Tag Archives: Arizona

Residential, Townhouse / Condominium

Scottsdale, AZ – Townhouse fire controlled with help from sprinkler system

Scottsdale Fire Department said a townhouse near 92nd and Cholla streets caught fire Friday morning and a resident was rescued and treated for smoke inhalation. Scottsdale fire crews arrived around 6:30 a.m. and discovered a bedroom fire had activated the unit’s sprinkler system. Firefighters assisted a woman out of the townhouse and paramedics treated her for smoke inhalation. After she was treated at the scene, she was taken to the hospital. Fire department officials did not have an update on her condition. The fire is under investigation. Officials said the townhouse had a smoke detector and one sprinkler was activated above the fire. No firefighters were injured.

Retail, Shopping Mall, Uncategorized

Scottsdale, AZ – Parking garage fire kept in check by sprinkler system; No injuries

Shoppers at Scottsdale Fashion Square were briefly evacuated Thursday afternoon after a car caught fire in one of the shopping center’s parking garages.

The garage’s sprinkler system kept the fire under control until the Scottsdale Fire Department could arrive and fully extinguish the fire, according to Fire Department Capt. Jim Novotny.

The shopping center was re-opened. Novotny said no one was injured in the incident.

Other Business, Recycling / Waste Facility

Chandler, AZ – Sprinkler system helps contain early morning fire at recycling plant

Firefighters from Chandler and Gilbert were battling an early-morning fire at an East Valley recycling plant.

An employee at the plant at 1100 N. Hamilton St.noticed fire in a pile of materials outside the facility but on plant property.

Reverse 911 was used to notify the surrounding neighborhood of the fire.

A sprinkler system activated and helped contain the fire.

Dense smoke blanketed the area. No one was hurt.

Once it’s safe to move in closer, investigators will try to determine what triggered the fire.

As of 7:30 a.m., the westbound lanes of Ray Road between Hamilton and Arizona avenues were closed.

Grocery Store / Super Center, Retail

Phoenix, AZ – Sprinklers extinguish blaze after fireworks set on fire at Walmart; No injuries

The Phoenix Fire Department is asking for the public’s help identifying three people — two males and a female — who are seen on surveillance video leaving the scene of a fireworks display that was set on fire inside a Walmart store Wednesday night.

Firefighters responded to the Walmart store at 5250 W. Indian School Road on Wednesday night after the fire started. The fire department received numerous 911 calls and when they arrived at the store, there was a lot of smoke.  

The fireworks can be seen on video burning in a large flame as the trio walk away.

According to Phoenix Fire, the sprinkler system helped to quickly extinguish the blaze.

Firefighters said several people suffered from smoke-related complaints but no one was taken to a hospital or injured in the incident.

Authorities are looking for the three people believed responsible for the incident. Anyone with information about them is asked to call the Phoenix Police Department at 480-WIT-NESS.

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Prescott, AZ – Sprinkler system extinguishes fire at senior living facility; Fire started in fan motor

… the second fire of the day (Friday) occurred shortly before 6pm when residents of the Casa De Pinos senior living facility on Cory Avenue reported activated fire alarms in the building and smoke coming from a third floor apartment. The building poses challenges to firefighters due to its limited access and the lack of a standpipe water system in the stairwell.

The first arriving engine company had to lower hose from a third story window back to the engine so it could pump the hose line. Prescott police officers engaged in trying to evacuate roughly thirty residents, some of which have physical limitations. When firefighters made entry into the apartment they found that the building’s sprinkler system had already extinguished the fire and they immediately shut down the sprinkler system so as to limit water damage to the building

Investigation determined that a portable oscillating fan’s motor had caused the fire while the tenant was out of his apartment. The City’s Building Department deemed six rooms uninhabitable, two on each floor, due to the movement of water through the building. An outside contractor was contacted to start the process of mitigating the water damage. The remaining residents were allowed to return to their apartments roughly an hour later. Arrangements were being made to house the six displaced residents.

 

Apartment Building, Residential

Prescott Valley, AZ – Sprinkler system credited with stopping potentially serious residential fire

A sprinkler system is credited with extinguishing a potentially serious unattended kitchen fire on Friday, May 20, Central Arizona Fire Division Chief Rick Chase said.

The fire started about 11 a.m., when fire crews were called to investigate an active sprinkler system in one unit of a two-story four-plex in the 4000 block of Viewpoint Drive. The residents were not home when the water began flowing but came home to find that it had turned on, Chase said.

“What (firefighters) found was a box on the stove that had a bunch of food, trash and stuff in it and it had caught fire,” Chase said. “The sprinkler put it out.”

Because the flames ignited when no one was home, he said, there was a possibility that a major fire could have resulted.

Home sprinkler systems are a good idea, he added, and they don’t work as some people believe.

“That’s kind of one of the myths that people have,” Chase said, “’I don’t want to flood my whole house,’ (but) only the sprinkler head where the heat activate it and pops that bulb is what activates. This head happened to be in the kitchen, closest to the stove, and was able to put it out.

“The moral was that it prevented the fire from spreading.”

Grocery Store / Super Center, Retail

Yuma, AZ – Fire in grocery store storage room extinguished by sprinkler system

In one of three fires that happened in Yuma over the weekend, a sprinkler system at a grocery store extinguished a fire Friday afternoon that started in a storage room. Yuma Fire Department spokesman Mike Erfert said that at about 1 p.m. a water flow alarm was received, indicating the fire sprinkler system had activated inside the Del Sol Market, located at 367 W. 16th St.

Erfert said firefighters responded to the scene and quickly made entry into the building, where they found that a fire had been extinguished by an activated sprinkler head. Firefighters ensured the fire was completely out and assisted with clean-up. Damage was limited to the exhaust fan that had caught fire.

“Fire sprinkler systems can keep fires from spreading and can also extinguish them,” Erfert said. Erfert explained that the fan was located in the ceiling of a storage/utility room and could have easily caused serious damage, disrupting operations of the market, if it had not been extinguished by the nearest sprinkler head.

Residential, Residential High Rise

Phoenix, AZ – Sprinkler system assists firefighters in controlling high rise fire

A trash compactor caught fire in a central Phoenix high rise on Saturday, Fire Capt. Red Bigler said. The Phoenix Fire Department was called to the high rise building on the southeast corner of Central Avenue and Lexington to investigate reports of a fire.

Crews encountered light smoke and an active sprinkler situation surrounding the fire, which was located in a trash compactor, Bigler said. Firefighters were able to control the fire and no evacuations of the building were ordered.  No one was injured in the incident

Other Business, Place of Worship

Cottonwood, AZ – Sprinkler system stops overnight fire at church from spreading

Shortly after 1 a.m. Thursday, the Cottonwood Fire and Medical Department was sent to a structure fire at the River Community Church on the water tank hill above the 400 block of South Willard Street. Fire personnel said that flames were visible from a block away. The main body of the fire was located in a utility sub-structure attached to the main church building, containing heating and cooling system ductwork.

The fire had breached the wall of the sub-structure and extended into the sanctuary of the church where flames were stopped by church’s fire sprinkler system. The fire was controlled within 30 minutes, however the blaze took about an hour to fully extinguish.

Fire damage was extensive to the HVAC sub-structure and there was additional fire damage to walls and adjacent roof and ceiling areas of the sanctuary. There was also smoke damage throughout the structure as well as some water damage to furnishings. Clarkdale Fire District and Verde Valley Ambulance Company assisted Cottonwood Fire with support.

Retail, Shopping Mall

Scottsdale, AZ – Overnight fire at strip mall minimized by sprinkler system

Functioning sprinkler systems and work from the Scottsdale and Tempe fire departments helped keep a strip mall fire to a minimum overnight. Crews responded to a reported fire near Scottsdale Road and McDowell where they found smoke on the inside of the building. Firefighters found a small fire inside, but fortunately, the sprinklers were keeping it from spreading further. No one was inside the building at the time and no injuries were reported. At this time, there is no word on what caused the fire.