Tag Archives: Morning (7am-12pm)

Apartment Building, Residential

Plymouth Meeting, PA – Sprinkler system credited with saving life and property in apartment fire

An accidental fire at the Parc Apartments on Plymouth Road Friday morning caused fire and water damage to one apartment and water damage to an additional nine to 10 apartments.

“The husband and wife living in the third-floor apartment tried to put out the fire in the kitchen,” said Andrew Mount, the Plymouth fire marshal. “They pulled the fire alarm in Building 5000 and evacuated with other residents of the building. The sprinkler system in the apartment had extinguished the fire by the time the fire companies arrived.”

The Harmonville and Plymouth fire companies were the first fire companies to respond to the 8:46 a.m. fire, Mount said. The Conshohocken Fire Company No. 2, Lincoln, Wissahickon and Barren Hill fire companies also responded to the fire along with Plymouth Ambulance.

“The sprinkler system most certainly saved a life and it minimized the damage to the building,” Mount said. “If we didn’t have a sprinkler system in the building firefighters could still be fighting this fire.”

There were no injuries reported.

Mount said that the Parc Apartments management has hired a restoration company to clean up water damage in the second-floor apartments. He said the company will return later to make permanent repairs as well.

“Someone might be critical of the water damage,” Mount said, “but there is less fire damage and less water damage compared to the amount of water the firefighters would use to put out the same fire.”

College/University (on campus), School / University

West Lafayette, IN – Fire in computer lab at Purdue University extinguished with help from sprinkler system

A fire occurred at Purdue University’s Hampton Civil Engineering building this morning. The entire building was evacuated after smoke alarms detected the fire at roughly 11:30 a.m. Aaron Bukowski is a Junior in the College of Department of Physics and Astronomy.  He was in the building when the fire began.

“We were working in our lab and we smelled something burning and the fire alarms ended up going off,” said Bukowski. “They evacuated the whole building and by the time we got out was maybe two minutes before the fire department showed up. Then we saw them go in then they came back out, put their gear on, and went back in. Now their squeegeeing water off the floor.”

By roughly 12:15 p.m. three marked police vehicles were present on the scene, as well as three possible unmarked vehicles. Other safety vehicles present included one fire engine, one ambulance, one fire command, as well as at least seven Purdue University vehicles.

Kevin M. Ply is a fire chief for the Purdue University Fire Department. He was among those that responded to the call. “The fire department was dispatched here on an active fire alarm for Hampton at 11:14 a.m,” said Ply. “One of our ambulances was out on campus. They arrived at 11:15 a.m. so a minute later. When they arrived the building was being evacuated.” Ply said, “the fire alarm panel indicated an active sprinkler head in room 1268. When they proceeded to that area they encountered smoke and water coming from out of the door.”

After informing the rest of the first responders, they forced entry to the room, put out the fire, and confirmed that it had not spread to the rest of the building. There was “minimal damage” according to Ply.  Room 1268 is a computer lab in Hampton. Ply said the fire only affected a limited portion of the room. He confirmed there were no occupants in the room at the time and the room was secured.

“The fire was extinguished pretty quickly, we got to sprinklers shut down pretty quickly,” said Ply. “We’re working with the police department to determine the cause. Right now, it doesn’t appear to be anything suspicious but we’re going to try to determine exactly what the cause was.”

The old section of Hampton has been reopened, as well as parts of the new section where the fire occurred. The room is expected to reopen after the police department concludes its investigation.

“The key thing is we had a quick response, the sprinkler system did its job and contained the fire from spreading,” said Ply. “So everything worked the way it should.”

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Pensacola, FL – Fire at senior apartment building contained with help from sprinkler system

Nearly 100 residents of a senior living complex in Ensley had to be evacuated because of an apartment fire Thursday morning.

Around 11:26 a.m., Escambia County received a 911 call reporting smoke and flames visible at the Johnson Lakes Apartments in the 1400 Block of East Johnson Avenue. Responding firefighters were able to contain and extinguish the fire quickly, but the blistering heat outside created a whole new set of problems.

The National Weather Service reported heat index values of more than 100 degrees Thursday. Residents of the four-story, 160-unit apartment complex had to be loaded onto air-conditioned Escambia County Area Transit buses while firefighters checked every apartment for damage or stragglers.

All told, two people were transported to West Florida Hospital (for heat exhaustion and breathing difficulties respectively), at least four people were displaced, 88 people were evaluated and temporarily placed on buses, and six people were found sheltering inside the building, according to county officials.

“The fire itself was relatively minor in nature, but the pure size of the building is a bit of a challenge,” said Deputy Fire Chief Paul Williams. “We had to ensure residents were evacuated or sheltered in a safe portion of the building.”

Williams said firefighters also had to assist some residents out of the building because of their limited mobility.

In the parking lot outside, people clustered together in small patches of shade along a low-stone wall. Several sat in wheelchairs, leaned on walkers or pulled oxygen tanks behind them as they waited for ECAT buses to arrive.

A team of Red Cross workers handed out bottles of water to tenants and firefighters, urging apartment residents to hurry into the air-conditioned buses as they became available.

Though most praised the response of the rescue personnel, a few grumbled about the high temperatures outside.

“It’s hotter out here than it was in there,” one person remarked.

Escambia County Fire Rescue personnel from all over the area responded, and they were backed up by crews from Pensacola, the U.S. Navy, Pace and Avalon. Once the fire was under control, they set about the arduous business checking the status of every apartment.

The fire originated in an apartment on the second floor, activating a sprinkler in the apartment, officials said. Williams said the State Fire Marshal’s Office is working to determine the cause.

Jessie Brown, who lives on the second floor, said he never saw flames, but was alerted to the fire by the hubbub out in the hallway. Waiting outside, he said he was worried about what the water had done to his belongings.

I dread going back in there now and looking at my apartment,” Brown said.

Williams said Thursday evening that officials believed most residents would be able to return to their homes that night. He also said approximately four units were temporarily uninhabitable, but that occupants could potentially be housed elsewhere in the complex until repairs were complete.

Jerry Kindle, CEO of the American Red Cross of Northwest Florida, said Thursday evening the organization assisted 30 people from 29 units with clothing, lodging, food or other needs. He credited the organization’s volunteers for coming together so quickly in a time of need.

“The Gulf Coast is a giving community,” Kindle said. “The total number of staff that showed up was two people, the rest were all volunteers.”

Residence Hall/Dormitory, Residential

Rock Hill, SC – Dorm room fire held in check by sprinkler system at Winthrop University

Firefighters extinguished a small fire in a dorm room on the Winthrop University campus that forced the evacuation of 300 students Thursday morning, an official said.

The fire was called in around 7 a.m. in Richardson Hall, Deputy Chief Mark Simmons of the Rock Hill Fire Department said. The building’s sprinkler held the fire, which was isolated to one dorm room, in check until firefighters arrived.

No injuries were reported. Simmons said about 300 students were staying in the dorm for orientation and were evacuated.

There was minor fire damage to the one dorm room, and water damage caused by the sprinkler system, Simmons said.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

 

Other Business, Place of Worship

Seattle, WA – Church fire during worship service controlled by sprinkler system

As reported on West Seattle Blog (Statement from Rev. Leah Atkinson Bilinski to Fauntleroy Church congregation):

This morning, during our worship service, we experienced a small fire in our fourth floor library. The fire was accidentally caused by a child (who was not physically harmed, but who is quite emotionally upset). The sprinkler system worked as it should, and the fire was contained to a very small area within the library.

Water did soak walls and flooring on the fourth floor outside the library, office floor below (outside of offices), lobby, and one bathroom in the narthex as it came through the ceiling.

A big thank you to all of our volunteers who jumped right to work cleaning up what water we could before the professionals arrived this afternoon. Bless you, bless you, bless you!

Our annual meeting will be rescheduled and we will be in touch with that new date within the next few days. If pieces of Music Sunday are able to rescheduled, we’ll also let you know that.

The fire was small, and we are a strong, healthy church. All will be well!

As we rejoice in that wellness, let us remember to pray today for those who are not well, notably those involved in the horribly tragic loss of life in Orlando. Let us pray for those lost, their families, LGBTQ families everywhere and a world in which so much hate still exists and is allowed to fester.

And to those prayers, I ask a smaller, but special additional prayer — for one very scared child and her family today, who need to know us as their church family. Love is so powerful, and I thank God for a church that loves well and adds love to a world in such desperate need of it.

Office Building, Other Business

Portland, ME – Fire in storage room of commercial building put out by sprinkler system

Firefighters are crediting a building’s sprinkler system with quickly extinguishing a fire Thursday morning on Commercial Street. Officials said a witness reported seeing smoke coming out of a basement window in a building at the corner of Commercial and Center Streets. The fire was confined to a storage room, but was mostly out by the time crews arrived. Officials could not immediately say what started the fire. No injuries were reported.

Office Building, Other Business

Portland, ME – Fire in storage room of commercial building put out by sprinkler system

Firefighters are crediting a building’s sprinkler system with quickly extinguishing a fire Thursday morning on Commercial Street. Officials said a witness reported seeing smoke coming out of a basement window in a building at the corner of Commercial and Center Streets. The fire was confined to a storage room, but was mostly out by the time crews arrived. Officials could not immediately say what started the fire. No injuries were reported.

Hotel / Restaurant, Restaurant

Pekin, IL – Sprinklers hold arson fire in check at popular restaurant and tavern

An employee of a popular restaurant and tavern allegedly asked another for advice on how to set it on fire — now he is charged with arson.

The combination of flaming stove burners and cooking oil, left atop the stove and spread on walls, caused minor damage to Goodfellas Pub & Pizza on Wednesday, though the business remained closed Monday.

That obvious evidence of arson and his own statements led police on Friday to arrest Scott Sutherland, 34, of Pekin. He was charged in bonding court Sunday and remained in custody Monday on $10,000 bond.

Sutherland’s alleged plan to destroy the business at 1414 N. Eighth St. “didn’t work out the way he thought it would,” Pekin Deputy Fire Chief Brian Cox said Monday. Cooking oil “is not very flammable.”

Sutherland, a bartender and cook, told a fellow employee sometime before the fire “about moving to Texas and burning the business down,” and asked her if she knew how to set it on fire, according to a prosecutor’s court affidavit.

Loud and electronic alarms set off by a sprinkler system alerted an officer in the area of the North Eighth Street Plaza, where Goodfellas is located, and firefighters to the smoldering flames in the business shortly before noon.

While other businesses in the plaza were evacuated, the sprinklers kept the fire “in check until we got there,” Cox said.  Firefighters discovered that all of the restaurant’s kitchen burners had been left on full blast, as well as its broiler and a fryer, the affidavit stated. A box of cooking oil sat on one of the burners, while more oil was smeared on walls where evidence of fire also was found.

Sutherland allegedly prepared what he thought would turn into a huge blaze more than six hours earlier, after the business closed for the night.

The restaurant’s security video equipment was missing, but video from another security system in the area recorded a man identified as Sutherland in the building between 4 and 5 a.m., “holding electronic equipment and pouring a substance on hallway walls,” the affidavit stated.  

Several employees said Sutherland was the last worker to leave Goodfellas the night before the fire and had keys to the business, the affidavit stated.

Sutherland told police Friday that he didn’t remember setting the fire and didn’t do so on purpose, but thought it might have been “a drunken mistake,” the affidavit stated.

He said he had returned to the business after closing to retrieve his apartment keys. He slipped on grease on the kitchen floor and bumped the stove, but didn’t think he turned it on.

 

Residential, Single Family Home

Santa Rosa Beach, FL – House fire caused by lightening strike limited by sprinkler system

… The third call was for a reported direct lightning strike of a home on Dill Ave in the Rosemary Beach area. Crews were able to contain the fire damage to the attic. The home’s sprinkler system also helped limit the damage. All of the structures were occupied when lightning hit, but no injuries were reported.

There were no immediate damage estimates. The Bay County Fire Department and Destin Fire Control District provided mutual aid.