Apartment Building, Residential Payson, AZ – Grease fire in apartment complex suppressed by single sprinkler October 30, 2016 viking210 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
