Hotel / Motel, Hotel / Restaurant

Ottumwa, IA – Fourth floor hotel fire held in check by sprinkler system

At approximately 12:15 a.m. Sunday morning, October 30th, the Ottumwa Fire Department responded to a report of a room on fire at the Hotel Ottumwa. Upon arrival, fire fighters discovered a fourth floor room on fire. Two sprinkler heads had activated, keeping the fire from growing and spreading. An employee of the Hotel Ottumwa, Trevor Medina, heard the fire alarm activation and went to the fourth floor. Medina kicked in the door and pulled a female occupant to safety. The occupant was immediately transferred to the Ottumwa Regional Health Center for treatment of smoke inhalation.

Ottumwa Police Department personnel assisted with the safe evacuation of the upper floors of the hotel. Ottumwa Fire Chief Tony Miller credits the courageous action of Medina with preventing a tragic ending. 

The hotel sustained smoke and water damage; mostly limited to the original floor of origin with minor smoke damage on the fifth floor. Tenants and guests were allowed to return their rooms shortly after the fire was extinguished and the smoke was removed. 

The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Ottumwa Fire Department. 

Hotel / Motel, Hotel / Restaurant

Irondale, AL – Sprinkler system helps limit hotel fire to one room

Fire crews are on the scene at the Hampton Inn off Grants Mill Road in Irondale.

Irondale and Birmingham Fire Department responded. According to officials, the fire was contained to one room. After the blaze began, the sprinkler system kicked in and helped limit the fire from spreading.

At this time, everyone is still outside of the hotel. The fire is under control now.

Hotel / Motel, Hotel / Restaurant

Gastonia, NC – Guest and staff safe after sprinkler system helps contain hotel kitchen fire

A small kitchen fire activated the sprinkler system at the Courtyard by Marriott hotel early Sunday morning and all 300 guests had to leave their rooms temporarily, according to fire officials.

The 6:42 a.m. fire did not cause any injuries at the hotel on Remount Road, according to officials.

“There was a small fire in the kitchen that activated the sprinkler system,” said Chris Stowe, a spokesman with Gastonia Fire Department.

About 20 firefighters responded because of the size of the building and number of people involved. The fire was put out in about 10 minutes.

The hotel has 130 rooms and approximately 300 guests were put out of their rooms in the early morning hours, said Olivia Popplewell, general manager of Courtyard by Marriott.

“All of our guests are safe. All of our employees are safe,” Popplewell said.

Guests were allowed to start returning to their rooms around 7:20 a.m.

The hotel was even able to serve a continental breakfast of fruit and yogurt to guests, Popplewell said.

There was a little water damage to the kitchen area, but business was back to normal soon afterward, Popplewell said.

Hotel / Restaurant, Restaurant

San Antonio, TX – Sprinklers activate when oven causes fire at restaurant south of downtown

An oven was to blame for a fire early Monday morning that damaged a building south of downtown, fire officials said.

When firefighters arrived around 6:30 a.m. at the King William Professional Building in the 800 block of South St. Mary’s Street, they found flames shooting from an air conditioning unit above Francis Bogside Pub.

Fire Chief Charles Hood said the fire was quickly extinguished, but there was significant water damage from the sprinkler system, fire officials said.

No one was hurt in the fire.

Hood said the fire doesn’t appear to be suspicious.

Apartment Building, Residential

Denmark, WI – Sprinkler system prevents spread of early morning apartment fire

Three units of a Denmark apartment complex are seriously damaged after an early morning fire. The Brown County Sheriff’s Office responded at 4:09 a.m. Sunday to the 300 block of Danish Way. The fire started in the kitchen area of one of the units.

No one was hurt. A sprinkler system prevented the fire from spreading to other units. The Red Cross is helping the people who lived in the three apartments that were damaged.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Other / Not Specified, Other Business

Thurmont, MD – Fire at catalog business controlled with assistance from sprinkler system

Frederick County Fire and Rescue responded to a building fire around noon on Saturday on Apples Church Road in Thurmont, Md.  Official said smoke was coming from the top of a building which led neighbors to call 911. Fire officials said that the sprinkler system went on which helped calm down the fire, but fire crews did use fire hoses. Locals said that a catalog business is located in that building and the property owner and businesses owner was on site. No one was harmed in this incident

“Once the smoke gets cleared out then we will go in and make sure that the fire is completely out, there is no areas and the Fire Marshall will do their determination and figure out what caused the fire,” said Battalion Chief, Doug Wallick.

This is an open investigation.

Residential, Townhouse / Condominium

Louisville, KY – Apartment kitchen fire contained with help from sprinkler system

A 3-alarm fire forced residents to evacuate the Brown Suburban Condominium Homes Thursday night. Firefighters responded to the fire at the condo at 3320 Bardstown Road near Goldsmith Lane around 9 o’clock. The fire started in an apartment on the third floor and was contained to that unit, but smoke filled the hallways, and residents were forced to evacuate. Many of the residents are elderly and in wheelchairs, which made the evacuation more difficult, but everyone got out safely.

Firefighters say several apartments have smoke and water damage. Buechel Fire Chief Adam Jones says two people were checked by EMS at the scene.

“We made several medical assists to get them out of there — nobody was transported,” Jones said. “Louisville Metro EMS did check out two different residents that came out — didn’t transport them to the hospital or anything like that so everybody’s safe.”

It took about an hour to put out the fire.

After an investigation, Jones says the fire started when a stove was unintentionally left on after someone accidentally bumped a knob. The overheated stove set a wall on fire,triggering the sprinkler system.

There is substantial smoke and water damage to the third, second and first floors of the building.

The Red Cross helped 10 adults and six children displaced from several apartments with the most damage.

Residents without damage are back in their homes. Others are working with cleanup crews and insurance adjusters.

College/University (on campus), School / University

Champaign, IL – Sprinkler system activates to help control parking garage fire at University of Illinois

At around 3 p.m. on Friday, firefighters were called to Presby Hall after an automatic fire alarm went off. With smoke exiting the parking garage, firefighters sprayed water on the building in conjunction with the sprinkler system going off.

The fire appeared to be caused by a malfunction with a cooking unit, said Roger Cruz, captain of the Champaign Fire department.
Several students claim that brisket grilled in the garage sparked the malfunction. Because of the enclosed space, subsequent smoke led to the fire. That speculation, however, has not been confirmed by the authorities.

Other students speculate a gas leak as the source. They claimed to see gas when entering the parking garage, where they too saw the cooking unit on fire.

Fire-related emergencies are not new to Presby Hall. Hannah Thompson, freshman in Engineering, said the fire alarm has gone off almost weekly at Presby. She claims this is the eleventh time that has happened this year.

“It’s gotten really inconvenient but it’s okay,” said Thompson. “It’s something exciting every week.”  The quick response time to these types of emergencies reassures her.
“I suppose it’s good that the fire alarms are so sensitive and the fire trucks are always here relatively quickly,” said Thompson.

“Thankfully no one’s hurt,” said Luke Peterson, freshman in DGS.

Apartment Building, Residential

Payson, AZ – Grease fire in apartment complex suppressed by single sprinkler

A family is out of their home after a grease fire Monday night. The fire started around 8 p.m. after a teen living in the home put oil in a pan to fry pinwheels and then walked away. When the 14-year-old returned to the kitchen, the pot of oil had boiled over and started a fire on the stovetop. The fire was making its way up the wall and to overhanging cabinets when a single sprinkler in the kitchen was activated. When firefighters arrived, the sprinklers had already doused the fire.

Battalion Chief Jim Rasmussen said the sprinkler saved not only the kitchen, but likely stopped a larger fire from damaging the whole apartment complex at 209 S. Ponderosa St. Rasmussen warned residents not to leave anything unattended when cooking.

If heating oil, start on a medium setting and increase the heat as needed. Do not start on the highest setting. If a grease fire does start, cover it with a lid if you can safely do so without burning yourself, Rasmussen said. Do not put water on it.

No other sprinklers in the apartment came on. Firefighters shut the single sprinkler off when they arrived. Rasmussen estimated it ran for about 15 minutes before crews shut it off. That works out to about 120 gallons of water. Firefighters helped clean up the water in the unit until a clean up crew arrived. Rasmussen said water damage to the unit would likely keep the family out of the home for a week. The Red Cross will provide the family with assistance.

The unoccupied unit below suffered water damage to its ceiling

Simple Share Buttons