Officials say an indoor sprinkler system saved a man in a wheelchair after a fire started. The man, who’s in his 50s, had been sitting in his wheelchair, smoking and using an oxygen machine, the St. Paul Fire Department says in a Facebook post. He dozed off, and around 5:30 a.m. his oxygen tubing caught on fire. The blaze spread, igniting a nearby recliner. Fire alarms sounded, but the man was stuck, officials say. Without help, he could not escape.
When responders arrived, they say the man was sitting right next to the burning recliner, unable to move. But right above the recliner was an indoor fire sprinkler – and it’s the reason the man is still alive.
The St.Paul Fire Department says if it wasn’t for the nearby sprinkler keeping the fire from spreading, the man could have been seriously injured or killed. Thanks to the safety system, he got away with only “mild smoke inhalation.” According to the fire department, the sprinklers are 96 percent successful in controlling or extinguishing a fire.
A small fire broke out in a fifth-floor suite of Elliott Hall at 2:20 a.m. on Sunday, with water damage from the sprinkler response affecting rooms on the second through fifth floors of the building.
After students were evacuated from the building following the sounding of the first alarm early Sunday morning, the Diana Center was opened for residents of Elliott Hall to wait in while the building was inspected by Public Safety, according to a resident assistant in Elliott Hall.
The building was cleared for students to re-enter at around 3:30 a.m., but due to the sprinkler system’s response to the fire, the rooms immediately adjacent to the source, as well as the ones located several floors below it experienced flooding. A Barnard spokesperson confirmed that some administrative offices and hallway carpeting were affected by water damage.
According to the RA, who wished to remain anonymous because RAs are prohibited by Residential Life to speak to the press, the flooding was caused by the sprinkler in the source room and not by multiple sprinklers.
Residents living on the fifth floor near the room where the fire began said that aside from some smoke and ash in their rooms, they experienced no significant damage.
The RA said that there was a second fire alert after the building was reopened, but that they thought that it had to do with the alert system and was not indicative of a second fire. It did, however, drive some students from the building for the night.
Fifth-floor resident Maya Edwards, BC ’17, said that, although she did not leave for the night, she knew of students who left to stay with friends in other buildings.
Although Barnard’s emergency alert notification system was not used for the fire, the RA said that they didn’t think that was a problem.
“I feel like it was very contained so I feel like it wasn’t the same magnitude as in the 600s,” the RA said, referencing last year’s fire in 600 West 116th Street.
Facilities is still working to address the problems caused by the flooding, but the building is fully operational, a Barnard spokesperson confirmed
Reporting on lives and property saved by fire sprinklers
