Tag Archives: Evening (6pm-9pm)

Residential, Single Family Home

Redding, CA – Fire sprinklers stop garage fire from spreading after batteries catch on fire; No injuries reported

Redding firefighters responded to a residential fire which they later learned was started by a failed RC car battery.

On Thursday, at 7:39 p.m., the Redding Fire Department (RFD) responded to a reported structure fire on Hollow Lane.

When firefighters arrived, they found a mostly extinguished fire within the garage of the home.

RFD says the homeowner and his family saw smoke and flames coming from the garage and reacted quickly with fire extinguishers and water hoses. The home also had an automatic fire sprinkler system which fire investigators say helped in keeping the fire from spreading.

After an investigation, RFD learned the fire was caused by failed rechargeable batteries used in RC cars. They say the battery was being charged when it failed, ignited and spread fire to the surrounding, plastic items on a shelving unit.

RFD says the garage suffered moderate to major fire and smoke damage, but due to the swift actions of the homeowner and the fire sprinkler system, fire was limited to the garage.

Nobody was injured in this incident.

Residential, Residential High Rise

Hagerstown, MD – Trash chute fire in high-rise complex for elderly and disabled residents extinguished by fire sprinklers; No injuries reported

Smoke from a fire in a trash chute drove residents of Potomac Towers from their apartments Wednesday night, but no one was hurt and there was no serious damage to the building, authorities said.

The cause of the fire at the complex on West Baltimore Street in Hagerstown is under investigation, city Fire Marshal Doug DeHaven said.

Several residents who were exposed to smoke were evaluated at the scene by Community Rescue Service, but none required treatment, according to DeHaven and Hagerstown Fire Department Battalion Chief Adam Hopkins.

The complex consists of two connected, high-rise buildings that provide housing for elderly and disabled residents. The 14-story Potomac Towers North has 200 apartments and the eight-story Potomac Towers South has 126 units, according to the Hagerstown Housing Authority website.

Smoke was reported in the upper floors of the larger building around 8:20 p.m. and an alarm monitoring company reported smoke detectors activating on the seventh and 12th floors. Firefighters arrived to find smoke throughout the building, DeHaven said.

Trash stuck in the chute around the fifth floor was burning, but the sprinkler system in the chute activated and the debris slid down into the bin and compactor in the basement, he said.

“The sprinkler did its job and kept it as a contained fire that we were able to deal with quickly,” Hopkins said. “We would have had a much larger fire in the basement and a more significant smoke condition throughout the building.”

Firefighters extinguished the burning debris in the basement in about 10 to 15 minutes, he said, but were on the scene for a total of about two hours cleaning up water on the third and fifth floors and venting smoke from the building.

Some residents evacuated and others were permitted to go out onto their balconies to get away from the smoke, Hopkins said.

He estimated one group of about 25 people evacuated on one side of the building, and a group of about 40 people exited to the other side.

“We had a significant number of occupants who were affected by this fire,” DeHaven said.

Fire doors between the two buildings were closed, and the smaller building was not affected, Hopkins said.

DeHaven said damage was contained to the trash chute, compactor and bin, and water in the basement flowed into floor drains.

Responding with the Hagerstown Fire Department and Community Rescue Service were units from Funkstown Volunteer Fire Co.,  Halfway Volunteer Fire Co., Longmeadow Volunteer Fire Co., Maugansville Goodwill Volunteer Fire Co., Leitersburg Volunteer Fire Co. and the Washington County Special Operations and Emergency Air units, Hopkins said.

Airport, Other Business

New Orleans, LA – Fire sprinklers stop electrical fire at airport from spreading; No injuries reported

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Airport crews are assessing damage after a fire at the Armstrong Airport.

The fire started on the third floor of a terminal in an electrical room causing sprinklers to pour water on several other floors in the terminal, according to an airport representative.

Kenner Fire Department and on-site fire crews responded to the fire.

Airport leaders say they got the report of the fire at around 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 1.

The cause is still being investigated. No injuries were reported.

Apartment Building, Hotel / Motel, Hotel / Restaurant, Residential

Kamloops, BC, Canada – Fire sprinklers keep fire under control at hotel; No injuries reported

A fire last night at the Sandman Inn and Suites left 65 people without a place to sleep.

Around 8:20 p.m., Kamloops Fire Rescue (KFR) was called to the hotel (which also has apartments), says Platoon Capt. Troy Grant.

“Arriving a couple of blocks away, we could see flames on the roof of the building,” he tells KamloopsMatters. “The fire was in the attic and going through the roof in a couple of spots.”

KFR was able to quickly knock the fire down, using hoses from the outside and a ladder truck. They did have to remove a six-foot-by-12-foot section of the roof to get to it.

No injuries were reported, but the building remained empty overnight.

“65 residents were displaced,” Grant says. “Those have been taken care of by emergency support services.”

He adds that some will likely be able to return to their homes tonight, but others won’t be so lucky. The fourth floor, where the fire took place, has apartments, he adds. Along with some smoke damage and the removed section of the roof, he says there’s extensive water damage in some units, and likely more below.

“The cause of fire was in the attic itself; it appears electrical in nature,” Grant says. “The fire was kept small by the sprinkler system — the sprinklers were on for some time.”

Because of that, the roof collapsed in one unit and is sagging in others.

While the fire was knocked down relatively quickly, Grant says KFR stayed on the scene for a couple of hours to help guests and residents move out of the building.

Department Store, Retail

Paso Robles, CA – Fire sprinklers help minimize fire at Lowe’s; No injuries reported

Paso Robles police are looking for four men believed to be involved in a fire and theft at the Lowe’s Home Improvement store on Sunday evening.

Police say firefighters responded to a fire at the store on Golden Hill Road at about 8:15 p.m.

The building’s fire sprinkler system helped minimize the growth of the fire and it was contained within about five minutes of firefighters’ arrival. No one was injured.

The store opened for business as usual on Monday.

Police believe the fire was set as a distraction. They say a man entered the store shortly after 8 p.m. and hid a rolling pipe threader under a canvas drop cloth. After the fire was set and alarms and sprinklers activated, the man pushed the pipe threader out of the store.

Police believe the man was working with at least three other men. Investigators are asking for he public’s help to identify the people believed to be involved and a truck that may also be associated with the theft.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the Paso Robles Police Department at (805) 237-6464.

Apartment Building, Residential

Evanston, IL – Fire sprinkler keeps fire from spreading in 11th-floor apartment; No injuries reported

Multiple people were displaced after a fire Saturday in a high-rise apartment building in north suburban Evanston.

Crews were called at 7:15 p.m. for reports of the blaze in the 1600 block of Chicago Avenue, according to a statement from the Evanston Fire Department.

The fire broke out in an 11th-floor unit, but a sprinkler system kept it from spreading, officials said. Firefighters put out the remaining flames when they arrived.

The unit where the fire started sustained “significant smoke and water damage,” according to the fire department. Multiple other apartments were also damaged by water and several residents were displaced.

No injuries were reported, fire officials said. The cause of the blaze remains under investigation, but no foul play is suspected.

Apartment Building, Residential

Rochester, MN – Single sprinkler head extinguishes unattended apartment cooking fire; No injuries reported

A cooking fire at an apartment building displaced two families with children Sunday night.

The Rochester Fire Department was called to a fire alarm around 8:20 p.m. Sunday at 920 40th St. NW, according to a news release from the department. Firefighters arrived to find smoke in the building. The sprinkler systems were on.

“When crews arrived at the apartment unit with the fire, they discovered an unattended cooking fire that had been extinguished by an activated sprinkler head,” the statement said.

The fire had been completely extinguished. Crews turned off the sprinkler system to limit the amount of water damage to the building and then ventilated the building to remove smoke and other toxic gases.

No one was injured, but the fire damaged the apartment’s stove, microwave and cabinets, while smoke and water damaged other parts of the building.

“Cooking is by far the leading cause of structure fires in Minnesota; almost half of all structure fires are due to cooking, which is over 4 times more than the next cause according to a 2017 report by the MN State Fire Marshall,” the statement said. “The top three factors in cooking fires is unattended cooking, combustibles too close to cooking equipment, and cooking equipment accidentally turned on.”

Staff from the American Red Cross said Sunday night that the organization was helping the two families secure a place to stay after the incident.

Other - Residential, Residential

Macon, GA – Sprinkler system helps contain fire at Home for Children and Youth; No injuries reported

The Methodist Home for Children and Youth says they’re thankful after Macon-Bibb firefighters put out fire near one of their buildings Saturday night.

CEO of the home, Alison Evans, says she got a call around 6:45 p.m. that a golf cart parked under a breezeway to an administration building had caught fire. 

The golf cart was battery powered, and something in it malfunctioned, according to the Macon-Bibb Fire Department.

The department says there was no major damage to the breezeway itself other than soot buildup and some water damage inside the building due to a sprinkler. 

Evans says the fire was not near any of their children’s homes, and there were no injuries. The home is operating as normal. 

They lost a golf cart, but Evans says she’s happy with the fire department’s response. 

The Methodist Home for Children and Youth is located off Pierce Avenue.

Manufacturing, Manufacturing Plant

Winchester, VA – Sprinkler system controls fire at manufacturing plant; No injuries reported

Kingspan Insulation management credits alert employees, the company’s sprinkler system and a prompt response by firefighters for limiting damage from a warehouse fire reported at 6:09 p.m. on Sunday.

Jamey Walters, Kingspan plant manager, said on Monday that Kingspan frequently does emergency preparedness training including fire drills. “We have a very strong safety culture and situations like this show how strong it is,” he said.

No one was hurt in the fire at the plant at 200 Kingspan Way off Martinsburg Pike (U.S. 11). The fire was accidental and occurred during the insulation manufacturing process, according to a news release from Lt. Adam Hounshell, a deputy fire marshal with the Frederick County Fire and Rescue Department. The first firefighters arrived at 6:18 p.m. and found smoke in the warehouse. They extinguished the fire at 6:50 p.m. and removed the burnt insulation. Some of the charred insulation could be seen outside the warehouse on Monday.

Walters said about 130 people work at the 170,000-square-foot facility and about 20 were working when the fire began. He said when the foam insulation caught fire there were “significant flames” that workers tried to put out with fire extinguishers before evacuating when they realized the magnitude of the fire. The sprinkler system then activated and is credited by the fire department for arresting the spread of the fire.

The facility originally opened as Amoco Foam Products and was later purchased by the Pactiv Corp. Kingspan bought the facility in 2014.

Walters said Sunday’s fire was the worst since Kingspan bought the property, but there were a few serious fires in 1990s and 2000s. He said fire is a risk due to the combustibility of insulation.

“Which is why we take fire prevention so seriously,” said Doug Crawford, Kingspan managing director. “It is a real risk.”

A damage estimate was unavailable on Monday. The warehouse, which opened in 1981, is valued at $9.1 million, according to county property records.

Apartment Building, Residential

Haverhill, MA – Sprinkler system contains fire to bedroom after item is left too close to electric heat register; No injuries reported

The Friday night blaze that displaced 14 residents was caused by items left too close to a condo unit’s electric heat register, fire Chief William Laliberty said Tuesday.

The single-alarm fire at the brick Merrimack Place apartment building behind the A-1 Deli was reported by phone around 6:30 p.m. and firefighters had the blaze under control within a half-hour. All residents were evacuated and no injuries were reported.

According to Laliberty, the building’s sprinkler system activated and contained the fire to the bedroom. While smoke from the fire made its way to the adjacent Landmark Building, firefighters were able to quickly remove the smoke using fans, the chief said.