A small mattress fire in the local Sleep Country store last night was contained thanks to an indoor sprinkler system. Okotoks Fire Chief, Ken Thevenot, says they were called in a timely fashion thanks to a witness who saw the mattress ignite inside the store. “There was a person on scene that witnessed the fire on a mattress in the Sleep Country business,” he said. He says they were called out around 9 p.m., and when crews arrived on scene the indoor sprinkler system had mostly extinguished the small fire.
“When crews arrived, they did see the sprinkler system was activated and the fire was extinguished from those systems. We entered the building, cleared out the smoke and checked the hot spots, and it appeared to be a non-suspicious fire,” said Thevenot. The Okotoks Fire Department is investigating the cause as of today, as there is a possibility it was caused by a short in the store’s track lighting, however, the investigation to determine the cause is indefinite. The Sleep Country store is closed until further notice, and we’ll update the story as it progresses.
Firefighters were called to a downtown Edmonton pub early Tuesday morning, after several kitchen appliances were turned on during a break-in. Crews responded around 4:20 a.m. to alarms at Mercer Tavern, located inside the Mercer Warehouse on 104 Street near 104 Avenue. “The second call came in stating that the delivery gentleman at the back of the building opened up the back door and found smoke coming out and extensive heat from the building,” district Chief Brian Lees said, adding that at that time, the call was upgraded to a structure fire.
Crews arrived on scene and found what appeared to be smoke billowing out of the kitchen’s back door. When firefighters entered the building, their equipment detected very high levels of carbon monoxide so they quickly went back outside.
“When you get 260 [parts per million] in an old concrete building like this style, there’s no way of ventilating it when the gas gets moving because of the design of the building. They made a good decision to pull out of the building and start ventilating and get the CO levels down,” Lees said.
Firefighters discovered all of the burners on the stoves and gas-fuelled toasters were on when they arrived. Mercer Warehouse spokesperson Justin Archer said after the tavern was closed early Tuesday morning, someone broke in and turned on the gas stoves. The heat from the industrial appliances set off the sprinkler system, which in turn produced steam.
“You know what, it could be that he was hungry and wanted to make himself a meal. I’m not too sure, ” said Mercer Warehouse owner Devin Pope. “The fellow, we do not recognize so we aren’t too sure what he was thinking. The police are going to figure that out.”
Archer said several bottles of alcohol were also stolen. He said the tavern would be open at 5 p.m. Tuesday. Crews ventilated the building, got the gas turned off, and put the fire out with the help of the sprinkler system. The Mercer Warehouse is home to several eateries, over a dozen small businesses, and entrepreneurial mentorship company StartUp Edmonton. There’s no word on how much damage was caused.
A fire at Silver Birch Court last week resulted in the evacuation of 55 people. During the evening of Thursday, March 16, Strathcona County Emergency Services responded to a fire alarm at Silver Birch Court, located in Sherwood Park and managed by the Heartland Housing Foundation.
As the alarm was triggered by a grease fire in an occupied unit, it was controlled by the building’s sprinkler system until first responders arrived to fully extinguish the fire. The water from the sprinkler flooded all four floors of the east wing of the affordable housing facility, resulting in considerable damage to the suite of origin; however, due to the rapid deployment of the sprinklers and firefighter response, no smoke damage was seen outside the suite of origin.
Strathcona County Victim Services staff, transit buses, RCMP and Enforcement Services provided on-site support for the evacuated residents of Silver Birch Court, and no injuries were reported. As of Friday, March 17, restoration services were on–site and work is being done to have residents return to their suites as soon as possible.
Reporting on lives and property saved by fire sprinklers
