Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Madison, WI – Sprinkler system activated for fire at senior housing facility; No injuries reported

A sprinkler system helped save lives and limit property damage after a fire broke out in a senior housing facility on Tuesday, according to the Madison Fire Department.

Firefighters were called around 3 p.m. to the 900 block of North High Point Road for a smoke detector going off and smoke in an apartment.

Spokesperson Cynthia Schuster said the 3-story 170-unit apartment building has a fire sprinkler system, which activated in a second floor apartment.

As firefighters arrived, residents were evacuating, Schuster reported. A sprinkler was activated in the kitchen area, which controlled the fire. Moderate smoke conditions were present.

Firefighters used their water can extinguisher to complete extinguishment and ventilated the apartment.

Schuster said fire sprinkler systems save lives, and reduce injuries and property loss.

No one was hurt as a result of the fire.

Apartment Building, Residential

Kingwood, TX – Sprinkler system activated for dryer fire at apartment building; No injuries reported

Just before Midnight Tuesday, Firefighters from the Porter and Houston Fire Departments were dispatched to reports of a fire on the first floor of a 3 story, 20 unit apartment building at the Marquis at Kingwood apartments on Kings Manor Drive in southeast Montgomery County. Porter Engine and Rescue 121 were on scene within minutes reporting smoke inside the building. The fire crews entered the building and quickly found the source of the smoke, a dryer that had caught fire in a utility room.

Fortunately, for the residents at the Marquis at Kingwood apartments, the building was equipped with both a fire alarm and a fire sprinkler system. In order to minimize the risk to residents, modern fire codes require fire sprinklers and alarms in multi-family residential buildings. While the building’s fire alarm system did its job and alerted residents to the growing fire, a single fire sprinkler located in the utility room activated from the heat escaping from the clothing burning in the dryer. The fire sprinkler contained the fire to the interior of the dryer, and upon their arrival, fire crews used a water-based fire extinguisher, further drenching the burning contents, before removing the dryer from the building. There were no injuries and fire damage was confined to the dryer itself.

Firefighters and the apartment’s maintenance crew then utilized a wet vac to remove the water and clean the utility room before turning the apartment back over to management. What started out as a potentially life-threatening fire in an apartment building full of sleeping residents, ended up as nothing more than minor smoke and water damage to a single room, thanks to the presence of the fire alarm and sprinkler systems and management’s commitment to maintaining those systems in working order.

The Montgomery County Fire Marshal’s Office reviews construction plans during the building process, insuring that all new and renovated buildings meet the life safety requirements found in the Montgomery County Fire Code. After they are built and occupied, MCFMO Fire Inspectors work closely with building occupants and management teams to protect the lives of our residents and the firefighters who would respond in the event of a fire.

Apartment Building, Residential

Mobile, AL – Sprinkler system activated for fire at apartment building; No injuries reported

7:20 p.m.

Mobile Fire-Rescue Department units were dispatched at about 7:05 p.m. for a report of an apartment fire at the Crossings apartments at 5799 Southland Drive in Mobile, Alabama, Monday evening, July 29, 2024.

Units arrived on scene to find smoke visible from a third-story apartment and immediately deployed a fire hose into the structure.

Multiple units are on scene at this time working to extinguish any fire and to make sure all people are clear of the building.

 

7:24 p.m.

In an update to Dispatch, the Incident Commander advised that the fire, which was on a third floor balcony, had been knocked down.

Personnel will remain on scene to ensure that all hotspots are extinguished. Crews will assist with salvage and overhaul until the incident is stabilized.

 

8:17 p.m.

A fire sprinkler on the balcony kept the fire at bay until the crews could extinguish it. The fire was contained completely on the balcony and it was stopped before it spread to the building, which houses two sections of 14 apartments.

Residents have been allowed back inside the building. The fire’s cause has been determined to be accidental in nature. No injuries were reported.

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Lynchburg, VA – Sprinkler system activated for fire at nursing facility

Lynchburg crews responded Saturday to a fire at a nursing facility, Lynchburg Health & Rehab, located on Seminole Avenue.

According to Battalion Chief Mike Reeves, boxes located in a shower room in the facility caught fire just after noon.

Residents used an extinguisher on the fire, and the sprinkler system kicked in and helped finish the job by the time firefighters arrived.

Reeves said since the fire originated in a shower room, it’s unlikely it would have spread, although there was some lingering smoke in the area.

The initial call indicated there may have been oxygen present in the room, but Reeves said they only observed two small bottles that may have been empty.

The Fire Marshal will investigate to determine a cause.

Grocery Store / Super Center, Retail

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

The Walmart near the Vancouver-Burnaby border is closed until further notice after a suspicious fire.

Brad Hesse, assistant chief of operations for Vancouver Fire Rescue Services, said an emergency call came in around 10 a.m. Saturday.

He said it’s too early to confirm the fire was arson, but it was “strange” that videos from customers’ phones showed it appeared to spark on a sofa in the store’s furniture department.

Hesse said the store was quickly evacuated and there are no reports anyone was injured.

Firefighters had trouble pinpointing the source of the blaze because of the thick black smoke emanating from the furniture department.

He said the sprinkler system helped keep the fire contained to that section and that crews were able to fully douse it after about 45 minutes.

However, the store in the 3500-block of Grandview Highway has extensive smoke and water damage. Hesse said it’s likely a lot of the product in the store is compromised by the thick smoke that circulated during the fire.

Hesse said about 40 firefighters and nine fire trucks were called in to the second-alarm blaze.

Vancouver police are also investigating to determine the cause of the blaze.

“We urge anyone who witnessed anything unusual in the store around the time of the fire to contact investigators immediately,” said Const. Tania Visintin, in a news release on Sunday afternoon.

The company released a statement to media that said the fire was set deliberately.

“This appears to be a criminal act of arson that will unfortunately and unfairly impact our customers, associates and the local community who rely on the store,” Walmart said.

“Setting a fire in a public setting is shocking, dangerous, and shameful.”

The store will re-open as soon as the necessary clean-up and repairs are complete.

“We will do everything we can to ensure the arsonist is identified and held accountable, including assessing our legal options to seek compensation from the arsonist for the damages caused by this act,” reads the statement.

Damages are estimated to be in the millions.

Though Walmart has over a dozen outlets around Metro Vancouver, the Grandview location is the only one in the city proper.

Apartment Building, Residential

St. Paul, MN – Sprinkler system extinguishes overnight apartment fire

Fire crews in St. Paul say a small fire inside an apartment early Thursday was put out by a sprinkler system in the building.

The St. Paul Fire Department was called to the apartment on the 2200 block of Hillcrest Avenue around 3:00 a.m.

When crews arrived, they found smoke in a first-floor apartment and evidence of a fire in a closet.

The fire department said the fire was already extinguished by a sprinkler system before they arrived.

As a precaution, the fire department searched the building to make sure all occupants had been able to evacuate safely and ventilated it.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, but the fire department said a working sprinkler system and smoke detectors prevented a much larger incident.

Self-Storage Facility, Storage / Warehouse

Fresno, CA – Sprinkler system activated for lithium-ion battery fire at storage facility

Firefighters were able to contain a fire at a storage facility in Fresno Monday morning.

Firefighters were called to the Dakota Park RV Storage on Dakota Avenue near Highway 99 for a fire alarm at the facility.

When firefighters arrived they found smoke coming from a commercial-sized storage unit and requested additional resources.

The storage unit contained a large amount of property including lithium-ion batteries, which are believed to have caused the fire.

With help from the fire sprinkler system, crews were able to keep the fire contained to the single storage unit.

About 20 other units were impacted by smoke.

Lithium-ion batteries provide power for devices like our smart phones and laptops, e-scooters, and e-bikes. The batteries store a lot of energy in a small amount of space. Fresno Fire public information officer

Josh Sellers says always keep safety in mind. “Always use the appropriate charging device tat came with the instrument. If you need a replacement get a replacement from the manufacturer,” Sellers said.

As a reminder, the National Fire Protection Association recommends removing lithium-ion batteries from their chargers once charging is complete and storing these batteries at room temperature whenever possible.

Other - Retail, Retail

Yuma, AZ – Sprinkler system activated for lithium-ion battery fire at furniture store; No injuries reported

Lithium-ion batteries were suspected to have sparked a fire at a Yuma furniture store Friday morning.

According to the Yuma Fire Department, at 5:30 a.m., crews were dispatched to a report of a “water flow alarm” in the 300 block of West 32nd Street. Upon arrival, crews found a large furniture store with heavy smoke and water exiting from the front door. Firefighters were able to enter the structure and extinguish the fire quickly.

It was discovered that a properly working fire sprinkler was able to prevent any further damage to the building and its contents, YFD said. No injuries were reported, and business operations were not disrupted.

“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 property damage 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,” YFD noted.

A YFD investigator discovered the fire’s area of origin was a shelf with lithium-ion batteries and a battery charging station, YFD said, noting “This is yet another call for service in which lithium-ion batteries have been involved.”

YFD offered the following battery charging tips:

Use the provided or approved charger for the battery

Do not use extension cords or overload surge protectors

Do not use damaged or deformed batteries

Keep batteries away from high temperatures, do not charge them if they are hot

Remove the battery from the unit when done charging and do not cover the battery

Do not keep batteries on a charger once the charging cycle is completed

Keep the battery away from other combustibles

Fire sprinkler systems save lives and property.

Manufacturing, Other - Manufacturing

Bridgewater, VT – Sprinkler system activated for fire at furniture making facility; No injuries reported

Furniture maker Charles Shackleton is crediting a fast response from Bridgewater and Woodstock firefighters along with a recently updated sprinkler system with dousing an “electrical fire” that broke out at the ShackletonThomas furniture and pottery headquarters in the Bridgewater Mill last Friday afternoon.

“We are now cleaning up water and smoke damage but nothing critical was damaged and, more importantly, no person was injured,” Shackleton posted on social media on Saturday.

The fire happened a little more than a year after Shackleton had to shut down in July 2023 after torrential rains caused the Ottauquechee River to overflow and flood the basement level of the Bridgewater Mill building, damaging sawing and milling equipment used to cut and shape wood into furniture parts.

Bridgewater and Woodstock firefighters were dispatched at 5:40 p.m. on Friday after callers reported “an explosion and visible smoke” coming from the third floor of the mill building, according to a news release from Bridgewater Volunteer Fire Department.

Upon entering the third floor firefighters, “encountered heavy black smoke with zero visibility” and “found a small fire” on the third floor but “fortunately … the sprinklers did their job in keeping the fire contained,” the fire department said in the statement.

Once the fire was tamped down and the third floor ventilated, mutual aid crews from area fire departments placed tarps over the furniture on the floors below to mitigate the loss of furniture and wood caused by water dripping down from the activated sprinklers on the floor above.

“It was mostly water and smoke damage, no major structural damage at all,” Jeff Shepard, shop manager at Shackleton, said on Monday afternoon.

The damage was largely limited to “tools and machinery” and a power control box which “shorted out” on the second floor, caused by water, Shepard said.

The only piece of furniture that was damaged was a bunk bed on the third floor that Shephard said he was finishing. “It was right next to the fire and the firemen soaked it so the drawers underneath it got soaked. So I’ll have to remake those,” he said.

The fire broke out after employees had left for the day and no one was inside the ShackletonThomas portion of the building, according to Shepard.

“Reports from bystanders that the smoke was heaviest on the Route 4 side” of the building led Bridgewater firefighters to request a second alarm “to bring in additional mutual aid for a working fire,” the Bridgewater Fire Department said.

State fire investigators at the scene on Monday were still investigating the cause of the fire, but Shackleton said in a social media post that they are looking into the possibility it was caused by “maybe lithium batteries. We don’t know.”

Showroom floor items “were not damaged” and “we plan to have furniture production back up and running in two weeks” while an end-of-month sale remains scheduled as planned, Shackleton said.

“It was a year ago in July that I was down in the basement fixing all the machinery,” Shepard reflected on Monday. “It’s ‘Groundhog Day,’ ” he said good-humoredly, referring to the 1993 Bill Murray movie about a man trapped in a repeating cycle of a day’s events.

Grocery Store / Super Center, Retail

Union, NJ – Sprinkler system activated for fire at underground parking garage; No injuries reported

A Stop & Shop in Union is now closed after a fire in the underground parking garage on Sunday.
Authorities say a car fire caused heavy smoke at 1201 Stuyvesant Ave. and the building’s sprinkler system to go off. No one was injured.
Union Fire Department Chief Gregory Ricciardi said repairs need to be made to the sprinklers before the building is allowed to reopen.
There was no damage to the building and minor damage to an adjacent parked car, authorities said. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
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