrial  Avenue managed to fully extinguish a fire that broke out inside of the building Sunday evening,  limiting the damage to an estimated $50,000, according to the Petaluma Fire Department.

Petaluma firefighters responded to a water flow alarm at 1340 Industrial Avenue at 7:30 p.m.  yesterday, and arrived to find the odor of smoke and water coming out from under the structure’s
exterior doors. Crews forced their way into several of the building’s units, discovering one to be  completely full of smoke with around three inches of water covering the floor.

The sprinkler system had fully extinguished the fire, which appeared to have started in an office area,  according to the fire department. The system had caused minor flooding in an adjoining unit.
Crews shut down the system, evacuated the smoke and began removing water to prevent further damage.

The business owners arrived later that evening, and are now working with a local cleanup company, according to the fire department.  There were no individuals working in the building at the time, and there were no injuries. The cause  of the fire remains under investigation.

Firefighters from the Petaluma Fire Department and Cal Fire responded to the incident, with the  Lakeville Volunteer Fire Department and the Wilmar Volunteer Fire Department providing coverage  in the city.

Storage / Warehouse, Warehouse

Henrico, VA – Sprinkler system contains warehouse fire helping to limit damage

Firefighters were called out to the 5200 block of Klockner Drive just before 2:00 a.m. for a fire alarm.  When crews arrived on scene, they initially did not see the blaze — but began to investigate. That’s when they found rubber foam inside the warehouse had caught on fire.

Fortunately, no one was inside when this warehouse caught fire.  16 fire units were called out to the scene to help battle the blaze. With the help of the building’s sprinkler system, firefighters were able to mark the fire under control right around 3:20 a.m.

Now, the investigation begins to determine what caused the fire. The Fire Marshall’s Office is on scene.

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Salt Lake City, UT – Warehouse fire contained by sprinkler system; Fire jumped to building from semi-trailer in parking lot

The fire started about 3:30 p.m. in the parking lot at 879 S. Gladiola St. (3400 West), catching a semitrailer on fire and then jumping to the building, according to Salt Lake Fire Capt. Mark Bednarik. The fire reached one business, a leather and furniture company, while sprinkler systems in the building kept it from reaching other businesses.

As many as 70 firefighters were on the scene Sunday afternoon, Bednarik reported, extinguishing the fire in the warehouse by about 5:15 p.m. Had it spread deeper into the warehouse, crews would have faced “a very different fire,” he said.

“The potential is very high (for damage),” the captain said. “They use a lot of foams and a lot of synthetic materials, and once that ignites, there are very toxic fumes and very hot fires that are difficult to extinguish.” The fire caused at least $150,000 in damage to the business, Bednarik said, with the total expected to climb as water damage to the furniture business’ inventory is assessed.

“One of the business owners made the comment that if the water soaks up into that foam, they could be throwing away $50,000 to $60,000 in product,” Bednarik said. “That’s probably what they’re going to be facing over the next week or so.” With the warehouse fire extinguished, crews turned their focus to the flames that had burned nearly an acre of vegetation and destroyed other items in the yard, including pallets, trash bins and other machinery.

Firefighters remained on scene Sunday evening to manage a number of lingering burning and hot spots. “Once you get those plastics burning, they burn hot and they burn deep through that pile,” Bednarik said. “(Firefighters) are using a front loader from the city to break it apart and open it up.”

Crews were also forced to deal with explosions coming from propane tanks and other items inside the building as they battled the blaze. The cause of the initial fire is unknown, though Bednarik said the fire does not appear to be suspicious. Crews closed roads for about a half a block around the building as they fought the fire.

Storage / Warehouse, Warehouse

Charlottetown, PE, Canada – Sprinkler system contains storage fire at building supplies business

A fire at the Kent Buildings Supplies in Charlottetown last night was the result of halogen bulbs overheating from the emergency lighting, said Charlottetown fire inspector Winston Bryan after the investigation was concluded this morning.

The Charlottetown Fire Department responded to the call at 10:50 p.m. yesterday to the building on 65 Marsh Rd.  Pallets of inventory and cardboard were ignited from the emergency lighting, which was powered by halogen bulbs.

The halogen bulbs produced enough heat to cause ignition of a box, which then spread to other boxes on the shelving unit.

The fire was contained in the warehouse area and shelving units, said Bryan.  What contained the fire was the sprinkler system, said Bryan.

All clear was given at around 2 a.m. today with no injuries sustained Though this doesn’t happen often, it tends to happen more so in warehouses with the stacking of goods up against lights.

“Over time they will ignite,” said Bryan.

It boils down to training within the businesses to install lighting at proper heights.  “Take it into consideration what you are actually storing in your warehouse… should be designed around that.”

“The sprinkler system basically contained the fire to one particular area of the building,” he said. “So having your sprinkler system maintained and inspected on a year to year base, as per code, assisted in the suppression of the fire.”