A Tuesday afternoon fire at the Crown Mill Lofts apartments could have been much worse but it was stopped by the building’s sprinkler system.
The fire started in an electrical outlet when a resident was not home. Thanks to the sprinkler system, the damage was limited to some scorched drywall, a burned dresser and water damage. There were no injuries.
“It’s a textbook example of why sprinkler systems are important,” said Dalton Fire Marshal Donnie Blankenship. He’s using the incident as a reminder of the importance of making sure sprinkler systems are in good working order. “Those are concrete floors (in the apartment) but if I’m not mistaken there’s a lot of heavy timber in there … they may have put concrete over the timber … but you had the potential of another Thread Mill-style fire with that building. Other than some water damage to some apartments below it, there was minimal damage.”
“There was a dog and two cats in the apartment,” Blankenship added. “And all those survived.”
Blankenship is in charge of the Dalton Fire Department’s Prevention Division. The firefighters in that division are tasked with inspecting the fire prevention systems in new buildings and making sure they are up to code as well as inspecting the fire safety systems in existing businesses and apartment buildings on an annual basis.
“We go out to these buildings and make sure they’re maintained annually and that way, when (a fire) does happen, the sprinklers and alarms work properly,” Blankenship said. “We don’t see many (systems) that are totally inoperable, but we see the majority of them have some type of issue that we usually address with (the owners) to get them to fix it.”
The fire department also receives reports from sprinkler and fire alarm contractors who do any work in the city, and the department reviews those reports to make sure the systems are working properly. If any deficiencies are noted, the department contacts the companies to make sure they’re fixed.
Blankenship said if any building managers or property owners are concerned about the condition of their sprinkler systems or other fire safety equipment, they can contact the Dalton Fire Department to request an evaluation.
“We’ll come out and inspect it, and their sprinkler contractors usually are set up to come out at a certain time, usually once a year, to inspect them, too,” Blankenship said.
