Category Archives: Warehouse

Storage / Warehouse, Warehouse

Middletown, DE – Fire at Amazon fulfillment center put out by automatic sprinkler system

The Delaware Office of the State Fire Marshal has determined that last night’s Amazon fire in Middletown was accidental and caused minimal damage.  The Volunteer Hose Company of Middletown was called to the Amazon Fulfillment Center at 560 Merrimac Avenue at 9:30 pm for a reported fire inside the processing area. Upon arrival, it was learned that the fire sprinkler system had extinguished the fire. State fire investigators were called to the scene According to a release, the fire occurred at the mezzanine level when static electricity ignited leaking vapor from a container of assorted aerosol cans. The area where the fire began was protected by a fully automatic fire sprinkler system which put the fire out and prevented the blaze from spreading. Fire damage was confined to the stockpile of merchandise and was estimated at $1,000. There were no reported injuries, despite scanner news reports to the contrary on Tuesday night.

Storage / Warehouse, Warehouse

Pasco, WA – Early morning warehouse fire contained by sprinkler system; Firefighters finish the job

Firefighters are now investigating an early morning warehouse fire in Pasco. Firefighters responded to the 1400 block of Foster Wells Rd. around 1:30 this morning, after a warehouse caught on fire.
The building houses cardboard boxes, spices and chemicals used in the local packing houses. Firefighters say that the building’s sprinkler system prevented the fire from spreading beyond the pile of cardboard caught on fire. Crews will be on scene for a while clearing the smoke and checking for hot spots. So far, there are no injuries at this time.

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Fresno, CA – Sprinkler system helps suppress blaze at Salvation Army warehouse

A fire at a Salvation Army warehouse near downtown Fresno early Thursday morning burned some boxes of donated items but was largely extinguished by the building’s fire sprinkler system.

Heavy smoke, apparently from burning cardboard boxes, was reported inside the building in the fire reported around 5 a.m. at the warehouse east of Highway 41 and south of Ventura Avenue.  No other information was immediately available.

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Ontelaunee, PA – Sprinkler system keeps fire in Ashley Furniture warehouse from spreading

A two-alarm fire occurred last Thursday night at a warehouse for Ashley Furniture in Ontelaunee Township .  Crews were dispatched about 7:20 p.m. to the first block of Ashley Way for the report of an automatic fire alarm.  Leesport Fire Chief Kenneth Quell said employees were evacuating the large building when firefighters arrived and were directed to an area where they were told that the sprinkler system had been activated.

Quell said firefighters encountered smoke in the building and discovered a small fire contained within a three-level rack system that holds finished furniture in the warehouse. Quell said firefighters knocked down the fire within minutes and had it under control within 30 minutes.

“The fire itself didn’t envelop a very big area,” Quell said. “The sprinklers contained it and kept it from spreading.” About 50 firefighters responded, Quell said. There were no reports of injuries to employees or firefighters. Ashley employees re-entered the building to help remove excess water on the floor from the sprinkler system, Quell said. A state police fire marshal was called to help in the investigation, Quell said. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was called out after the investigation was started, he said. Quell said the cause of the fire is under investigation.

Storage / Warehouse, Warehouse

Windsor, VT – Sprinkler system assists firefighters in bringing large warehouse fire under control

The alarm and sprinkler systems inside a large warehouse at the Windsor Technology Park helped prevent the flames from a fire on Saturday morning from damaging any of the nearly 300 vehicles stored there, co-owner of the park Alan Cummings said on Monday. “We have a sophisticated alarm and sprinkler system so it was caught quickly,” Cummings said. “The furnace was destroyed but nothing else. The fire department did a great job.”

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but fire officials said it started in the elevated furnace in one corner of the building. Windsor Fire Chief Kevin McAllister said when the first crews arrived just past 11 a.m. and opened the doors to warehouse, they saw a “large amount of fire,” but were uncertain of its origin. McAllister said it took about 15-20 minutes to knock down the fire and get it under control; they were able to contain it to the oil-fired furnace.

He said flames did not damage any of the vehicles, which included large RVs, campers, boats and antique automobiles, but there was a lot of thick black smoke throughout the building for a couple of hours and that may have caused some damage. “That stuff can get into anything,” McAllister said. The chief also said a fuel oil line to the furnace ruptured and was spilling oil from a 30,000-gallon underground tank. Some of that oil got outside the building, and officials with the state Agency of Natural Resources were at the park on Monday to meet with Cummings.

“We are assessing the amount of cleanup today,” Cummings said, estimating that only a small amount of oil made it outside the building. The northern end of the affected building where most of the vehicles are stored, is about 65,000 square feet, said Cummings, who owns the park with Hunter Banbury. The entire storage area is around 90,000 square feet, he said. McAllister said the call started out as a “box alarm” but ended up going to a second alarm, bringing in departments from West Windsor, Ascutney, Springfield, Hartland and Hartford. Cummings said the park will replace the furnace and the sprinkler system.

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Chicago, IL – Sprinkler system assists firefighters in controlling blaze at mattress warehouse

Additional crews were called to a fire Monday night at a mattress factory in the Canaryville neighborhood on the South Side.   Firefighters responded shortly after 8:30 p.m. to the fire at the mattress at 4041 Emerald Ave., according to the Chicago Fire Department. Crews were battling the fire from the outside of the building, eventually putting it out by 10:49 p.m.  The block-long building was a “large warehouse” with a heavy fire load as mattresses caught on fire, the fire department said. It had a sprinkler system which helped put out the fire as a fire engine fed it with water.  The building remained structurally sound with only damage to the mattresses on the inside, fire officials said. No injuries were reported.

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Kent, WA – Warehouse fire caused by recharging forklift battery controlled by sprinkler system

What started as a sprinkler water flow alarm (SWFA) on Friday night turned into a commercial fire in the 20100 block of 72 Ave. S., Kent, the Puget Sound Regional Fire Authority reported. No one was in the building at the time of the fire and there were no injuries. When firefighters got on scene they discovered that the entire warehouse and office spaces of the building were filled with smoke, Puget Sound Fire said. The engine company quickly upgraded the alarm to a full “commercial structure fire” to add additional units.

The fire appears to have originated where a forklift’s battery was being charged, fire officials said. The SWFA was set off when the heat from the fire activated the sprinkler head directly above it, exactly as it was designed to do, fire officials said. The movement of water through the pipes sent a signal to the alarm monitoring company, which called the local 911. The activated sprinkler head controlled the fire and kept it from spreading, giving firefighters the time needed to access the inside of the building with fire hoses to fully extinguish it, Puget Sound Fire said. Because of the size and height of the concrete tilt-up style building, firefighters are using large fans to clear out the smoke. A fire investigator will go in once that is accomplished to confirm the cause of the fire.

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Fort Wayne, IN – Warehouse fire held in check by sprinkler system; Firefighters extinguish flames

An employee arriving to work at a warehouse discovered a fire inside the building this morning. Firefighters were called to Heavy Duty Manufacturing at 4317 Clubview Drive, west of Engle Road, just before 6 a.m. Crews found the sprinkler system was holding the fire in check in the warehouse area of the building, the Fort Wayne Fire Department said. Firefighters extinguished the flames in about 20 minutes, the fire department said. The building was damaged by smoke and water and the fire mostly damaged items inside the building, the department said. No one was hurt fighting the fire. The blaze is under investigation.

Storage / Warehouse, Warehouse

Owensboro, KY – Early morning fire at carpet warehouse controlled by sprinkler system

The Owensboro Fire Department responded to an alarm on Salem Drive early Tuesday morning. When crews arrived on the scene around 3:15 AM they noticed smoke showing from Carpets Unlimited. According to a release from OFD, the sprinkler system had activated. Firefighters found smoke in almost every area of the warehouse.

OFD said that sprinkler system controlled most of the fire, and their crews were able to put out the rest. In all, firefighters spent nearly three hours on the scene clearing out smoke and water. The cause of the fire is under investigation, as is the amount of actual smoke and water damage. Fire Chief Steve Mitchell said in a statement, “OFD crews did a tremendous job reducing the loss at this location. Our goal is to do everything we can to help the business get back in operation as quickly as possible.”

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Winston-Salem, NC – Fire crews credit sprinkler system with containing warehouse fire

A warehouse in Winston-Salem caught fire on Tuesday, but nobody was hurt.  Crews were called to a Waste Management facility at 280 Business Park Drive shortly after 6 p.m., according to the Winston-Salem Fire Department.  Thirty-one firefighters had the fire under control in about 35 minutes. Smoke was showing as crews arrived. Firefighters credit the building sprinkler system for helping keep the fire from spreading. A cause has not been released.