Apartment Building, Residential

Durham, NC – Sprinkler system activated for fire in apartment building

A senior citizen was rescued from an apartment fire Tuesday night.

Firefighters responded to the senior apartment building, The Veranda at Whitted School, located at 200 East Umstead St., around 10:15 p.m.

A neighbor met firefighters to tell them an apartment was on fire.

The crew entered a smoke-filled apartment and rescued one resident inside a bedroom. The resident was in good condition but was taken to the hospital as a precaution.

Firefighters said an unattended hot stove may have caused the fire. A sprinkler system helped extinguished the fire, but there was water damage in the apartment and in a daycare located below.

If you are sleepy or have consumed alcohol, don’t use the stove or stovetop, officials warned, saying cooking fires are the number one cause of home fires and home injuries.

Retail, Shopping Mall

Easton, PA – Fire at mall extinguished by sprinkler system; No injuries reported

A “suspicious” fire on Sunday afternoon in a lavatory behind a store near an entrance to the Palmer Park Mall was quickly put out by sprinklers but left water damage in three stores, a Palmer Township fire official reports.

The Palmer Township Municipal Fire Department responded at 4:50 p.m. to an alarm at the mall but as firefighters were on their way, people inside the mall called 911 to report an explosion and smoke inside the main entrance, Deputy Chief Jim Alercia said in a news release.

The mall was being evacuated as firefighters arrived. Shoppers and workers indicated the fire was in the IFIX and More store, which sells cell phone accessories and does minor repairs, Alercia said. The fire was contained to a lavatory in a rear stock room, Alercia said. It was put out by the mall’s sprinkler system, he added.

There was “moderate” water damage to the Claire’s and Verizon Wireless stores as well as fire damage to the lavatory and water damage to the stock room and sales floor at IFIX and More, Alercia said.

Fire personnel remained on scene to help mall staff ventilate the smoke from the stores and get the alarm system active again so the mall could open for its regular 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. hours on Monday, Alercia said.

Township fire investigators are probing what they have labeled a “suspicious fire”, Alercia said. Investigators were removing evidence in search of the cause and manner of the fire, Alercia said.

A drop ceiling, which was soaked by the sprinkler system, collapsed, making the sound that people thought was an explosion, Alercia said.

No one was hurt and Bethlehem Township firefighters and Suburban EMS assisted at the scene, Alercia said.

Apartment Building, Residential

Nashville, TN – Sprinkler system activated for fire at apartment complex; No injuries reported

More than 100 people were evacuated from their homes after a two-alarm fire at an apartment complex in the Belmont area Monday night.

The fire began around 9:30 p.m. at the Belcourt Park Apartments on Belcourt Avenue.

No injuries were reported but the building has heavy water damage and smoke damage to the first and second floors while the remaining floors were not impacted, according to the Nashville Fire Department.

Fire officials reported crews arrived to find light smoke coming from the first floor of the five-story building and determined the fire was between the first and second floors, originating in the building’s community space.

Firefighters guided the residents outside though many were self-evacuating due to the fire alarm going off.

The Nashville Electric Service cut power to the building and all 76 units were evacuated for the night.

The American Red Cross was contacted to help the displaced residents. Those with pets were escorted back into the building to retrieve them before they were relocated.

“There were no real hazards other than locating the source of the fire when they arrived on scene. Between the first and second floor literally means that the fire was located in the ceiling of the floor so they had to search around for it a bit to locate the source of the fire. But as soon as they did that they were able to quickly extinguish it, but the sprinkler system did activate before we arrived on the scene. So that is going to attribute to a lot of the water damage that is going to be seen in this building,” explained Nashville Fire Department spokesperson Kendra Loney.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Other / Not Specified, Other Business

Vancouver, BC, Canada – Sprinkler system contains fire; No injuries reported

An automatic sprinkler system extinguished an early-morning blaze Thursday at AKS Engineering & Forestry, according to the Vancouver Fire Department.

The call came in initially as a water flow alarm at 9600 N.E. 126th Ave., Capt. Raymond Egan said, but a Clark County sheriff’s patrol went by the building, smelled smoke and reported a fire. The call was then upgraded to a full commercial fire alarm shortly before 2 a.m., emergency dispatch records show.

Engine 4 was the first to arrive and found the fire inside had been contained to the original area by the fire sprinkler system, Egan said. Crews worked for about 45 minutes on clearing the smoke from the building and shutting off the fire sprinklers, he said.

There were no injuries.

The Clark County Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating the cause.

Hospital/Care Facility, Hospital/Medical Clinic

Ann Arbor, MI – Fire at hospital extinguished with help from sprinkler system; No injuries reported

Multiple fire crews from across Washtenaw County responded to a three-alarm fire inside Michigan Medicine in Ann Arbor Tuesday afternoon.

Fire crews were called at 3:28 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 12, to a fire at Michigan Medicine’s University Hospital facility for a report of a fire on the third floor, according to the Ann Arbor Fire Department.

Crews arrived and went to the third floor, a mechanical floor with no hospital patients, and found heavy smoke and an active fire in a very large air handling unit the building’s sprinkler system was unable to extinguish on its own, officials said.

Using the AAFD’s tower truck, firefighters stretched 250 feet of high-rise hose line from a standpipe to extinguish the fire as additional fire crew were called to the hospital, officials said.

The fire was able to be contained while additional crew searched the upper floors to check for any additional smoke or fire spread, officials said.

There were no reported injuries or significant damage to the hospital, but there was smoke in a few patient care units, according to an alert from Michigan Medicine.

Patients and staff in impacted areas have been relocated, the alert said.

Hospital officials stated it is temporarily reducing the capacity of operating rooms for Oct. 13 and are rescheduling a portion of procedures as a safety precaution.

“Firefighters did outstanding work with this very challenging fire,” said Ann Arbor Fire Chief Mike Kennedy. “We have planned and trained for high-rise fires for the last 18 months and today all of that effort paid off. Our firefighters performed flawlessly.”

Multiple fire crews from the surrounding area assisted at the scene including the Ann Arbor Township Fire Department, Scio Township Fire Department, Pittsfield Township Fire Department, Superior Township Fire Department, Saline Area Fire Department and the Northfield Township Fire Department.

The University of Michigan Division of Safety and Security, Michigan Medicine security and staff, the Ann Arbor Police Department, HART Huron Valley, assisted at the scene as well.

Residence Hall/Dormitory, Residential

Boca Raton, FL – Sprinkler system activated for dryer fire at college dorm

At around 10:28 p.m. the fire alarm at Heritage Park Towers (HPT) went off, prompting residents of the building to evacuate. 

“It started on the first floor in the laundry room in HPT’s south tower. What lit on fire was one of the dryers,” said resident Lorenzo Biondo, who was in the laundry room when the fire started. 

“I was in the [laundry] room, and I saw smoke,” continued Biondo.  “We opened the dryer that the smoke was coming from and there was a fire in the back of the machine that started to get bigger.” 

According to firefighter Raquel Lea, the laundry room will most likely be closed off for an ​​unknown amount of time as the fire sprinkler system has since flooded the room. 

The fire alarm went off within a minute of opening the dryer. 

“I believe it was an RA who pulled the fire alarm. It happened relatively quickly,” Biondo said.

As residents began to evacuate the building, they crowded on the breezeway. 

“I instructed them to move towards the volleyball courts,” said HPT resident assistant Christine Robinson, “which is the protocol we are taught as a resident assistant.” 

Resident Darien Strevel described their experience while evacuating the building. 

“I walked down to the first floor and it was really hot,” they said.

Amaya Swelland, a first floor resident of Heritage Park Towers was scared by the fire. 

“I was sitting at my computer and suddenly I heard an alarm,” Swelland stated. “I ran out to the hall and there was smoke everywhere. I heard people saying that it was a dryer, which made sense because the laundry room is located on my floor.”

Around 11:12 p.m., several firemen collectively pulled out the heavy dryer that started the fire. There was an audible cheer from the residents of HPT, who were still gathered outside of the building. Many residents began clapping. 

As of 1:30 a.m., students are still evacuated outside of the building.

Hospital/Care Facility, Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Danville, KY – Sprinkler system activated for fire at nursing home

A fire in one of the back wings of Landmark of Danville Rehabilitation and Nursing Center on Sunday led to evacuation of the building and seven total residents and employees transported to the hospital.

There were no life-threatening injuries, but the people transported had been subject to smoke inhalation, said Danville-Boyle County Emergency Management Director Mike Wilder. He said all the residents were evacuated with no major issues.

Danville Fire Department Chief Doug Simpson said the dispatch to a structural fire at 203 Bruce Court, the address of Landmark, came at 9:05 a.m. Sunday morning. A sprinkler in one of the back wings had gone off. “But the sprinkler system did do its job and knocked the fire down,” Simpson said. “There was just little flames when we got there, but most of the issues were dealing with smoke.”

He said the seven individuals transported were taken to the hospital via Emergency Management Services, and the fire department also received help from the Boyle County Fire Department, “Which we really appreciated.”

“All the first responders did a great job, worked as a team and the Landmark staff did a great job as well evacuating the residents,” Simpson said.

He said there was no structural damage, but there was a lot of smoke, and some damage was done to the origin of the fire area.

Wilder said when the call was first dispatched, he “cringed” because “It’s one of the horrors we have in the first responder business, something like that occurring,” like a fire at a nursing home, since it’s “such a task” to get everyone evacuated.

“It took me a little while to get myself together,” he said.

Luckily, though, everyone was evacuated safely, and he wanted to note that the there was also mutual aid from Garrard and Lincoln counties — one rescue unit from Garrard County and one from Lincoln County to help evacuate residents.

Office Building, Other Business

Madison, WI – Sprinkler system activated for fire in trash compactor at office building; No injuries reported

Fire investigators have determined that a trash compactor fire at a local office building was started by accident.

Firefighters were dispatched to the Goodwill of South Central Wisconsin Home Office on Friday around 12:45 for a report of a fire. Occupants were evacuating as firefighters arrived.

Crews found smoke at the back of the building where the dumpster and trash compactor were located inside. Officials said an automatic fire sprinkler inside the compactor room helped control the fire until firefighters were able to put it out.

According to a news release, firefighters had to remove the dumpster and its contents from the building before they could fully extinguish the blaze. Pellitteri Waste Sytsems responded to pull the dumpster from the building so firefighters could douse the remaining flames.

Damages are estimated to be $500.

No one was injured and the building was not impacted.

Manufacturing, Other - Manufacturing

Evansville, IN – Fire at industrial building extinguished with help from sprinkler system

Evansville fire crews were called to an industrial building Monday in Evansville.

A fire broke out shortly before noon in the 3000 block of Claremont Ave.

That’s on the west side between Tekoppel and Schrader.

Officials say they put out the fire with the help of the building’s sprinkler system, and everyone was back to work in about an hour.

They say this is the second time recently that a sprinkler system has helped stop a fire from spreading.

Just last week, there was a fire at the former Whirlpool plant. Fire officials used it as an opportunity to share the importance of a sprinkler system.

Other Business, Place of Worship

Syracuse, UT – Arson fire at church extinguished by sprinkler system

A 16-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of arson after a Syracuse chapel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was burned, vandalized, and defaced with anti-Christian symbols.

The Syracuse Police Department issued a statement Saturday afternoon on the case, which was first reported by Gephardt Daily.

On Oct. 9, 2021 at approximately 1 a.m., the Syracuse Fire Department responded to an LDS Church at 1112 S. 1525 West in Syracuse on a fire alarm. When fire crews entered the building, they found it filled with smoke and discovered a sprinkler system had extinguished the fire.

Fire crews observed extensive water and property damage throughout the building caused by the fire. Additionally, the fire department observed several intentional acts of vandalism throughout the building. The fire is being investigated as arson.

Syracuse Police Department, Syracuse Fire Department, Davis County Sheriff’s Office Crime Lab and the ATF are working together to investigate the arson and vandalism.

On Oct. 9, 2021 at 2 p.m., an arson arrest was made regarding this case; a 16-year-old male responsible for the damage was booked into a juvenile detention facility. He will not be identified because he is a juvenile.

Response

Emergency crews responded to the scene, a few blocks southeast of Syracuse High School, at about 1:10 a.m. Sprinklers had doused the blaze.

Arson damage to the interior included the burning of padded benches used by the congregation.

Inverted crosses, and what appeared to a pentagram, were spray-painted on the front of the church. Images including the number 666 were sprayed on other doors.

Officers questioned neighbors about anything they might have seen or captured on surveillance video. Syracuse Police Department officers were back at the scene in the morning, questioning any neighbors they might have missed earlier.

Several vehicles from a local cleaning company were on the scene Saturday morning, after the scene had been cleared by investigators.

Gephardt Daily will have additional information if it is released by police.

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