Tag Archives: Morning (7am-12pm)

Apartment Building, Residential

Allentown, PA – Apartment kitchen fire in city center building is knocked down by sprinkler system

A fire in center city Allentown Wednesday morning was quickly brought under control.  The call came in shortly after 9 a.m. for a fire in a third-floor apartment in the 600 block of Hamilton Street. Firefighters arrived to find heavy smoke on the building’s third floor, according to a crew on the scene.  The apartment’s sprinkler system knocked down the fire and contained the fire damage to the kitchen. The apartment sustained smoke, water and heat damage. A second-floor apartment and the first-floor commercial space also sustained some water damage.  No injuries were reported.

Manufacturing, Paper Mill / Saw Mill

Standard, CA – Fire at sawmill quickly contained by sprinkler system

A heavy amount of fire resources were dispatched to the Sierra Pacific Industries Standard Mill on Camage Avenue at 7:34am Tuesday for a report of a fire.  The first responders found that a chair had caught on fire and it activated a sprinkler system. The fire was quickly contained before firefighters arrived and most all of the resources were immediately released from the incident. No additional information is available.

 

Apartment Building, Residential

Bridgeport, CT – Apartment kitchen fire extinguished by sprinkler system; No injuries

Ten people were displaced after a kitchen fire broke out in a unit of a Church Street apartment complex Sunday morning.  According to Bridgeport Assistant Fire Chief Michael Caldaroni, firefighters were dispatched to the Crescenet Crossings complex, 160 Church St., at 10:49 a.m. Sunday. Upon arriving, crews found that a kitchen fire had occurred in one of the apartments and was extinguished by the automatic sprinkler system.

“A salvage operation was conducted by fire crews to limit the amount of damage,” Caldaroni said in an email. “The electricity was disconnected to the apartments involved and this necessitated the relocation of seven adults and three children.”  The American Red Cross provided relocation services to those who needed relocation. The property management company called in maintenance employees and private contractors to make the necessary repairs. A fire investigator also responded to the scene to determine the cause of the fire. Nobody was injured.

According to a release from the Red Cross, the organization is also providing comfort kits containing personal care items such as toothbrushes, deodorant; shaving supplies and other items a resident might not have been able to gather in the rush to escape the fire. In addition, a recovery envelope containing information helpful to families recovering from a fire, including tips on cleanup; notification of important contacts; dealing with damaged items and more was provided.

Hotel / Restaurant, Restaurant

Port Alberni, BC, Canada – Sprinkler system confines restaurant fire to one room

The Port Pub and CJ’s Place restaurant are closed indefinitely following a fire in a room above the pub on Saturday morning (July 7).

The Port Alberni and Cherry Creek fire departments responded to an alarm activation at the pub at around 8:30 a.m. “We found a fire had started in one of the rooms and the sprinkler had activated,” Port Alberni deputy fire chief Wes Patterson said. “Firefighters extinguished the fire.”

Patterson said there were no injuries in the fire, and it was caught early. “Fire and smoke damage was confined to one room, however with the water damage, power was shut off to the building,” he said.

“Thankfully the fire started in a sprinklered area of the building and the sprinkler minimized fire and smoke damage. It shows the importance of having a well-maintained sprinkler system.”

The fire happened in a room right above CJ’s Place and the kitchen. Manager CJ sat in the middle of her darkened restaurant late Saturday morning, tears filling her eyes as she looked around and thought about the damage. She opened her restaurant on May 1, taking over the former Port Sushi location and transforming it into a family restaurant.

“I’m devastated,” she said. “It’s my kitchen that got totally damaged; it’s all flooded.” Water was pooling in the area behind the front counter, down the hallway and in the kitchen. Water was dripping from the light fixtures in the storage room behind the kitchen.

CJ had come to the restaurant early to prepare an order for the Alberni Charity Golf Classic, taking place today at the Alberni Golf Course, but she wasn’t able to fulfill the order due to the water damage. She gave them a gift certificate instead.

“I’m sad because my staff aren’t working,” CJ said. She has four employees who work with her at the restaurant. “That’s my main thing. There’s going to be thousands and thousands of dollars of damage, I know.”

Patterson said the fire department is still investigating how the fire started. Fire restoration crews were in the pub by lunchtime, assessing damage.

CJ said she isn’t sure how long her restaurant or the pub will be closed, but said she will be ready to reopen as soon as she can.

“We’re going to rock this thing. I just want it open.”

Manufacturing, Power / Energy Facility

Ames, IA – Sprinkler system activated at Resource Recovery plant

The Ames Fire Department responded to a fire on Friday morning at the Resource Recovery refuse derived fuel (RDF) bin, located at the corner of East Third Street and East Avenue.

An Ames electric services employee saw smoke and fire coming from the top of the bin and contacted emergency services. Fire crews arrived and extinguished the fire within the bin. Crews remained onsite on Friday to assist with clean up and to monitor hot spots. No injuries were reported.

While the cause of the fire hadn’t been determined Friday, it was reported by electric service employees that the fire was on top of the bin, meaning there was likely a hot material that was transferred to the RDF bin. Materials are transferred to the bin from items dropped off at Resource Recovery System, such as batteries, car tires, hazardous waste and other chemicals.

Paul Sandoval, Ames Deputy Fire Chief, said it does not appear the fire was caused by a mechanical issue.

Sprinkler systems within the bin were activated when the fire started. According to Ames Electrical Services Director Don Kom, the fire department was contacted for additional water and to completely soak the bin. At this time, known damage includes electrical components within the bin, according to Sandoval. Other possible damage is still being investigated.

“We’re now going back in and checking systems to see what’s working and not working. We are making sure that beyond the electrical system, the equipment — especially the augers — are functioning. It will just take us a little while to work through that process,” Kom said in a news release.

Electric services employees were assessing the damage on Friday.

Office Building, Other Business

Hyannis, MA – Sprinkler system controlled laptop fire at The Times offices

UPDATE 1:30 P.M. – The Times states that the fire started in a laptop computer, burned the edge of a desk and spread to a chair.  The chair fire released clouds of smoke before being extinguished.  [You may recall Fire Marshal Ostroskey speaking with us on “Lower Cape Today” about the smoke and toxic fumes that come from burning furniture in today’s homes.]

UPDATE 10:30 A.M. – The Times is reporting that a chair caught fire in the Display Advertising Department.  Firefighters reportedly removed the chair and vented smoke from the structure.

Firefighters were dispatched to the offices of the Cape Cod Times offices on Main Street in Hyannis around 8:30 Saturday morning.  

The initial response came after sprinkler activation sounded automatic alarms.  Upon their arrival, firefighters discovered smoke in the building.

No injuries have been reported and the sprinkler system appears to have controlled the fire.

No further information is available at this time.

Other - Residential, Residential

Montgomery, AL – 7th Floor structure fire contained by sprinkler system while fire crews arrived

No one was hurt as Montgomery Fire and Rescue units put out a Saturday morning fire.

The department posted on Facebook that a 7th floor structure fire at a room in the 300 block of Montgomery Street was started by food left unattended.

Responders said the sprinkler system held the fire in check but damage was still done.

The department reported considerable smoke and water damage as well as damage to the stove and cabinets.

Apartment Building, Residential

Juneau, AK – Sprinkler system contains apartment fire started by unattended cooking

A kitchen fire sent smoke and residents streaming out of the Mendenhall Tower Apartments on Thursday morning, Capital City Fire/Rescue officials said on the scene.  At 10:57 a.m. Thursday, Fire Marshal Dan Jager said, a call came in reporting that a fire had broken out in an apartment on the third floor of the apartments and that smoke was visible from the outside of the building. Jager said it was apartment 301, on the north side of the building.

Firefighters arrived and extinguished the fire, Assistant Chief Tod Chambers said on the scene. Three people were being evaluated for possible smoke inhalation, Chambers said, and he did not have an update on their condition as of noon Thursday.  Jager said the fire appears to have begun on the kitchen stove, and that something had been left cooking on the stove. Both Jager and Chambers said it was unclear whether the resident of the apartment was home at the time.

“The fire was on the stovetop itself,” Jager said. “From there it went up to the cabinets and spread out through the kitchen area. The heat traveled across the ceiling over to the sprinkler head by the apartment door, and that’s actually what went off.”

Jager advised people to stay near their cooking food, whether it’s on the stove or in the microwave. Chambers said responders also went up to the 11th floor of the apartment building in response to an oven that had been left on.  The sprinkler kept the fire at bay until firefighters got there, Jager said, but there was still a little bit of fire in the apartment when they arrived because the sprinkler doesn’t reach all the way to the stove. Sprinklers all over the floor started spraying, Jager said, and he indicated that there was standing water on the floor just before residents were allowed back into the building at noon.

False alarms happen from time to time at the apartment complex, Jager said, so he was happy to see that most of the people who were home at their apartments Thursday took the alarm seriously and left the building.

“They followed the directions of the alarm,” Jager said, “and that made our job a whole lot easier so we can focus on the fire itself and not having to evacuate people or people getting hurt in the process.”

CCFR responders also responded to four medical calls during the response to the fire, according to a post on CCFR’s Facebook page. There were two calls downtown, one call in midtown and one in the Mendenhall Valley, according to the post.

College/University (on campus), School / University

Columbia, SC – Electrical fire at Coliseum extinguished by sprinkler system

The University of South Carolina’s Carolina Coliseum was damaged in a fire Thursday morning.

Firefighters responded to an alarm at around 10:15 a.m. after a construction worker cut through a live wire he believed was turned off, causing electricity to arc and start a small fire, said Columbia Fire Chief Aubrey Jenkins.

Nobody, including the worker who cut through the live wire, was injured, and by the time firefighters responded, the building’s sprinkler system had extinguished the fire, Jenkins said.

Jenkins called the fire “very minimal.” 

A commercial-size dryer at the 12,000-seat arena — which predominantly serves as a practice facility for the university’s basketball teams and houses the College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management — was damaged, Jenkins said.

Though the building had smoke in it when firefighters arrived, the smoke did not cause damage to the building. It did, however, receive minor water damage from the sprinklers being activated.

Before Colonial Life Arena opened in 2002, basketball games and big concerts had been held at Carolina Coliseum since 1968. USC committed to renovating the building in 2017.

Grocery Store / Super Center, Retail

Coronado, CA – Supermarket fire contained with help from sprinkler system

A smoky basement fire prompted the evacuation of a supermarket near Naval Air Station North Island Wednesday. Witnesses reported hearing an explosion, likely from an overloaded transformer, in an alley behind the Vons store in the 800 block of Orange Avenue in Coronado about 8:15 a.m., city spokeswoman Janine Zuniga said.

The building then began to fill with smoke, and its fire-sprinkler system activated. Emergency crews and store employees cleared everyone out of the building while firefighters extinguished the blaze, which caused no injuries.  San Diego Gas & Electric personnel turned off the power supply to the building and were investigating the mishap. “Right now, we aren’t sure if the transformer or (a) refrigeration unit caused the fire,” Coronado Fire Chief Jim Lydon said in the late morning.

The store was expected to remain indefinitely closed due to heavy smoke and water damage, and lack of electrical service. County health officials will assess the site before it is allowed to reopen to the public, Lydon said.