Apartment Building, Residential Hagerstown, MD – Kitchen fire at new apartment complex extinguished by sprinkler system October 8, 2016 viking210 A fire that broke out at the Reserve at Collegiate Acres apartment complex in Hagerstown Thursday afternoon could have been much worse if not for the building’s second-floor sprinkler system. Firefighters from the city and Maugansville responded to the apartment complex on Buckeye Circle at 4:45 p.m. to find the fire-alarm system activated and occupants evacuating the building, according to a Hagerstown Fire Department news release. Residents reported a fire in the second-floor kitchen apartment, which had been extinguished by the sprinklers. Firefighters verified that the fire was out, shut off the sprinklers and worked to contain the remaining water, the release said. “This new 28-unit apartment building would most likely have suffered significant damage, displacing much or all of the occupants without the fire sprinkler system,” city Fire Marshal Doug DeHaven said in the release. “We have had too many large fires recently in the area. Today, we saw the importance of working smoke alarms, which activated alerting the apartment occupants of the fire; the fire sprinkler system, which extinguished a growing fire in the apartment; and the buildings fire alarm that alerted others within the building and notified the fire department,” he said. The fire marshal’s investigation determined that a pot of grease on the stove caught fire, spreading into the exhaust fan and the above cabinets, the release said. The occupants of the apartment found the burning pot and attempted to remove it, which activated the sprinklers, the release said.
