Tag Archives: Early AM (5am-7am)

Hotel / Restaurant, Restaurant

Des Moines, IA – Fire in restaurant on 2nd floor of high rise limited by sprinkler system

Des Moines firefighters quickly extinguished a kitchen fire at 801 Grand Ave. early Thursday morning.  The Des Moines Fire Department got the call at 5:55 a.m. for a kitchen fire at the 801 Chophouse restaurant on the second floor of the 44-story Principal Building, said Capt. Randy Jones.  When firefighters arrived, there was no smoke or flames showing from the high rise, he said.  The source of the fire was a pot that was burning on the stove. Jones said building employees told him the restaurant typically leaves a pot warming overnight.

The building’s sprinkler system had activated, but it did not reach the pot because the pot was under a shelf, Jones said. Firefighters put a lid on the pot to slow it down and used a fire extinguisher to put out the blaze in about 10 minutes.  Jones said he’s not sure what was burning in the pot.  “I don’t know. It’s burned up beyond recognition,” he said.

While firefighters briefly closed part of Grand Avenue, it has since reopened. Jones said there was “quite a bit of smoke” on the second floor that firefighters were ventilating Thursday morning, but the rest of the building would be open as usual.  Damon Murphy, 801 Chophouse’s general manager, said there wasn’t any damage to the restaurant, just some cleanup that was required.  Murphy said he expected the restaurant to be open as normal Thursday evening, pending an inspection.

Residential, Residential High Rise, Townhouse / Condominium

Arlington, VA – Early morning fire at luxury high-rise condominium building contained by sprinkler system

One person was sent to the hospital for observation after a fire in a Virginia Square condominium Friday morning.  The fire was reported around 6:30 a.m. at the high-rise Hawthorn condo building, which is located at 820 N. Pollard Street, across Wilson Blvd from Gold’s Gym.  The fire was contained by a sprinkler system, allowing firefighters to quickly extinguish the flames. Large ladder trucks were used to help with the firefighting effort.  The Arlington County Fire Department. The Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating the cause

Residential, Single Family Home

Ventura, CA – Early morning fire in single-family home controlled by sprinkler system

A fire Tuesday morning at a two-story home in east Ventura was put out with the help of firefighters and interior sprinklers.  Crews from the Ventura Fire Department responded to the incident at 5:28 a.m. in the 300 block of El Monte Avenue and saw smoke coming from an upstairs bedroom window, fire officials said.  Firefighters went inside to extinguish the blaze, which had been kept under control by a residential fire sprinkler system. They also let out smoke and got control of water from the sprinkler system.  No injuries were reported. The cause of the fire is under investigation, fire officials said. It was not immediately clear whether the residents could return to the home.

Storage / Warehouse, Warehouse

Mebane, NC – Early morning warehouse fire contained to area of origin by sprinkler system

Crews are working to figure out what caused an industrial fire at the Kidde warehouse in Mebane early Tuesday morning. Mebane fire officials say the fire started around 5:12 a.m. An automatic fire alarm went off, alerting Mebane and Haw River firefighters. Efland, Pleasant Grove, and Sweponsville firefighters also responded.

Crews put the fire out just before 9 a.m. They say the fire started in a storage facility on the Kidde property, which stored merchandise including smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors and fire extinguishers. Fire crews say no was hurt inside the facility or at the plant when the fire started, and no one was injured putting out the fire.

“The sprinkler system actually kept the fire contained in its area of origin, but it’s a fairly large area, there were several heads that activated,” said Mebane Fire Chief Bob Louis. Crews are still on scene investigating what started the fire. They hope to have an answer by Tuesday afternoon. Kidde has operated in Mebane for decades but expanded its plant in the last few years. Fire officials tell us the storage facility where the fire started is part of the older area of the plant.

Retail, Shopping Mall

Palm Springs, CA – Hallway fire at outdoor shopping plaza limited by automatic sprinkler system

Palm Springs firefighters put out an early Sunday morning blaze in downtown Palm Springs. Crews got the call of the fire at around 6 a.m. and found smoke in a building at the Mercado Plaza on Palm Canyon Drive. Firefighters say the blaze was contained in a exterior hallway by the sprinkler system. This blaze comes after a dumpster fire in the same area about a month ago.  An owner of Maracas Cantina says it’s frustrating this has happened more than once. “You don’t want to have these things coming up and as a business owner, it’s really disruptive,” Todd Flood, an owner of Maracas Cantina, said. “We’re going to open a couple hours late today and we miss some business.”  The fire did not cause any restaurants to close, just delays for some businesses opening, according to Flood. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Restaurant

Mount Prospect, IL – Early morning fire at Culver’s restaurant contained by sprinkler system

The Mount Prospect Culver’s is temporarily closed after a garbage fire Saturday morning, officials said.  The fire broke out about 6:11 a.m. at the restaurant, 1501 Dempster Street, said Battalion Chief Dane Phenegar of the Mount Prospect Fire Department, but the fire was contained by the restaurant’s sprinkler system.  There were no injuries; no employees were present at the time of the fire, Phenegar said, and he doesn’t believe there was structural damage to the building. No damage estimate was available; the cause is under investigation.

Manufacturing, Manufacturing Plant

Watertown, SD – Sprinkler system contains early morning fire at manufacturing facility

Watertown Fire Rescue crews responded to an early morning fire at the Terex-FGI manufacturing plant located at 2813 Piper Avenue on Tuesday morning.  WFR was called to the Terex plant at approximately 5 a.m. Tuesday morning after a fire had been reported inside the building. After all employees safely vacated the building, WFR crews were able to extinguish flames in one of the walls. The sprinkler system had activated and was key to keeping the fire contained to a minimal area.

Smoke and water damage to the building was extensive.  “It wasn’t your typical day for Watertown Fire Rescue,” Assistant Chief Don Rowland said Tuesday morning. “We usually don’t respond to three structure fires in one day.”  Rowland said crews were on scene for about two hours. He said there was a lot of smoke in the building and power was shut off to some parts of the plant. He wasn’t sure when Terex employees would be able to return to work but was hopeful it wouldn’t take too long. According to Rowland, the initial cause of the fire was a furnace in the wall. He did say the investigation into what caused the fire would be started this morning.

Storage / Warehouse, Warehouse

Pasco, WA – Early morning warehouse fire contained by sprinkler system; Firefighters finish the job

Firefighters are now investigating an early morning warehouse fire in Pasco. Firefighters responded to the 1400 block of Foster Wells Rd. around 1:30 this morning, after a warehouse caught on fire.
The building houses cardboard boxes, spices and chemicals used in the local packing houses. Firefighters say that the building’s sprinkler system prevented the fire from spreading beyond the pile of cardboard caught on fire. Crews will be on scene for a while clearing the smoke and checking for hot spots. So far, there are no injuries at this time.

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Clearfield, IA – Sprinkler system limits spread of nursing home fire;

Residents of a Taylor County nursing home were evacuated after fire broke out early Thursday morning. Firefighters from four area departments responded to the fire at the Clearview Homes at 202 Jefferson Street. Clearfield Assistant Fire Chief Clifford Briggs tells KMA News the fire was reported shortly before 6:15 a.m.

“We’re a rural fire department,” said Briggs. “We already had arrangements made with other surrounding departments to come. Lenox actually made it up here, and had already entered before we got here. At the time they made entry, we had smoke and sprinklers going. It was kind of smoky.”

Up to 40 residents were in the nursing home at the time of the fire. Briggs says the fire was located in a resident’s room inside the facility’s western portion. “All the residents had made it out at this time,” he said. “They made it out prior to us even making entry. They were all safe and across the street at a local funeral home. Once we did an overhaul of the room, we found an area that was on fire. We pulled the ceiling down out of the resident room, and extinguished all flames.”

Briggs credits the home’s sprinkler system for preventing the fire’s spread. Firefighters from Sharpsburg, Diagonal and Lenox assisted Clearfield’s department at the scene. Corning’s department was also on standby. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Briggs says the State Fire Marshal has been notified of the incident.