Tag Archives: Afternoon (12pm-6pm)

Hotel / Motel, Hotel / Restaurant

Shreveport, LA – Fire on sixth-floor of Holiday Inn contained to one room by sprinkler system

Heavy smoked filled a sixth-floor room at the Holiday Inn Shreveport on Monday afternoon, activating the sprinkler system and triggering an alarm that resulted in at least 20 fire units being dispatched to the hotel (blog note: fire sprinklers are only activated by heat, not smoke).

The exact cause of the smoke and fire was unknown late Monday as fire investigators worked the scene. No injuries were reported. The room is unusable, but most of the building was not damaged.

“The fire was contained, basically, to one room on the sixth floor and there were other rooms that sustained smoke damage,” said Fred Sanders, assistant to the fire chief. The sprinklers immediately activating helped minimize damage to the room, Sanders said. Firefighters also doused the room as a safety precaution.

Ed Socha, Holiday Inn Shreveport general manager, said employees and about 40 guests staying at the hotel were evacuated. As a standard procedure, some employees were checked out by EMS at the scene.

The room at the center of the smoky scene was rented, but the guest wasn’t there when the fire started, Socha said. Socha said he didn’t see flames. “Just because of the smoke damage, it’s (the room) going to have to be completely redone,” he said. The hotel was to undergo an annual inspection today but it will be postponed, Socha said.

Hotel / Restaurant, Restaurant

Lawrence, KS – Sprinkler system activates to help limit fire spread at downtown restaurant; No injuries

Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical crews battled flames at Bigg’s on Mass, 719 Massachusetts St., Tuesday afternoon.  Division Chief Eve Tolefree said fire sprinkler activation inside the restaurant aided in preventing the fire from spreading farther than it did.

Shortly after 2:30 p.m., crews reported the situation “under control.” Around 3 p.m., they began ventilating the restaurant and surrounding businesses.

Damage estimates for the affected businesses were not available Tuesday evening. Investigators remained on the scene as of 5 p.m.  Bigg’s owner Doug Holiday said he would like to reopen his restaurant as early as Saturday.  “We hope to reopen this weekend, if not, as soon as possible,” Bigg’s posted to its Facebook page Tuesday evening. “Thank you to everyone who has sent kind words our way.”

Apartment Building, Residential

Huntsville, ON, Canada – Sprinkler system minimizes damage in apartment fire; No injuries reported

Firefighters are crediting the sprinkler system with minimizing the damage at an apartment fire.  At roughly 2:30 p.m. on Mar. 5 a fire was reported at a 60 unit apartment building on Sabrina Park Drive in Huntsville. When crews from Huntsville Station 1 arrived on scene they found the fire, which was located in the garbage room, had already been extinguished by an activated sprinkler head.

Damage from the fire was limited to the garbage and recycling containers in the room. Firefighter’s say if not for the working sprinkler system the fire could well have spread to other parts of the building.  All occupants were allowed to return to the building only hours later and noone was injured.  Police and the Fire Marshall are investigating to determine the fire’s cause.

Apartment Building, Residential

Gainesville, FL – Fire at off-campus apartment building extinguished with help from sprinkler system

A fire at southwest Gainesville apartment complex that began under a television was extinguished Saturday afternoon before it had spread to other areas, reported Gainesville Fire Rescue.  Acting Chief Don Campbell credited the sprinkler system and the quick response of firefighters in keeping the fire in check.

The fire was reported about 12:10 p.m. at Campus Club Apartments at 3700 SW 40th Blvd., according to a GFR press release.   Firefighters arrived to find smoke coming from an apartment and forced entry into it. They found that two sprinkler heads had activated.  A small fire was in the entertainment center under the TV.

Firefighters finished extinguishing the fire. No one was home at the time.   “This fire would have definitely been bigger, with the potential for extension into the rest of the building,” Chief Campbell said in the release.

Apartment Building, Residential

Madison, WI – Cooking fire in apartment building put out by sprinkler system

The Madison Fire Department credits sprinklers with putting out a cooking fire in an apartment on West Mifflin Street.  Firefighters were called to the 500 block of W. Mifflin just before 3 p.m. Friday. They say someone in a third floor apartment was cooking when oil in a pan ignited. The flames set off a sprinkler head in the kitchen. The fire department says there was minimal smoke damage from the fire, but some water did flow into lower floors.  Seventeen people in the apartment building are safe.  The fire department says there’s no word on when residents would be able to get back into their apartments, but all of them were able to arrange a place to stay overnight.

Apartment Building, Residential

Sechelt, BC, Canada – Fire sprinkler averts major downtown blaze

The Sechelt fire department is praising the use of fire sprinklers, which averted a major fire in downtown Sechelt last Thursday afternoon. Fire Chief Bill Higgs said the fire occurred just after lunch on Feb. 19 at a residential apartment building when a pot of grease was left on a stove unattended.

 “Upon arrival it was observed that a fire had occurred in the kitchen of a second-floor suite,” Higgs said. “The heat from the blaze had activated just one sprinkler head, which extinguished the fire. The fire department was automatically called by the monitored sprinkler/fire alarm system and the residents were alerted to the fire by the alarm bells. We were on scene within five minutes and quickly learned that we were only needed to ventilate the building and begin cleanup.”

Higgs said the fire had the potential for catastrophic life and property losses. “Thankfully, this fire occurred in a building protected by fire sprinklers and therefore had been completely extinguished by the automatic system that had been installed throughout the building,” he said.

In less than an hour, the 17 volunteer firefighters and four fire trucks had returned to the fire hall. No civilian or firefighter injuries occurred. “Only one tenant was displaced from the building for a couple of days, and everyone else reoccupied their suites that day,” Higgs said. “The total dollar loss to the $3-million structure was less than $5,000. Had this fire occurred in a similar unsprinklered building, at least three other fire departments from the Sunshine Coast would have been called to assist with the suppression effort, lasting at least half a day, with the follow-up investigation, demolition and rebuilding lasting months.”

The Sechelt fire department recommends the installation of fire sprinklers to all building owners ranging from single-family homes right up to multi-family or commercial buildings, new and old. “At less than $1.50 a square foot in new construction, why not?” Higgs asked. “Come and see us to learn what we have witnessed about the community cost saving benefits of automatic fire sprinklers in our town of just 12,000 people. We encourage others to learn from our experiences and to support our efforts in the promotion and continued use of commercial and residential fire sprinkler systems.”

Office Building, Other Business

Yuma, AZ – Arson fire at office building mostly extinguished by sprinkler system

A fire at a building Thursday afternoon that had been mostly extinguished by the building’s sprinkler system was determined to have been intentionally set. According to Yuma Fire Department spokesman Mike Erfert, shortly after 1:00 p.m., smoke was reported coming from an office in the Mission Valley Plaza, located at 3970 West 24th Street. Once on scene, firefighters found light smoke coming from a vacant office space inside the building.

 Erfert said the building’s fire sprinkler system, which had been exposed to the heat, had activated, containing and mostly extinguishing the fire by the time firefighters had arrived. Erfert said firefighters ensured the fire was out and had not spread to adjoining areas of the building.

Sgt. Leanne Worthen, of the Yuma Police Department, said because the fire appeared to have been in intentionally set, detectives were called to scene, and are investigating the fire as an arson. Given this was the fourth fire in as many days, Erfert wanted to stress the importance of fire sprinkler systems, saying they 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 damage to property 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.

Manufacturing, Paper Mill / Saw Mill

Elk Grove Village, IL – (NO MEDIA COVERAGE) Fire in paper baler contained by sprinkler system

*** NO MEDIA COVERAGE – Fire Department Reported ***
REPORT OF A FIRE IN A PAPER BALER — CONTAINED BY A SPRINKLER HEAD, BUT CAN’T EXTINGUISH THE FIRE.  ABOUT 300 FEET OF HO– USE REQUIRED TO DO– USE THE FIRE IN THE PAPER BALER.   FIRE OUT IN SMOLDERING BALES AT ABOUT 1:00 PM.

THU FEB 26 2015 ~12:39 PM
ELK GROVE VILLAGE FIRE DEPARTMENT
PAPER BALER CONTENTS FIRE
2255 PRATT BLVD ELK GROVE VILLAGE, IL

Hotel / Restaurant, Restaurant

Brick, NJ – Sprinklers save restaurant after fire breaks out in bathroom

A fire broke out in one of the restrooms at a new Brick Township restaurant. The Flaming Grille, a buffet-style restaurant in the Kennedy Mall shopping center, nearly lived up to its name Tuesday afternoon when a fire broke out about 4 p.m., officials said.

The Breton Woods and Pioneer Hose fire companies responded to the scene and found the fire had already been put out by the restaurant’s sprinkler system, said Kevin Batzel, director of the Brick Township Bureau of Fire Prevention.

Batzel said investigators determined the fire was started when smoking materials had been disposed of in the bathroom trash can. The activation of the sprinkler system helped avert a much larger fire, Batzel said. One sprinkler head activated during the incident.

“It’s an old building,” Batzel explained. “[The fire] would have traveled up pretty fast into that building.” There were a small number of patrons in the restaurant at the time, Batzel said. All were evacuated. The bureau is following up today at the restaurant, which is back in operation. “If it was not for the sprinkler system, that restaurant would be shut down,” said Batzel.

Hotel / Motel, Hotel / Restaurant

Sarasota, FL – Sprinkler system douses fire in Ritz-Carlton parking garage

Sarasota Fire Department personnel responded to a fire at the prestigious Ritz-Carlton Sarasota Tuesday afternoon. According to Capt. Jerry Jensen of the Sarasota Fire Department, the fire began in a vehicle parked in the hotel’s parking garage. The building’s anti-fire measures soon kicked into action, with the sprinkler system activating and dousing the conflagration. Firefighters cleared the parking garage of people and made sure the fire was fully out before issuing the all-clear. Capt. Jensen reports that the situation has now returned to normal at the Ritz.