Tag Archives: Morning (7am-12pm)

Manufacturing, Manufacturing Plant

Longview, TX – Fire at manufacturing facility limited by sprinkler system

Longview Fire Chief Johnny Zackary says crews were called around 10:40 a.m. to the Crosby Manufacturing building, near Dana Way and LEDCO Drive in Longview. Zackary says by the time crews arrived, heavy black smoke was pouring from the building.

Construction crews were doing “hot work” when the fire started, removing vats that were part of the previous company’s operations. Zackary says it appears the vats were coated in residue used to put frame rails on vehicles, which was sparked by construction workers welding and cutting to remove the vats.

During the course of fighting the fire, Zackary says one firefighter fell from a catwalk; he was taken to a local hospital for further evaluation, but Zackary says it appears the injury is non-life-threatening. Employees and construction crews inside the building at the time of the fire evacuated safely and there are no injuries reported.

Fire crews are still on scene helping with the recovery process. While the building took minimal damage, thanks to the water sprinkler system Zackary says, it did fill with smoke. Zackary says firefighters will continue monitoring the building until it is safe before assessing the extent of the damage.

Apartment Building, Residential

Avon, CO – Apartment fire doused by sprinkler system; No injuries

A burning couch has left two units at the Tarnes at Beaver Creek uninhabitable. The blaze broke out at around 11:30 a.m. Sunday in a second-floor unit. According to the Eagle River Fire Protection District, the flames were for the most part doused when firefighters arrived thanks to the building’s automatic fire sprinkler system.

Firefighters say the unit where the fire started and the one directly below it were declared uninhabitable due to smoke and water damage. Nobody was injured.

The Eagle County Sheriff’s Office is working to figure out if criminal charges are warranted.

Other Business

Rollinsford, NH – Fire in 160-year-old mill building limited by sprinkler system

The initial call for smoke in a second floor suite came in at 7:28 a.m., Rollinsford Fire Chief Mark Rutherford said. Fire crews arrived to find heavy smoke coming from a woodworking shop in Suite 208 of the 160-year-old mill building, and about 15 people had to be evacuated. No one was injured.

Rutherford credited an updated sprinkler system from preventing the two-alarm blaze from spreading. Firefighters also were able to respond quickly to knock down the flames.

Smoke damage was limited to the room of origin and the hallway, and both the studio and the studio below it on the second floor sustained water damaged.

“You need a system like this in these old buildings to keep fires from spreading,” Rutherford said. “How this system was designed probably saved this building, because once a fire spreads in a building like this, you’re here for a while.”  Grenier said he was led to believe the fire started as a result of an oily rag being left out overnight. He wants those responsible for leaving the rag out will be held responsible.

“The biggest thing right now is, I need someone from an insurance company to come in and tell me everything’s going to be OK and give me money,” Grenier said with a chuckle.

Responders included fire departments from Rollinsford, South Berwick, Maine, Berwick, Maine, Somersworth and Dover and York Ambulance Association. Fire departments from Rochester and Eliot, Maine, provided station coverage.

Kent Scovill, who operates PKS Woodworks, said his business was not damaged.

“It was scary coming in this morning and seeing all the fire trucks,” Scovill said. “I was pretty shocked. I ran downstairs and I ran in through the back, which I probably shouldn’t have done. I made sure everything was all right.”

Painter Shaune McCarthy of Madbury, who has a studio at the mill, said she heard about the fire early Friday morning after getting a call from a friend.

McCarthy said she was glad the damage was not more extensive.

“She said, ‘Guess what, the mill’s on fire.’ I was scared to death,” McCarthy said. “There’s always been big mill fires you hear about in history. It’s scary but I’m glad it was just a small thing.”

Gregory McCrone of Dover, an “eclectic collector” of art, coins and family heirlooms, rents a work space at the mill, which he calls “part museum and part living room.”

 

After his morning swim, McCrone drove to the mill to find half a dozen fire trucks in the parking lot.

 

“I didn’t see the building going up (in flames) so I wasn’t quite as worried,” he said. “They wouldn’t let anyone in at first. I have a lot of stuff up here.”

 

Other Business

Toledo, OH – Fire in salvage shop garage controlled with help from sprinkler system

Three employees of a North Toledo automotive storage business escaped unharmed from a fire that started inside the garage they were working in, authorities said.

The fire was reported about 9:30 a.m. at 911 Bush St. inside the vehicle salvage facility attached to a brick light industrial building. About nine fire trucks responded to the scene, according to the Toledo fire department.

Toledo fire Lt. Matthew Hertzfeld said the employees were using a cutting torch to cut a car part from a vehicle when a fuel tank some distance away fell on the ground releasing gasoline fumes, which then ignited. The fire triggered the building’s sprinkler system.

The fire was extinguished about 9:50 a.m. by firefighters.   The fire was ruled accidental, Lieutenant Hertzfeld said.

Damage was limited to the the building’s vehicle salvage area where it had started, according to the spokesman. A damage estimate was unavailable.

Primary / Secondary School, School / University

Portland, OR – Intentionally-set fires at high school kept in check by sprinklers

Students at Portland’s James Madison High School got quite a scare Monday morning.

“Today we had a fire alarm this morning at 10 a.m.,” said Christine Miles, Spokesperson for Portland Public Schools.

She explained that a fire had been intentionally ignited in the boys restroom.  Shortly after, another fire was set in a school storage closet that was used for donated food.

“Inside, there is a sprinkler fire system that was activated by the heat which then kept that fire in check and kept it from extending further into the building,” said Lt. Rich Tyler with Portland Fire & Rescue.

But the two fires at Madison High on Monday weren’t the first to be set at the school recently.

“So far we have four fires that were set here. The 16th, the 17th and then two today,” said Tyler.

Three of the fires started in boys restrooms and investigators said all of them were believed to be arson.

“We do know that it is a student and we are interviewing the students to determine who the individual or individuals are,” Tyler said.

At this point, school is still on for Tuesday but Portland Public School officials want everyone to be on watch.

“We’re telling our community: ‘Please step forward if you know something so we can make an arrest or put an end to this as soon as possible,’” said Miles.

The principal also posted a letter to parents on the front page of the Madison High School website.

No students have been hurt in any of the fires.

Primary / Secondary School, School / University

Quincy, IL – Sprinklers put out mattress fire at Chaddock School; No injuries

Emergency crews responded to a mattress fire Wednesday morning at Chaddock School, according to Asst. Fire Chief Bernie Vahlkamp.

The Quincy Fire Department says crews responded to the fire at 205 S. 24th St., in one of the cottages. Vahlkamp said the fire was out by the time firefighters arrived and that Quincy police are handling the situation.

“The sprinkler system put out the fire,” Vahlkamp said. “But, smoke did fill the room and hallway.”

Vahlkamp said there were no injuries.

Other - Retail, Retail

Everett, WA – Sprinkler system activates to help control Black Friday fire at Toys R Us store

The Everett Mall Toys R Us store was closed by a smoky fire on Friday morning. Store employees called 911 and safely evacuated all customers from the building after seeing flames in a stockroom. The fire activated a sprinkler and workers tried to put out the fire with extinguishers but were unsuccessful.

When firefighters arrived at about 7:45 a.m., they found heavy smoke inside the store. After the fire was extinguished, fans were brought in to remove the smoke.  The cause of the fire is under investigation, but it is not considered suspicious.  Managers had not decided whether to try and reopen the store later on Black Friday.

Manufacturing, Manufacturing Plant

Adairsville, GA – Fire caused by malfunctioning boiler in manufacturing plant contained by sprinklers

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A fire that broke out at a LG Hausys plant on Monday was determined to be caused by an internal malfunction on a boiler inside the plant.  Gordon County Fire and Rescue responded to the plant, located at 310 LG Drive, after calls for a fire were made around 10:30 a.m. on Nov. 23. Upon arrival, firefighters noted smoke showing on the backside of a large manufacturing building.

According to the incident report, maintenance personnel for the facility told fire officials that the area on fire was in a thermal boiler room, and upon further review, officials reported that there was obvious sprinkler activation, which had contained the fire to the area and prevented extension into the main facility.

Utilities were terminated in the area for salvage and overhaul to begin. Crews reported that it appeared a boiler had malfunctioned, causing the fire.  Portions of the wall and exhaust system were then removed to ensure fire damage had not escaped the boiler room.

Upon investigation, it was determined that the boiler had an internal malfunction that caused an oil line to fail, causing the fire around the ductwork of the boiler.  The boiler was leaking heavy oil and mitigation efforts were taken to minimize the spread of the oil into a runoff.  Further inspection revealed the roof had been compromised with thermal damage.

Fire Protection Services were then contacted to repair and reroute the protection systems to the manufacturing facility. Once completed, the facility was turned over to maintenance and management. According to the report, the fire caused approximately $14,000 of damage. No injuries were reported during the accident.

Manufacturing, Other - Manufacturing

Lyndhurst, NJ – Sprinklers control fire in adjacent building after recycling plant fire jumps road

Two firefighters were treated for heat exhaustion and a third suffered a minor leg injury after they responded to a stubborn blaze that tore through a paper recycling plant on Page Avenue on Thursday, authorities said.

A skeleton crew of two workers was inside the NYNJ Recycling plant at 800 Page Ave. when the fire started but escaped without injury, said Chief Paul Haggerty of the Lyndhurst Fire Department.  A firefighter is taken away from the fire in Lyndhurst on a stretcher Thursday, Nov. 26, 2015.

The fire was reported around 11:30 a.m. and quickly went to a third alarm. At one point, the flames jumped across Page Avenue and caused minor damage to a plastics company in the industrial area, but a sprinkler system kept the fire in check and firefighters managed to save that building, Haggerty said.

Part of the large, flat-roofed brick building that housed the recycling company collapsed during the fire. About 50 firefighters from Lyndhurst and surrounding communities battled the blaze, Haggerty said.  Smoke from the fire billowed out of the structure and spread through much of the township. A Bergen County hazmat team tested air samples but found no harm to the public, the fire chief said.

Haggerty said he was out on a coffee run for his family just before the fire was called in. Although he couldn’t join his family on time for Thanksgiving dinner, his wife, Corrine, brought the food to him and his crew at the scene. She handed him a heated container filled with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and corn. “I packed extra forks for the guys, just in case they’re hungry,” she said.

The cause of the fire remained under investigation late Thursday afternoon.

 

The plant was formerly operated by Jem Sanitation Corp., a company that had ties to organized crime, according to a 2011 report by the state Commission of Investigation.

Hotel / Motel, Hotel / Restaurant

Chambersburg, PA – Sprinkler system controls fire at La Quinta Inn until fire crews arrive

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The fire broke out around 8:20 a.m. Wednesday at the La Quinta Inn and Suites in the 100 block of Walker Road in the borough, said Chambersburg Deputy Fire Chief Dustin Ulrich in a news release.  A sprinkler system helped control the blaze until crews were in place, and the fire was under control around 10:25 a.m., Ulrich said.

Fire crews arrived to find that a mulch fire had extended to the building, Ulrich said. The fire quickly spread to the third floor of the building and the attic before a second alarm was requested around 8:50 a.m.

The state police fire marshal ruled the fire accidental. No estimate was immediately available as to the amount of damage, Ulrich said, adding that the building was uninhabitable until repairs can be made.

No injuries were reported to either firefighters or to the 25 families occupying the hotel. Crews from the Franklin Fire Department, Fayetteville Fire and EMS, Marion Fire Department, Letter Kenny Fire Department, New Franklin Fire Department, Waynesboro Fire Department, Greencastle Fire Department, West End Fire and Rescue, Mont Alto Fire Department, Cumberland Valley Hose Company, Vigilant Hose Company and Holy Sprit EMS responded to the fire.