Apartment Building, Residential High Rise Macon, GA – Arson fire at high-rise apartments contained with help from sprinkler system June 21, 2016 viking210 Fire alarms and sprinklers went off again Monday morning at St. Paul Apartments, a high-rise at 1330 Forsyth St. plagued by recent arsons. Macon-Bibb County fire investigator Sgt. Steve Wesson said several fires have been reported at the building in the past three or four weeks. “A resident was setting something on fire and throwing it down the trash chute, causing the Dumpster to catch on fire,” Wesson said before leaving the apartments Monday morning. About 5:30 a.m., Macon-Bibb firefighters responded to a small fire in room 904, a vacant apartment that was being used for storage, Macon-Bibb fire investigator Lt. Ben Gleaton said. The room had been burglarized, some tools stolen and a fire set, Wesson said. “I hope you get whoever. This is crazy,” fourth-floor resident Brigitte Gramke told the investigators as she walked her dog outside the brick building near downtown Macon. “It’s really bad.” A Bibb County deputy arrested Robert Walter Hutchens, 75, who lives in room 901 at St. Paul Apartments. Hutchens was charged with burglary, according to Bibb County jail records, and stolen tools were recovered. Additional charges are pending if Hutchens is found responsible for the fire. The sprinkler system caused water damage in some of the building, Gleaton said. “It has to cost a fortune and usually it’s arson,” Gramke said of the multiple fires. The St. Paul Apartments manager declined to comment Monday morning.
Apartment Building, Residential Rochester, MN – Early morning apartment fire suppressed by sprinkler system June 3, 2016 viking210 Around 7 a.m. Wednesday morning the Rochester Fire Department responded to a fire alarm at the Boulder Apartments in southeast Rochester. When crews arrived they found water running from under the doorway and could smell smoke. No one answered the door so firefighters broke through the locked door and discovered a small fire in the corner of the living room that had started moving up the wall and ceiling. The sprinkler system had activated, suppressing the fire. Firefighters were able to shut off the sprinkler system however there is extensive water damage to the third floor apartments as well as the apartments directly below on the 1st and 2nd floors. Damage is estimated at $20,000. The City of Rochester’s Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating the fire, so far it appears to be unintentional. No one was in the apartment at the time of the fire but fire crews did rescue a young cat which they turned over to Animal Control until the occupant could be located and notified.
Adult Care/Rehab Center, Nursing Home/Senior Living Northampton, MA – Electrical fire at nursing home contained by sprinkler system May 31, 2016 viking210 An electrical fire forced several elderly residents to temporarily evacuate from the CareOne Nursing-Rehab Center in Northampton early Saturday morning. Mark Spees told 22News his wife lives there. He said he rushed to her side as soon as he heard what had happened. “Got up this morning got a cup of coffee, turned on the news… the coffee’s still on the table because I just started moving,” he said. When Spees got to the CareOne Nursing-Rehab Center, he was relieved to find out his wife was safe and sound. “Unbelievable, you know, all I could think was what’s happening? What’s going on? How’s my wife? When you’ve been married for 43 years you tend to worry,” he said. Northampton Deputy Fire Chief Timothy McQueston told 22News an air conditioning unit plugged into an outlet on the third floor sparked the fire. Fortunately, the building’s sprinkler system helped keep the fire from spreading, and no one was seriously hurt. Later that morning, crews were still cleaning up pieces of shard glass where firefighters had to bust open a window to rescue a woman trapped inside. She was one of three people taken to the hospital by ambulance, as the building’s staff ushered the other residents to safety. At least 30 people on the third floor of the building had to be moved to other locations temporarily because of the damage. The experience highlighted a fear that many children, husbands, and wives have as their family members get older and require extra care. Leann Worsnop of Easthampton told 22News it’s hard not to worry about your parents when they no longer live under your care. “It’s as if it was your own child, the same thing, the same feelings, just you know, what can you do? It’s a feeling of helplessness, and then the whole fear of what actually happened,” she said. The three residents who went to the hospital are expected to be ok. No one was else was injured.
Hotel / Restaurant, Restaurant Frisco, TX – Sprinkler system keeps early morning restaurant fire from spreading May 23, 2016 viking210 A Frisco restaurant is temporarily closed, but spared thousands of dollars of damages thanks to their fire sprinkler system, according to the Frisco Fire Department. Frisco firefighters responded to a “water flow” call at 5:08 a.m. on May 21 from the alarm company that monitors the Posados on the 9500 block of S.H. 121. When the firefighters arrived at 5:14 a.m., they discovered a kitchen full of smoke. It took four engines and two ladder trucks to put out the fire at 5:30 a.m. “The fire sprinkler system did what it’s supposed to do,” said Captain Kevin Haines of the Frisco Fire Department. “The restaurant was closed and no one was working at the time. That early in the morning, there are fewer people ‘out and about’, who might to notice and report a problem. In this case, the activated sprinklers slowed the fire’s ability to grow until firefighters arrived. There’s no doubt, fire sprinklers save property and lives.” The Frisco Posados will be closed at least five days for repairs. There has been no report of any injuries.
Other / Not Specified, Other Business Kent, WA – Sprinkler system protects building from fire caused by spontaneous combustion May 4, 2016 viking210 2 Comments A business’s sprinkler system did exactly what it was designed to do when it contained a small fire in the 18600 block of 72 Avenue South on Tuesday, the Kent Regional Fire Authority reported. No one was in the business at the time of the fire, though firefighters checked neighboring businesses as a precaution. The system, which also sent a signal of a possible fire to the alarm company that monitored it, activated at 5:30 a.m. The closest emergency unit to the call was a fire engine from Tukwila. When they arrived, they found water coming from inside the large two-story, concrete tilt-up building. Because they knew that a sprinkler head had activated, they upgraded the incident to a “commercial fire,” which brought a full fire response. Once additional firefighters from the Kent RFA and Renton RFA were able to get inside the building they found it filled with smoke, which made locating the fire more difficult. Once they found the seat of the fire, they were able to extinguish it quickly and shut down the sprinkler system to reduce additional water damage. A fire investigator determined that there were two locations at the business where fire started. One was inside, which activated the sprinkler system, and one was on an exterior loading dock. The cause of the fire was spontaneous combustion, after paper and filtering material, which were both saturated with paint, were placed in containers, fire officials said. Certain materials, when in a limited space, can self-generate heat until they catch fire. Paints, oils and compost are common causes of this type of combustion. The fire is considered accidental.
Manufacturing, Manufacturing Plant Ashwaubenon, WI – Early morning fire at fiberglass manufacturer limited by sprinkler system April 27, 2016 viking210 No one was inside an Ashwaubenon fiberglass maker when fire broke out early Tuesday morning, according to Ashwaubenon Public Safety. Firefighters say it appears a some machinery–possibly an air compressor–caught fire in the back of the building, located in the 2900 hundred block of Holmgren Way. A sprinkler system alerted crews to the fire and prevented the blaze from spreading to the fiberglass material inside the warehouse. “Actually the contents inside, we had no extension inside to the contents,” said Chief Eric Dunning, Ashwaubenon Public Safety. “If that would’ve caught, we’d still be fighting it right now. The fire stayed with the machinery itself, but with the contents inside there, this could’ve been far worse.” The building did sustain smoke damage. Crews were entering the business to investigate what caused the equipment to spark a fire. “Right now, I’m not sure what the estimate cost of the machinery is,” Chief Dunning said. “And then obviously with the heavy smoke, and there’s quite a few of what appears to be fiberglass halls in there, if there were smoke damage to the halls that were inside the facility.” The chief stressed the importance of having a sprinkler system. “We’ll take that in the luck category. We’ll take that as a win for us,” Chief Dunning said. “What also helped is we had an active sprinkler system, so the sprinkler system kept things to a minimum, where if the building wasn’t sprinklered it would’ve for sure spread into other contents and we wouldn’t have been alerted until it was coming through the building.” Holmgren Way and Ramada Way were closed for a brief time near the scene of a fire. The roads reopened after 5 a.m.
Other / Not Specified, Other Business Titusville, PA – Early morning fire at laundry business contained by sprinkler system April 18, 2016 viking210 The Titusville Fire Department was busy on Friday putting out two fires — one occurred at a Titusville business — the other was on Park Avenue near the intersection of High Street. According to Assistant Chief Joe Lamey, the first fire happened at 5:30 a.m., Friday, at ITU [formerly Farley’s Industrial Laundry] on West Spring Street. Lamey said an automatic fire alarm went off, and when firefighters arrived on the scene, the water flow alarm [sprinkler system] was on, but no smoke was showing. He said firefighters forced entry into the structure and the building’s interior was full of smoke. Lamey said Hydetown and Pleasantville volunteers were called to assist. He said one of the overhead bags the laundry uses had a contaminant, possibly an oil substance, that spontaneously combusted. “The sprinkler system did a great job, but there’s water damage,” Lamey said. “They will have a lot of clean up. There was little damage to the facility and it will probably be ruled accidental.” He said firefighters were on the scene until 8 a.m.
Apartment Building, Residential Manassas, VA – Sprinkler system extinguishes apartment fire caused by clothes left near fireplace April 16, 2016 viking210 City of Manassas Fire and Rescue units were dispatched to a fire at the Barrington Park Apartments in the early morning hours of April 11. The fire started when a pile of clothing was left near a gas fireplace that was accidentally turned on. Smoke alarms alerted the occupants to the fire. One person was trapped in an upstairs bedroom because of smoke but fire and rescue personnel were able to evacuate the man who was treated and released at the scene. The fire was extinguished by the apartment’s residential fire sprinkler system that went off properly and suppressed the fire. The City of Manassas Fire and Rescue department reminds residents that home fire sprinkler systems can control and even extinguish a fire in less time than it takes for the fire department to arrive on scene. By having a fire sprinkler system in the home, the risk of dying from a fire is cut by about about 80 percent. The average property loss per fire is cut by about 70 percent when a fire sprinkler system is in place
Other - Retail, Retail Iowa City, IA – Early morning laundromat fire suppressed by sprinkler system April 15, 2016 viking210 The Iowa City Fire Department responded to a report of a fire at Laundromania, 1848 Lower Muscatine Road, at 4:55 a.m. Tuesday. Crews encountered heavy smoke coming from the building and found fire coming from a bank of commercial dryers at the rear of the laundromat. Firefighters put out the fire in the dryers and made sure the fire had not spread to the rest of the building, according to a news release. The fire department credited the building’s sprinkler system for suppressing the fire before their arrival. Other businesses in the building sustained mild smoke damage. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Uncategorized Chicago, IL – Fire at U.S. Cellular Field contained by sprinkler system hours before White Sox home opener April 11, 2016 viking210 A firefighter was injured Friday morning when a small fire broke out at U.S. Cellular Field, just hours before the Chicago White Sox’s home opener. Fire crews were called to the South Side stadium just before 2:30 a.m. after a fire started in a first-floor storage room, officials said. By 3 a.m. the fire was contained by the sprinkler system. One firefighter was transported to Mercy Hospital and Medical Center to treat non-life threatening injuries, according to the Chicago White Sox’s vice president of community relations Christine O’Reilly. Festivities for the team’s home opener will not be impacted. “We’re ready to open and ready for a ballgame today,” O’Reilly said. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
