Apartment Building, Residential High Rise Stamford, CT – Laundry fire in high-rise apartment building held at bay by sprinkler system January 31, 2016 viking210 1 Comment Though tenants had to wait outside for a bit as firefighters did their work, nobody was hurt and nobody displaced after a drier caught fire in a 12-story high rise on Strawberry Hill Avenue late Friday night. The fire department got the call for a fire at the Carlton Plaza apartment building, situated roughly between the Stamford Police Department headquarters and Stamford High School as the crow flies, shortly before 10:30 p.m. Fire Capt. Michael Terenzio said that the fire started in or near a drier on the third floor. It is as yet unclear whether a malfunction in the drier started the fire, and the fire marshal is still investigating. “The third floor was evacuated, no one lost use of their apartments, everyone did react to the fire alarm system and it looks like the damage was confined to the object that was on fire, except for, obviously, smoke damage,” said Terenzio. “Everyone was probably out for an hour or so.” After that, the 120 tenants were able to go back to their units. The captain said the building’s sprinkler system worked as it should and helped keep the fire at bay until firefighters were able to bring up a hose. As a precaution, firefighters recommend regularly cleaning highly flammable drier lint out of traps and ducts.
The cause of this fire is suspected to be the “dryer”, not the “drier”.