Tag Archives: Minnesota

Storage / Warehouse, Warehouse

Rochester, MN – Sprinkler system activated for fire at UPS warehouse; No injuries reported

A Rochester UPS warehouse and UPS trucks were damaged by fire late Saturday night.

No one was injured, but it will be sometime before an estimate of damages to the packages and their contents, trucks and the building can be tallied.

Firefighters were called to the warehouse at the 1600 block of Opportunity Road NW just before 11 p.m.

An automatic alarm showed sprinkler system flow and smoke in different parts of the warehouse. Witnesses reported to dispatch that they saw flames shortly before firefighters arrived.

Fire crews found fire with smoke coming from the building in a loading dock area on the north end of the building where UPS trucks were parked.

Firefighters called for a ladder truck to help fight the fire from above. Firefighters also cut into some of the trucks that were on fire to put out the fire in the cargo areas of the trucks.

Pulver Towing helped move some of the trucks away from the warehouse in case of fire rekindling from one of the trucks.

Rochester Police Department, Rochester Public Utilities, Minnesota Energy, Mayo Clinic Ambulance Service, Stewartville Fire Department and Byron Fire Department all assisted at the scene.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Apartment Building, Residential

Duluth, MN – Sprinkler system activated for second-floor apartment fire; No injuries reported

All tenants at the Burke Apartments in Duluth are temporarily displaced due to water damage from a sprinkler system responding to the fire. The apartment building provides affordable housing to adults with disabilities.

A fire was reported around 9:30 a.m. Monday in a second-floor unit at Burke Apartments, 720 Maple Grove Road, Duluth. It triggered a sprinkler system to activate, causing water damage to nearly all 21 units in the building. A news release from the Duluth Fire Department said the sprinkler system kept the flames in check and no one was injured.

Of the 21 units in the two-story apartment building, 16 were occupied at the time of the fire. Tenants evacuated the building prior to the firefighters’ arrival. According to the Duluth Fire Marshal’s Office, the cause of the fire was accidental.

All tenants are temporarily displaced due to the water damage. Fire and water damage is estimated at $55,000, according to the Duluth Police Department. Property manager Accessible Space is providing tenants with assistance until they can return to the building. The Burke Apartments provide affordable housing for adults with disabilities.

Fire crews from Duluth Heights, Spirit Valley and Duluth Fire Headquarters used vacuums and other equipment to attempt to remove water from the affected units. A local damage mitigation company will assist in the cleanup.

Apartment Building, Residential

Rochester, MN – fire at apartment building extinguished by sprinkler system; No injuries reported

The Rochester Fire Department is crediting an automatic sprinkler system for preventing a fire at a Rochester apartment building from spreading.

The fire was reported at 3731 Technology Drive Northwest. A Fire Department news release says the initial call was made by the building’s alarm system and was followed by multiple 911 calls that confirmed flames and smoke were present. When firefighters arrived at the scene just before 2 PM they found smoke, fire, and water spray from the sprinkler system coming from a window on the fourth floor of the building.

The responding firefighters rushed to the fourth floor while a firefighter on an aerial ladder inspected the roof for signs of a fire extension. They discovered the sprinkler system had done its job and extinguished the fire after confining it to a single apartment unit. Fans were then deployed to remove the smoke and other equipment was brought in to remove the water from the sprinkler system.

No injuries were reported and a dollar estimate of the damage is not yet available. The fire department also did not list a cause for the fire but it appears it started on the stovetop.

Apartment Building, Residential

Robbinsdale, MN – Sprinkler system activated for second floor apartment fire

It was a long night and morning for residents of a Robbinsdale apartment complex. They were awakened by fire alarms due to an apartment fire early Tuesday morning. The fire temporarily displaced at least 30 people.

Crews were called around midnight at Clare Terrace, located at 36th and France. Clare Terrace offers affordable housing for people living with HIV/AIDS who are experiencing poverty or homelessness.

Investigators say the fire was contained to one unit on the second floor. The cause remains under investigation.

Firefighters had to temporarily turn off gas and electricity to the building. The building had some water damage from sprinklers.

“It was isolated to a very small area within the apartment. It wasn’t like a blaze that gutted the apartment at all,” said Johnny Rios, regional property manager for Project For Pride In Living, Inc., which oversees the complex. “The fire set off the sprinklers system, and so, when our sprinkler system goes off, it floods the entire system into whatever affected area there is.”

Tenants were able to move back into their units Tuesday, except the resident of the unit where the fire started, officials said.

Apartment Building, Residential

St. Cloud, MN – Apartment fire contained and extinguished by sprinkler system; No injuries reported

No one was injured but thousands of dollars in damage occurred in an apartment fire Sunday evening in St. Cloud.

The St. Cloud Fire Department responded to a call for a kitchen fire around 8 p.m. Sunday. When firefighters arrived at the apartment building in the 1100 block of 7th Street Southeast, they found that the building’s sprinkler system had contained and extinguished the fire.

There were no injuries reported, but the department says it is investigating the cause of the fire that left $14,000 in damage. It is not suspicious in nature. Two adults and three children were displaced from the apartment and are receiving help from the Red Cross.

Office Building, Other Business

Hutchinson, MN – Lone sprinkler contains large blaze at commercial business complex

A lone sprinkler head may have been the difference between a small, contained fire and a large blaze Sunday night.

According to Hutchinson Fire Chief Mike Schumann, a fire broke out in one of the units at the city-owned Enterprise Center commercial business complex at 1164 Benjamin Ave. S.E. A utility cart with flammable paint supplies on it ignited in the building at approximately 6:45 p.m.

The fire activated a sprinkler head, which contained the fire until firefighters arrived and were able to extinguish and set up ventilation to clear out the smoke. Firefighters also assisted with removing water on the floor and salvaging other items.

Schumann said it was a great example of how valuable sprinkler systems can be.

“If it were not for the early warning and activation of the automatic fire sprinkler system, this could easily have been a multimillion dollar loss with a catastrophic impact on the operation of multiple local businesses.”

Manufacturing, Other - Manufacturing

Belle Plaine, MN – Fire at peanut roasting mill contained by fire sprinklers

On Thursday, Oct. 15, the Belle Plaine Fire Department responded to a Blakeley Township fire in a peanut roasting mill, which is used to produce birdseed. Fire Chief Steve Otto said that one of the dryers likely got too hot and the roaster started on fire. He said the owners previously added a sprinkler system to the cyclones, which activated on Thursday and prevented any serious damage. The Jordan Fire Department also responded to the scene.

Residence Hall/Dormitory, Residential

Duluth, MN – Fire sprinkler contains dorm room fire after refrigerator malfunctioned; No injuries reported

The Duluth Fire Department responded to an alarm in a dorm at 1105 Kirby Drive Monday night.

They arrived just before 8 p-m to find a small fire in a dorm room due to a refrigerator malfunction.

The fire was contained by the building’s sprinkler system and extinguished by firefighters. The dorm room was not occupied at the time of the fire and nobody was injured.

Water from the sprinklers caused some damage to adjoining rooms which remained habitable after cleanup.

Superficial damages were estimated at 2500 dollars to the room and contents.

Apartment Building, Residential, Residential High Rise

St. Paul, MN – Fire on 10th-floor of residential high-rise contained by fire sprinklers

Hundreds of people were forced from a St. Paul high-rise by a fire on Monday night, but sprinklers helped contain the damage.

The fire started just after 8 p.m. in the 16-story Wilder Park senior high-rise a few blocks from the junction of Interstate 35E and Ayd Mill Road.

Resident Diane Welch said she could hear the fire burning right above her 10th-floor unit as alarms sounded.

“And I knew things were crumbling, because I could hear it in the walls, like if you put sand through a sifter,” she said. 

Deputy Fire Chief Roy Mokosso said that more than 60 firefighters responded to fight the fire and evacuate residents. Paramedics stood by and St. Paul police helped search the building and get residents into waiting buses.

Some residents who could not use the stairs were left in place, due to what the building’s governing board told residents was serious damage to the elevators.

Mokosso said at least some areas in the building had sprinklers and the system had activated. Fire investigators were at the scene on Monday night, trying to determine the cause of the fire.

A high-rise fire at a Minneapolis Public Housing building without sprinklers killed five people in November.

Apartment Building, Residential

duluth, MN – Kitchen fire at apartment complex contained by fire sprinklers; No injuries reported

The Duluth Fire Department responded to a fire alarm at the Bluestone Flats Apartments at 133 Summit Street on Thursday afternoon.

Sprinklers had been activated and the building was evacuated for a fire inside a common kitchen area on the first floor of the building.

Damage from the fire, smoke and water from the sprinkler system was estimated at 10 thousand dollars.

The cause was listed as accidental and there were no injuries.