Nursing Home/Senior Living Plano, TX – Sprinkler system assists firefighters in controlling nursing home fire; No injuries reported September 10, 2015 viking210 Firefighters responded to a Plano nursing home Saturday morning after receiving a call about smoke from an employee at Life Care Center of Plano, in the 3800 block of W. Park Boulevard. The employee called 911 at 8:47 a.m. to report that fire alarms were sounding and that senior residents were being removed from the property. When Plano Fire-Rescue crews arrived, they discovered a haze of smoke in one of the main hallways and a lot of smoke inside a glassed-in laundry room, according to Capt. Peggy Harrell, department spokeswoman. It is believed that the fire started in a clothes dryer. “This is what we call a high-occupancy load, where there are lots of people in a building and in a place where there are lots of seniors who might not be able to evacuate themselves,” she said. “We took extra precautions.” Harrell said the nursing home had good evacuation procedures in place, but once investigators located the fire and determined how far it was from the residential hallways, no evacuation had to take place and residents were able to return to their rooms. “We were able to close the fire doors and keep the room where the fire was isolated,” she said. “A sprinkler head kept the fire in check, and firefighters brought in the handline to put the remaining fire out.” Harrell said investigators discovered an armload of clothes on fire in the affected dryer, but the exact cause of the fire has not been determined. No injuries were reported, but Harrell said a rescue squad was on the scene to check out anyone who may have come close to the smoke.
