Chief Smith and Deputy Chief Sean Wert of the Monmouth Junction Volunteer Fire Department arrived just before 4:30 p.m. to find smoke coming from the building and water running from under the door of one of the commercial building’s suites.
Firefighters entered the building and extinguished a smoldering fire that was being contained by a single sprinkler head. Approximately 25 firefighters responded to the one-alarm fire. The fire was contained to storage inside the single business.
This was the second fire the Monmouth Junction Fire Department responded to in the last month in a commercial building where a single sprinkler head activated to contain a fire. The fires occurred during off hours in both instances, where no employees were working.
“If these buildings had not had activated sprinklers, the fires would have continued to grow and most likely both buildings would have been destroyed. These incidents prove that sprinkler systems save property and lives,” said Chief Smith.