Manufacturing, Paper Mill / Saw Mill Merritt, BC, Canada – Sprinklers help contain sawmill fire; Operations resume same day March 1, 2016 viking210 Merritt Fire Rescue responded to a fire at the Tolko sawmill around 1:30 Saturday afternoon. Fire Chief Dave Tompkinson says a hydraulic oil tank was on fire. “Prior to firefighters arriving, the sprinkler system had activated. The sawmill employees had actioned the fire with extinguishers and a hose line,” says Tompkinson. The fire was inside the the plant, and spread to some machinery above. Tomkinson says, as the fire department was leaving, the sawmill was already getting back up and running. The cause of the fire is unknown.
Other / Not Specified, Other Business Tumalo, OR – Fire in server room at research facility controlled by sprinklers; Faulty air conditioner identified as cause February 29, 2016 viking210 A failed air conditioning unit is blamed for a fire that caused $20,000 in damage to the Bend Research facility in Tumalo. Firefighters responded to a monitored fire alarm at 3:30 a.m., Saturday. Crews arrived to find smoke in the hallways and water coming from the sprinkler system. Investigators believe the blaze started in a room containing internet servers, backup systems and the main fire alarm system. Bend Research employees arrived on-scene shortly after fire crews and began the cleanup and repair process. The sprinkler system is credited with stopping the fire from spreading beyond the 100-square-foot room. In a release, Dan Derlacki with Bend Fire says a larger fire or more smoke could have caused millions of dollars in damage to the research facility.
Hospital/Care Facility, Hospital/Medical Clinic Middleburg Heights, OH – Possible arson fire at hospital contained with help from sprinkler system February 29, 2016 viking210 The city’s detective bureau is reviewing a Feb. 21 fire at Southwest General Health Center. An employee saw smoke in an Emergency Department’s hallway at 8 p.m. He and another staff member located the fire in the clean utility room in which the sprinkler system sprayed water throughout the room. The emergency area, which became flooded, was evacuated. The city’s fire department arrived and extinguished a burning clean linen cart in that room. One of two carts had melted plastic on it and charred towels, blankets and gowns that were scattered across the room. The scene was cleared at 9:38 p.m. An officer went to the hospital at 12:21 a.m. Feb. 22 and recovered evidence from the fire. He found items that may have been used to start the fire.
Apartment Building, Residential Vicksburg, MS – Sprinkler system keeps apartment kitchen fire from spreading; No injuries February 29, 2016 viking210 Food burning on a stove was the cause of a fire early Friday afternoon that heavily damaged the kitchen of a third floor apartment at Carmel Manor, 910 Bowman St., Vicksburg Fire Chief Charles Atkins said. He said firefighters were called about 1:09 p.m. He said a sprinkler system in the apartment managed to keep the fire from spreading and contained it to the kitchen area. He said the apartment, an adjacent apartment and a second floor apartment had water damage. No one was injured.
Other - Retail, Retail Canton, MI – Sprinkler system helps saves salon in Victorian building from fire February 28, 2016 viking210 A Canton salon and spa owner has refused to let a fire and water damage shut down her business in a two-story Victorian building in Cherry Hill Village. “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass,” said Melissa Huetter, owner of Indigo Salon, Spa & Boutique. “It’s all about perseverance and resilience.” Huetter was out of town — hundreds of miles away — when she got word that a second-story fire occurred about 4 a.m. Friday, Feb. 12, inside Indigo Salon. She caught a flight home within hours. Huetter said there was speculation the fire was electrical, but an official cause hasn’t been determined. The fire set off an alarm and a sprinkler system that doused the blaze before Canton firefighters arrived. “If the sprinkler system hadn’t been there,” Deputy Fire Chief Chris Stoecklein said, “that building could have been a total loss.” Because the fire occurred about 4 a.m., Stoecklein said, the salon, located at Cherry Hill and Ridge roads, could have been engulfed in flames before anyone noticed it. Still, Huetter said the sprinkler system caused widespread water damage to 50-60 percent of her salon because it sent water from the second floor throughout much of the west side of the building. The fire forced the salon to close for the busy Valentine’s Day weekend, but Huetter reopened the following Tuesday. Repairs are continuing, but Huetter and her 36 employees have managed to resume full service ranging from massages to facials to body waxing. She said the east side of the building wasn’t damaged like the west side. The entire spa side was untouched. “We are still offering everything that we originally offered,” Huetter said. “We are just doing it with modified logistics.”
Retail, Shopping Mall Scottsdale, AZ – Overnight fire at strip mall minimized by sprinkler system February 27, 2016 viking210 Functioning sprinkler systems and work from the Scottsdale and Tempe fire departments helped keep a strip mall fire to a minimum overnight. Crews responded to a reported fire near Scottsdale Road and McDowell where they found smoke on the inside of the building. Firefighters found a small fire inside, but fortunately, the sprinklers were keeping it from spreading further. No one was inside the building at the time and no injuries were reported. At this time, there is no word on what caused the fire.
Storage / Warehouse, Warehouse Hebron, OH – Fire at Owens Corning warehouse contained with help from sprinkler system February 26, 2016 viking210 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.
Hotel / Motel, Hotel / Restaurant Olathe, KS – Early morning fire at Residence Inn extinguished by sprinkler system February 26, 2016 viking210 Guests at the Residence Inn on South Strang Line Road were temporarily forced out Thursday morning after light smoke filled the lobby. The Olathe Fire Department was called to the hotel about 5:45 a.m. Firefighters said an overheated furnace caused an air filter to catch fire. The sprinkler system put out the fire. The Fire Department said there is minor damage. Guests were able to stay warm in their cars. They were allowed back in after about an hour.
Residential, Residential High Rise Rochester, NY – Kitchen fire on 14th floor of residential high-rise controlled with help from sprinkler system; No injuries February 26, 2016 viking210 There was a small fire Tuesday night at the city’s new downtown residential high rise. It started as the result of a cooking accident in the kitchen of one of the units on the 14th floor of Tower 280 around 8 p.m. The automatic sprinkler system that was triggered did cause water damage to three elevators, to the apartment where the fire started and some units below it. No one was injured. Tower 280 opened in January. Ken Glazer of Buckingham Properties tells WXXI News about ten percent of the building’s units are now occupied
Other Business, Residential Oakland, CA – Sprinkler activates to help control fire in mixed use building February 25, 2016 viking210 Firefighters quickly extinguished a small structure fire Tuesday afternoon in Oakland near the Fruitvale BART station, according to authorities. Crews were dispatched to a building in the 1200 block of 37th Avenue at 4:04 p.m. on report of a fire. A single room was burning on the second floor of a three-story structure with residential units above commercial space on the ground floor. The fire was put out by the first arriving crews and a lone sprinkler head that activated, according to firefighters. Further details were not immediately available.
