Residential, Townhouse / Condominium

Fargo, ND – Garage fire in row house building held in check by sprinkler system

A sprinkler system helped contain a fire in a south Fargo garage Monday, Sept. 18, according to the fire department.  Firefighters responded about 12:45 p.m. to a report of a fire in a garage of a row house building with eight residences at 4648 44th Ave. S.  The first arriving crew found a fire sprinkler operating in the garage of one of the homes. While the sprinkler had not extinguished the fire, it kept it in check until crews could put it out, fire officials said.

The fire appears to have started on a stovetop in the garage. Damage was limited to items in that part of the garage. There was no fire, smoke or water damage inside the house, fire officials said.  The cause of the fire is under investigation. Damage is estimated to be $6,000 to the building and $2,000 to the contents of the garage.

Apartment Building, Residential

East Wenatchee, WA – Sprinkler system limits damage in apartment kitchen fire; No injuries reported

The sprinkler systems that are required by code in East Wenatchee apartment buildings worked perfectly Monday to keep a stove fire from spreading according to fire investigator Brian Brett.  Crews were called just after 11am to the Bello Rio Apartments in the 2-thousand block of Northwest Cascade Avenue.  That’s where Brett said a fire began in one of the apartment units when French fries were left cooking.  Brett said the sprinkler systems are required by code in multi-unit apartment buildings and in this case, prevented the fire from spreading.   Damage was confined to the wall above the stove area.

Hotel / Motel, Hotel / Restaurant

Yuma, AZ – Fire at Candlewood Suites Hotel stopped by sprinkler system

The Yuma Fire Department said a sprinkler system stopped a fire in a local hotel.  YFD said Monday shortly after 9:30 pm, an alarm was reported indicating a fire sprinkler activation at the Candlewood Suites Hotel, 2036 East Avenue 3E. Firefighters said arriving Yuma Fire Department personnel found the building being evacuated, with light smoke and water flowing from a room on the hotel’s second floor. It was determined that there had been a stove top fire and it had been extinguished by the fire sprinkler system. Firefighters confirmed the fire was out and it had not spread beyond the area of the stove.

YFD said the water flow to the sprinkler head was shut off and firefighters worked to ventilate the room and remove the smoke from the area. It was found that the room’s occupant had put a pan of cooking oil on the stove top to heat and had left the room. While they were gone, the oil overheated and ignited. The damage was limited to the immediate area of the stove, with the microwave above the stove starting to melt and catch fire at the time the sprinkler system activated. Had the fire not been extinguished by the fire sprinkler system, extensive damage to the room and other parts of the hotel would have occurred, as well as lives put in danger. This is the third commercial fire sprinkler save in less than a week!

YFD said fire sprinkler systems can keep fires from spreading and can also extinguish them. Fire spreads quickly and can double in size every minute. Even small fires can cause significant damage to property and endanger those nearby. Contrary to many Hollywood portrayals, only sprinkler heads directly exposed to the heat activate, not those in the rest of the room, building, or complex.

Apartment Building, Residential

Charlottetown, PE, Canada – Sprinkler system activates to help control apartment fire

A Charlottetown woman will be out of her apartment for a couple of days after a fire in another apartment set off the sprinkler system in hers, says the Red Cross.  The occupants of seven apartments on Royal Court, off Queen Street, were forced from their homes by the fire early Sunday morning.  Most were able to get back into their apartments a short time later, the Red Cross said, but the woman living below the place where the fire started had her unit flooded. The Red Cross is helping the woman with food and a place to stay for the next couple of days.

Residential, Townhouse / Condominium

Abingdon, MD – Fire officials credit sprinkler system with containing townhouse fire to room of origin

State fire investigators credit a functioning smoke alarm and sprinkler system with alerting an Abingdon woman to a fire Friday afternoon and minimizing damage to the townhouse where she lives with other family members. The fire was reported shortly after 4 p.m. in the middle of a group townhouse in the 200 block of Ferring Court, according to the Office of the State Fire Marshal and the Harford County Volunteer Fire and EMS Association. Twenty firefighters responded from the Abingdon, Bel Air and Joppa-Magnolia volunteer fire companies, according to a notice of investigation from the Fire Marshal’s Office. The fire was brought under control in approximately 20 minutes and no injuries were reported.

The fire originated in a second floor, front bedroom, investigators said. The cause had not been determined as of Monday. According to the notice of investigation, Anna Stewart, a grandmother who lives in the house with Ashley and Rafael Ramon and the couple’s 2-year-old daughter, was alone in the townhouse and in the basement when she heard a strange sound. Upon investigating, she saw water coming through the living room ceiling and smoke coming from the second floor.

It was later determined the sprinkler had contained the fire to the bedroom where it originated, investigators said. “Deputy state fire marshals credit the fire sprinkler for containing the fire and allowing Ms. Stewart to safely escape,” the notice of investigation states. “Fire sprinklers also help firefighters by containing the fire to the area of origin, reducing the chance of injuries and/or death.” Investigators estimate the fire caused $5,000 damage to the dwelling and a $15,000 loss to contents. The family was displaced is being assisted by Red Cross, according to the notice of investigation.

Manufacturing, Manufacturing Plant

West Bend, WI – Sprinkler system keeps fire in check at industrial building

West Bend and Jackson firefighters battled a blaze at an industrial building on East Progress Drive near Stonebridge Circle in West Bend for about two-and-a-half hours this morning.  According to the West Bend Fire Department, the call came in around 4 AM Saturday.

Fire officials say the fire began on the outside of the building and then penetrated the steel structure. The fire did damage a natural gas line which hampered firefighting efforts.  

The building’s sprinkler system kept the fire inside the building in check,  according to officials.  At this time there is no estimate on the amount of damage to the manufacturing facility and the cause of the fire is under investigation.  

No one was injured while fighting the fire.  

Office Building, Other Business

Tucson, AZ – Sprinkler system credited with minimizing damage at downtown office building

Firefighters arrived just in time to see the sprinklers activate over flames in the administrative office of Visit Tucson.

The fire alarm at 100 South Church Ave in downtown Tucson triggered a call to 911 at 6:38 p.m., according to a release from Tucson Fire Department. It stated firefighters arrived on scene two minutes later and had the situation under control 12 minutes after that.

They didn’t find anyone inside the building, but determined the fire started around some construction equipment. The cause of it all is still under investigation, according to the department’s release.

The department credits a working fire alarm and sprinkler system with saving property and lives from the flames.

Apartment Building, Residential

Newark, NJ – Fires set by arsonists dressed as ninjas doused by apartment building’s sprinkler system

Police say two people dressed as ninjas broke into a New Jersey apartment building and set several fires.

Newark police officials say the unidentified man and woman broke in through a second-floor apartment. WNBC-TV reports that there is video showing the two exiting through a side entrance and running off down a hill.

Resident Melissa Ditonto says the alarm loudly alerted everyone to the fire and many people evacuated.

Police say the building’s sprinkler system quickly doused the flames. No one was injured.

Apartment Building, Residential

Yuma, AZ – Apartment kitchen fire suppressed by sprinkler system

The City of Yuma Fire Department responded to an alarm at around 1:00 p.m. indicating a fire sprinkler in an apartment at the Palo Verde Villa Apartments Thursday afternoon.  Yuma Fire Department personnel arrived and made entry into the second story apartment, finding extreme heat built inside.

Upon further investigation, it was determined a stove top and oven had been left on for an extended time and the extreme heat, in excess of 155 degrees, had triggered a sprinkler head nearest the stove.  Although there was no active fire at the time of entry, firefighters found that the heat had begun to damage wood cabinets above the stove.

The sprinkler head was shut down and YFD personnel worked quickly to vent the heat and remove the water that had been released during the activation.  Water from the sprinkler was not found to have gotten into the downstairs apartment.

It was determined that the stove/oven was being tested in anticipation of future tenants and had been accidentally left on by a maintenance worker. It is believed that the continued heat buildup would have eventually ignited a fire if not for the sprinkler system.

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Northbridge, MA – Fire in light fixture at nursing home extinguished by sprinkler system; No injuries reported

Staff at Beaumont Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center said they knew they’d been successful in evacuating the building without too much trauma when the residents said they felt like the event was a party and not the result of a small fire. The fire Monday night, in a light fixture, was quickly extinguished by the facility’s sprinkler system, said Matthew Salmon, Beaumont’s owner. The fire damage was hardly noticeable, but the water that was pumped out of the sprinkler flooded the floor and flowed down to a lower level of the center, forcing 28 of the 150 residents to be evacuated.

Staff gathered up residents, collected their needed personal belongings and organized their medications and charts so they could be taken to nearby facilities in the Beaumont group or to St. Camillus Health Care, where they spent the night. “They said it was like a party,” a nursing supervisor told Mr. Salmon.

Mr. Salmon anticipated the residents would return by Tuesday evening. The evacuation went off exactly as it should, and it’s something care facilities practice with fire alarms and evacuations in mock situations.  “We have a plan in place,” Mr. Salmon said. “We’re part of Mass. MAP (the Massachusetts Long Term Care Mutual Aid Plan).”

The plan sets how an evacuation and relocation of patients in care facilities is to be carried out, Mr. Salmon said. So if another facility was evacuated, some of its residents could be moved to Beaumont, he explained. Fire doors closed during the incident, and some residents who sheltered in place slept through it, Mr. Salmon said.  The Fire Department was credited with quickly minimizing the damage being done by the sprinklers and for setting up a response of vehicles that could move residents who had to leave the building.

A task force of ambulances was called to the home, along with the Worcester Regional Transit Authority’s AmbuBus, a retrofitted 1996 bus equipped with medical supplies and the ability to carry 25 patients in wheelchairs and on stretchers. The bus has been deployed just twice since in was made ready for use in 2010, but it is used for training, WRTA spokesman Meaghan Lyver said.

On Tuesday, elevators at Beaumont were out of service and some alarms weren’t working, so staff members were monitoring those areas. Fans were circulating air and drying rugs in the affected area, and Mr. Salmon said once the health board gave an OK, folks could move back into their rooms.

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