Tag Archives: Iowa

Residence Hall/Dormitory, Residential

Decorah, IA – Fire sprinklers activate to control dorm room fire; No injuries reported

A fire inside a Luther College dorm in Decorah caused damages but injured no one Wednesday evening.

The Decorah fire department says they were called to Miller hall on Luther’s campus for the fire in the dorm room.

Authorities say they were directed to a room on the second floor of the building, when they got to the room in question there was no one inside, but there was a small burned area in the room.

Firefighters say the sprinkler system inside the hall had been activated and there was smoke found in the building. The sprinkler system was turned off by firefighters and the smoke was ventilated from the room and building.

What caused the fire is still under investigation by the Decorah fire department.

Apartment Building, Residential

Des Monies, IA – Single fire sprinkler prevents fire from spreading at apartment complex; No injuries reported

A single fire sprinkler prevented possibly another tragedy at Eddy Apartments.

The call came in at 1:15 p.m. on Wednesday where a small fire broke out on the first floor in the laundry room.

Resident Myra McNeary said, “It was pretty scary because you really couldn’t see because it was up and ground level was clear. I was walking bent down so I didn’t get any smoke.”

It was a single fire sprinkler that contained the fire until crews arrived on scene.

Des Moines Fire Marshal Jonathan Lund said, “[A] sprinkler head typically activates 60 to 90 seconds after the fire starts and that provides valuable time for us to get there.”

A fire sprinkler is heat reacted and responds only when the fire is directly above a specific sprinkler.

“Residential sprinklers and like light hazard occupancy so like businesses and stuff typically about 13-17 gallons. Not a ton of water, but enough to get the job done,” Lund said.

The apartment complex fell victim to a fatal fire back in 2017.

“The building code that we had adopted at the time and fire codes say that repairing fire damage or a damaged building does not necessarily require you to put sprinklers in. It requires you to build it back the way it was,” Lund said.

After the 2017 fire, the owners renovated the building adding a fire sprinkler system.

“It’s much better now and they’ve got all the sprinklers and smoke alarms and stuff in place,” McNeary said.

No major injuries were reported. The fire is still under investigation.

Eddy Apartments is located at 1120 Polk Boulevard, Des Moines.

Primary / Secondary School, School / University

Des Moines, IA – Fire sprinklers extinguish fire started by a student in school bathroom

A small fire in a bathroom at Lincoln High School forced the building’s evacuation Monday morning and classes were canceled for the rest of the day.

School officials said the fire started in a first-floor boys bathroom before 8:30 a.m. and the school’s sprinkler system turned on and put out the fire.

“So there’s some water damage, some smoke damage and minimal amount of fire damage in the bathroom. Probably be some structural damage to the walls that will have to be replaced due to the water and the smoke,” Des Moines Fire Lieutenant Chris Clement said.

The Des Moines Fire Department said the cause of the fire is being investigated.

Phil Roeder, with the Des Moines Public School District, said they were able to identify the student involved and they could be facing disciplinary action.

“The police department and our SRO responded very quickly to find out who the person was behind this. Staff was working with authorities both to make sure students were safe, but also helping to identify who they thought triggered this as well. It was a good team effort,” Roeder said.

Students and staff were allowed into the Roundhouse and Commons while fire crews responded.

Roeder said students will be back in class on Tuesday.

“Because the bathroom fire was on the front part of the school, things like the gymnasium and all that are on the backside of the school and pretty far away from where any smell is. So activities are going to go on at school as usual and we expect the clean up for the most part to be completed today and classes will start back up at 8:30 tomorrow morning,” Roeder said.

Students will have to make up the school time that was lost on Monday, but Roeder said they might not be able to start making it up until after the holidays.

“We’ll sit down and look at the hours, look at the calendar and make sure the time we lost today gets made up appropriately and get on with the rest of the school year,” Roeder said.

Apartment Building, Residential

Coralville, IA – Fire contained to 3rd floor balcony thanks to fire sprinklers

Coralville Fire Department responded to a fire in the 900 block of 20th Ave. around 5 a.m. on October 16.

Firefighters say the sprinkler system extinguished the fire, and damage was contained to the balcony of the 3rd floor apartment.

Firefighters stayed on scene until 6:30 a.m.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

The damage was estimated at around $10,000.

Apartment Building, Residential

Davenport, IA – Sixth floor apartment fire contained by fire sprinkler system; No injuries reported

Davenport firefighters battled a small apartment fire at the Heritage high rise Thursday.

The fire started in a sixth floor apartment, but the sprinkler system held it in check.

There were no injuries, and no one had to be evacuated from the building. Asst. Fire Chief Robb MacDougall tells TV6 there are sprinklers throughout the building to protect residents.

The fire is under investigation.

Heritage is located at 501 W. Third St. in Davenport.

Apartment Building, Residential

Cedar Falls, IA – Sprinkler system extinguishes apartment kitchen fire; No injuries reported

A minor kitchen fire at 4430 Ashworth Drive was extinguished by sprinklers before firefighters arrived Saturday afternoon.

“The fire was 100 percent put out by the sprinkler system,” said Public Safety Director Jeff Olson.

At 2:21 p.m. Saturday Cedar Falls firefighters were dispatched to a kitchen fire. When they arrived they found the apartment complex’s sprinkler system had extinguished the fire.

Capt. Mike Buhrow radioed back that additional assistance wasn’t needed, Olson said.

The apartment complex residents were evacuated when firefighters arrived.

The fire was caused by a cardboard box left on top of stove, which was accidentally turned on, Olson said.

There were no injuries. The stove was damaged and may need to be replaced and cabinets above the stove were burned as well.

The resident was in the process of moving out.

Uncategorized

Spencer, IA – Sprinkler system activated for fire in Livestock Pavilion at fairgrounds; No injuries reported

Authorities say a sprinkler system likely helped to reduce damage when a fire broke out inside a massive building on the Clay County Fairgrounds Sunday night.

The Spencer Fire Department encountered a large amount of smoke coming from the Livestock Pavilion when it arrived on the scene about 8:45 p.m.

Authorities say a truck parked inside the building had caught on fire, but what was left of the fire was quickly extinguished.

No injuries were reported.

Fair officials are assessing damage Monday.

They say owners of items stored in the building will be contacted today by fair officials.

Hotel / Restaurant, Restaurant

Cedar Rapids, IA – Sprinkler system activated for second fire in two days at cafe

At 8:03 p.m. Friday night, firefighters responded to a fire alarm and sprinkler flow alarm at Riley’s Cafe.

The Cedar Rapids Fire Department and Hiawatha Fire Department both responded to the scene, where an official release says they found a light haze inside Riley’s Cafe. Using thermal imaging, firefighters reportedly checked the ceiling in an area already impacted by a fire Thursday afternoon. After discovering hot spots, the firefighter reportedly began removing ceiling tiles and identified burning insulation and falling embers. Firefighters reportedly discovered multiple instances of burning insulation above both Riley’s Cafe and the neighboring Broken Spoke, both of which had already been closed because of Thursday’s fire.

According to the report, potable and fire suppression systems were damaged. Riley’s Cafe was impacted by a broken line in the ceiling and Broken Spoke reportedly had an impacted hot water line.

The report states both Thursday and Friday’s fire have been ruled unintentional. Thursday’s fire is reportedly the result of radiant heat exposure that ignited wood behind the stainless steal surrounding the stove in Riley’s Cafe kitchen, and Friday’s fire was reportedly the result of an electrical fire.