Tag Archives: California

Apartment Building, Residential, Residential High Rise

Santa Rosa, CA – Sprinkler system activated for fire in 14-story apartment building

An elderly woman and a small dog were rescued from a fire that broke out in a Santa Rosa high-rise apartment complex on Sunday morning, announced the Santa Rosa Fire Department.

The fire department first received reports of a fire via a water flow alarm in a 14-story apartment building on 801 Tupper St shortly after 4 a.m.

Firefighters responded to apartment 303 in the building and found that a sprinkler system activated and extinguished a fire from the kitchen. Firefighters found a woman on the ground of the living room floor and brought her to the first floor lobby. A small dog was also found in the apartment.

The woman was transported to a local hospital for evaluation.

Fire officials deemed the apartment uninhabitable because of severe water and fire damage. Water damage also affected seven other apartments in the building, said firefighters.

Residential, Residential High Rise

Fresno, CA – Sprinkler system extinguishes fire at eight-story building

A water sprinkler doused a fire Friday afternoon at an eight-story building in downtown Fresno.

The Fresno Fire Department responded to the fire at 4:45 p.m. at Fulton and Amador streets with reports of a fire that started on the balcony, spokesman Jonathan Lopez said.

The sprinkler system had already extinguished the fire when crews arrived.

No one was displaced.

Lopez credited the Silvercrest Retirement Residence management for helping fire crews get to where the fire started and stressed the importance of having a working sprinkling system.

”This incident really highlights the importance of not having working smoke detectors, but especially in buildings like this working fire suppression,” he said. ”Sprinklers and self-closing doors really minimize the potential disaster that could happen in a high-rise building without these fire protection features.”

Five engines and two ladder trucks responded to the commercial fire.

Other - Residential, Residential

Petaluma, CA – Sprinkler system activated for fire at tiny home community; No injuries reported

One resident was displaced by a fire Friday at Petaluma People’s Village, a community of 25 tiny homes for the unsheltered.

Firefighters were dispatched at 4:09 p.m. Friday to a report of a structure fire at the tiny home community located behind the Mary Isaak Center, 900 Hopper St., according to the Petaluma Fire Department.

Firefighters found smoke coming from one of the units, along with the fire bell sounding and the fire sprinkler system activated in one unit, Petaluma Fire Marshal Jessica Power said in a news release.

A smoldering fire was found inside the unit but was mostly extinguished due to the sprinkler system activation, Power said.

Firefighters extinguished the remaining fire and searched for victims.

A single resident escaped the fire in the unit without injury.

There were no injuries to firefighters.

The Petaluma Building Department and PG&E responded to evaluate the next steps for making the unit inhabitable again.

“During the planning and construction of People’s Village many important safety features, including an automatic fire sprinkler system and alarms were included,” Power said. “As intended and designed, in this incident the sprinkler system and corresponding alarm bell notified the residents and gave them time to evacuate safely, kept damage to that unit at a minimum, and prevented fire damage to other units, saving vital housing for some of those most vulnerable.”

The cause of the fire remained under investigation Monday.

Other - Residential, Residential

Pacifica, CA – Sprinkler system activated for fire at multi-family residence; No injuries reported

Two people in Pacifica have been displaced following a fire in their residence on Monday evening, the North County Fire Authority said.

Six fire companies responded to the blaze in the 900 block of Linda Mar Boulevard at approximately 7:19 p.m.

Firefighters arrived and found smoke coming from a multi-family residence. They made an aggressive attack and began search and rescue operations but no one was inside at the time, the Fire Authority said.

The fire was extinguished and no other buildings were affected. The North County Fire Authority noted that the building’s sprinkler system activated, which confined the fire to its origin area.

Two residents are now displaced and are being aided by the Red Cross.

There were no injuries.

This fire is currently under investigation.

Other / Not Specified, Other Business

Oceanside, CA – Sprinkler system activated for fire at industrial building; No injuries reported

An Oceanside building that caught on fire Saturday night was spared thanks to its fire sprinkler system, an Oceanside fire official said.

“This goes to show the importance a working fire protection system,” Battalion Chief Wes McGee said in a statement.

The fire was reported shortly after 8 p.m. at the building on Ocean Ranch Boulevard near Maritime Way. After fire officials arrived, they assigned three more fire engines and a ladder truck to the commercial fire, with a total of 18 firefighters responding.

Items inside the business caught fire, McGee said, but the structure itself did not burn.

A damage estimate was not available, but officials said the items that caught fire included a pile of some kind of rags.

According to Google, the business at that address is a store that sells uniforms.

The department was still investigating the cause of the fire. No injuries were reported.

Manufacturing, Other - Manufacturing

Sun Valley, CA – Sprinkler system activated for container fire; No injuries reported

Firefighters in Sun Valley Sunday knocked down a small fire within a container at a metal plating facility, which was held in check by the structure’s fire sprinkler system, authorities said.

Firefighters were dispatched at 6:59 a.m. to 9939 N. Glenoaks Blvd., where they used a hand-held fire extinguisher to douse the flames, said Brian Humphrey of the Los Angeles Fire Department.

It was not immediately clear what was inside the container.

No injuries were reported.

“Per protocol, an LAFD Hazardous Materials team has been summoned to assist with a detailed site assessment,” Humphrey said.

Apartment Building, Residential

La Mesa, CA – Sprinkler system activated for fire at apartment complex

Thirty residents of a La Mesa apartment complex were displaced after a fire sparked in their building Monday evening, a fire official said.

Crews were dispatched just before 7:40 p.m. to the Spring Hill Apartments, on Spring Street northeast of state Route 125, Heartland Fire & Rescue spokesperson Andy McKellar said.

There was a fire in a top floor apartment. Crews had it out by shortly after 8 p.m., he said.

The sprinkler system did activate, “helping to keep the fire in check,” McKellar said.

McKellar said firefighters contained the fire to one unit, but an additional 15 apartments were affected by water from the sprinkler system.

He said the Red Cross was called in to assist residents who needed help.

Office Building, Other Business

San Diego, CA – Sprinkler system extinguished early morning laboratory fire; No injuries reported

A fire early Wednesday in a second-floor laboratory in a Qualcomm building in Sorrento Valley was put out by sprinklers before firefighters arrived, San Diego Fire-Rescue officials said.

The fire was reported around 6:40 a.m. in a four-story building on McKellar Court off Pacific Center Boulevard called the Qualcomm Pacific Center Campus. When crews arrived, they didn’t see any smoke or fire showing from the outside the building but when they got inside, they found a fire that had been extinguished by the building’s sprinkler system.

After searching the building to check for any spread of the fire, crews worked to ensure the fire didn’t reignite. Just under 50 firefighters from San Diego and Chula Vista had responded to the fire.

No injuries were reported. No damage estimate was immediately available. A cause of the fire also wasn’t reported.

Residential, Residential High Rise

Los Angeles, CA – Sprinkler system activated for fire at 16-story downtown high rise; No injuries reported

Sprinklers prevented a possible disaster Sunday evening when a sparking vacuum cleaner ignited a fire in an apartment of a 16-story downtown high rise.

The fire was reported at 10:45 p.m. at 255 S. Hill St., said the Los Angeles Fire Department’s Margaret Stewart.

It was in an eighth-story apartment and was held in check by sprinklers, Stewart said.

“While a few residents self-evacuated, the rest of the building is sheltering in place,” she said. “There is only light smoke in the hallway.”

No injuries were reported.

Firefighters remained at the scene to remove water from the sprinkler activation, she said.

Other / Not Specified, Other Business

Petaluma, CA – Sprinkler system activated for commercial building fire; No injuries reported

A commercial building caught fire late Monday night in northeast Petaluma causing minor damage, fire authorities said.

Around 11:37 p.m., sprinklers went off inside a building at 1380 Redwood Way, notifying the building’s monitoring system, which called fire dispatchers, said Jessica Power, fire marshal for the Petaluma Fire Department.

Within five minutes, Petaluma Fire Department crews arrived and found heavy black smoke coming from the single-story building’s roll up door and roof, according to a media release.

Three engines from Rancho Adobe Fire District also responded.

No one was inside when the fire occurred and there were no injuries, Powers said.

The building showed only minor damage, thanks to the sprinkler system that helped control the flames until firefighters arrived, Powers said. She said the estimated cost of damage was unknown Tuesday afternoon.

The cause is still being investigated, she said.

“This incident is a opportunity to remind our citizens that having working fire alarms, carbon dioxide alarms, and sprinkler systems can be the difference in not only damage to a structure, but also in the amount of time a person, family, or coworkers have to escape in an emergency,” the department said in the release.