Tag Archives: New Jersey

Hospital/Medical Clinic

Holmdel, NJ – Fire in hospital ICU limited with help from sprinkler system; No injuries reported

A fire at Bayshore Medical Center caused patients to be transported to Riverview Medical Center. Hospital officials said the fire started in a toaster oven inside the break room of the ICU. Six patients were transported to Riverview Medical Center, according to April Dunic, a spokeswoman for the hospital.

“While the fire damage was very limited, water from the sprinkler system damaged certain areas of the hospital,” Dunic said. “As a result, several patients were relocated to different parts of the hospital and six patients were transferred to Riverview Medical Center. Clean up is underway and we expect normal operations very soon.”

The hospital did not yet have a damage estimate. No patients or staff were harmed by the fire. Bayshore has 211 beds and Riverview Medical Center has 492. Holmdel police said that several agencies responded, including Holmdel Fire and First Aid as well as the Monmouth County Fire Marshal, Hazlet, Union Beach, Keyport Fire Departments and Hazlet, Keyport and Union Beach First Aid.

Apartment Building, Residential, Residential High Rise

New Brunswick, NJ – Fire on 11th floor of luxury high rise apartment building put out with help from sprinkler system

City officials say no one was injured in a kitchen fire, ignited in an apartment at The Aspire, 135 Somerset St., on February 22. The emergency call came in at 3:05 p.m., with firefighters arriving on the scene within three minutes. The fire, on the eleventh floor of the luxury building, was quickly knocked down and firefighters were able to clear the scene by 5 p.m., said city spokesperson Jennifer Bradshaw. Firefighters believe the fire was caused by a cooking accident. The building sprinkler system activated and helped extinguish the flames. While there were fortunately no injuries, the apartment sustained water damage.  A second alarm was called because the blaze was in a 17-story high rise, with support coming from Edison, Sayreville, East Franklin, North Brunswick and East Brunswick fire departments.  The Aspire, built by Boraie Development in New Brunswick, opened in 2015. It is steps from the New Brunswick Train Station and across the street from the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, Rutgers Medical School and the Rutgers University campus.  It includes 238 studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments.

Hotel / Motel

Atlantic City, NJ – Fire on 44th floor of Tropicana Casino and Resort contained by sprinkler system

Four floors of the Tropicana Atlantic City’s West Tower were temporarily evacuated last Wednesday morning when a fire broke out in a hotel room.  Fire Chief Scott Evans said the fire broke out just before 10 a.m., in a room on the 44th floor.  Evans said a Tropicana employee used a fire extinguisher to put out the room fire before firefighters arrived. The hotel room bed and bathroom were both on fire. The hotel’s sprinkler system kept the fire from spreading, said Evans. The fire was put out by 10:34 a.m.  Smoke quickly filled the hotel room hallways and adjacent rooms. Crews then worked to remove smoke from the building, which proved difficult because the hotel windows do not open. Fans were used throughout the emergency staircase to push smoke out to the roof.

Guests from the 43rd, 44th, 45th and 46th floors were evacuated for safety reasons. Evans said guests of 27 rooms on the 44th floor are being relocated to other hotel rooms. The three other floors were allowed to return to their hotel rooms.  Evans said one hotel employee was taken to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center’s City Campus for treatment of smoke inhalation. The employee’s condition was not released.  A spokeswoman for Tropicana said the fire was immediately put out. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Hotel / Motel, Hotel / Restaurant

Parsippany, NJ – Sprinkler system assists firefighters in extinguishing laundry room fire at Hampton Inn

Rainbow Lakes Volunteer Fire District 2 along with the Mount Tabor Volunteer Fire District 1 were dispatched to the Hampton Inn & Suites, 3737 Route 46 for an activated fire alarm at 11:33 a.m. on Monday, January 15.  While responding the dispatcher got a call stating there was a fire on top of the water heater in the laundry room.  Mutual aid was requested and prior to getting water on the fire the sprinkler activated extinguishing the bulk of the fire.  The building was evacuated and the evacuation of the above floors was ensured by members of the Parsippany Police Department.

The building was checked to ensure the fire did not spread. Members on scene ventilated the entire building as smoke had spread throughout the common areas on all floors. There were no injuries and the hotel resumed operations.

In addition to Rainbow Lakes Volunteer Fire District 2, Mount Tabor Volunteer Fire District 1, Parsippany-Troy Hills Volunteer Fire Department District 5, Parsippany Volunteer Fire District 4 Rapid Intervention Team, Boonton Township Fire Dept Rapid Intervention Team, Parsippany Police Department, Par-Troy Emergency Medical Services and Parsippany Fire Prevention were dispatched to the scene.

Primary / Secondary School, School / University

Vineland, NJ – Sprinkler system limits spread of school arson fire; No injuries reported

Police arrested two students on Friday and charged them with arson after an investigation into a fire earlier this month at Veterans Memorial Intermediate School.  Two 14-year-olds were allegedly involved in an incident where a fire started in a boys’ bathroom, police said.  On Jan. 2, school officials evacuated the South Main Road school, sending the student body out into frigid conditions, when an alarm sounded.  A small fire in the boys’ bathroom activated the sprinkler system.  Once fire officials were on the scene, students returned to the building and were held in the auditorium and cafeteria while firefighters ventilated the ground-floor corridor and cleaned up the standing water.   Damage at the school was deemed minimal and confined to the bathroom, school officials said.  Both teens were processed and released to their parents pending further court action. They were also suspended from school, district officials said.

 

Residential, Residential High Rise

Jersey City, NJ – Sprinklers assist firefighters in containing early morning fire in luxury high-rise; No injuries reported

The Jersey City Fire Department responded to a small fire at the Monaco luxury high-rise early last Wednesday morning, authorities said. After arriving to the Washington Boulevard apartment complex at 1:30 a.m., firefighters located a fire in the heating component of one of the building’s units, Jersey City spokeswoman Kimberly Scalcione said. The small fire, which set off two sprinkler heads, was determined to have been caused by a faulty heating system, Scalcione added. One apartment sustained fire damage and two others had minor water damage, the spokeswoman said, adding that no injuries were reported.

Auto Dealership, Retail

Fairfield, NJ – Sprinkler system assists in firefighters in suppressing overnight fire at Mercedes-Benz dealership

An electrical fire at the Mercedes-Benz of Caldwell at 1230 Bloomfield Avenue in Fairfield last week was suppressed with the help of an automatic fire sprinkler system.  According to the Fairfield Police Department, officers received a call from cleaning workers about a fire in the shop area of the business around 10:10 p.m. on Dec. 9. The workers were in a different part of the building when they saw smoke and flames in the shop area, police said. A Fairfield police officer responding to the scene was able to determine that the building was evacuated, but had to retreat due to a “very heavy” smoke condition.

The Fairfield Fire Department arrived soon afterward and extinguished the conflagration. Authorities provided the following statement about the possible cause of the fire:

“Preliminary investigation indicates that a 2015 C300 Mercedes Benz was up on a lift and was apparently attached to a computer diagnostic machine. It appears that an electrical fire started and traveled up the lift and eventually caught the car on fire. The sprinkler system activated and helped to assist in keeping the fire suppressed.”

Police said that while the direct fire damage appears to have been confined to the Mercedes, the business itself received a substantial amount of smoke and water damage. Additionally, other vehicles that were located on lifts in the shop may have also experienced both water and smoke damage. The financial toll of the damage was not immediately available, police stated.

Other - Retail, Retail

Willingboro, NJ – Arson fire at butcher shop contained by sprinkler system

A surveillance video of a pair who sprayed what appeared to be an accelerant and lit a match to start a fire in a store was posted on social media Tuesday by police.  This video shows an alleged arson at The Meat Stop in Country Club Plaza in the 300 block of Beverly Rancocas Road on Aug. 26. The incident occurred after the front door window of the store was smashed and the two entered at 5 a.m., lit the fire and quickly left, Lt. Christopher Vetter said.

A store sprinkler system contained the fire and which was largely out by the time firefighters arrived, police said. The store, and some adjacent businesses sustained “significant” damage, Vetter said. The Meat Shop has not yet reopened.  Anyone with information is asked to contact Willingboro police at 609-877-3001 or the Citizen Tip Hotline at 609-877-6958.

Dry Cleaner, Retail

Newark, NJ – Sprinkler system helps extinguish overnight fire at laundry business

A fire that started earlier in the day caused thousands of dollars in damage and temporarily closed Buckeye Linen Services.

The fire was reported around 11:10 p.m. Thursday. Crews remained on scene until about 1:45 a.m. Friday. 

Newark Fire Chief Pat Connor said the fire started in a dryer duct, spread to the attic and ultimately to the roof of the building on Jefferson Street. 

The building had a sprinkler system that activated and helped to extinguish much of the blaze.

Connor said there appears to have been a fire earlier in the day at the facility that crews at the building believed they had put out with fire extinguishers. However, that fire was not extinguished fully and likely caused the fire in the evening, he said.

There was significant damage to a portion of the building to the point where a structural engineer was called in to make sure the building was safe to occupy.

College/University (on campus), Residence Hall/Dormitory, Residential High Rise

New Brunswick, NJ – Sprinkler system successfully activates in Rutgers University residential high-rise fire; No injuries reported

Hundreds of residents were evacuated from The Yard @ College Ave this afternoon after a grease fire on the 12th floor set off the alarms and sprinkler systems — but according to students on the scene, there was a notable gap between the evacuations of the top and the bottom floors. “The sprinkler system activated, causing water to reach lower floors down to the lobby,” said University spokesperson Neal Buccino. “Residence Life representatives have been on (the) scene since the incident began.”

No injuries were reported, but according to Buccino, approximately 26 students were displaced as a result of flooding in their apartments. He said Residence Life has connected those students with temporary housing that will be available until they can return to their apartments. Laura Dengrove, a School of Arts and Sciences senior, said that some individuals were asked to provide a record of the possessions in their apartments as a provision in case of flooding-related damage.

“We didn’t really see anything because we’re on the fourth floor. Apparently there were flashing lights near the elevators but we didn’t get any alarm at all, even though the people above us did,” Dengrove said. “There are some people who have been out here for an hour — we just got out five minutes ago. When you look at the whole picture that probably isn’t great.”

The Sojourner Truth Apartments opened earlier this year and aside from drills, this was the first time that an emergency has forced students to evacuate the building. There are a total of 442 students currently living in the complex. Michael Collins, a School of Engineering senior, lives just two floors below where the kitchen fire took place. Unlike residents on the fourth floor, he said he was alerted to the emergency by a series of alarms.

“The first thing that happened around 3 p.m. was we got an alarm that was automated, saying ‘an emergency has been reported’ and to the best of my knowledge it’s the same alarm that happens when there’s a fire drill,” Collins said. “I was cooking when it happened so I figured I’ll just be quiet and stay in my room — it’s a drill, it happens. Then about 15-20 minutes ago we got an actual alert from a person on an intercom saying ‘all residents evacuate’ it sounded legit so we all left.”

After talking to some of the other displaced students, Collins said he began to realize that everyone appeared to have been evacuated at different times, through different means. “I did hear my friend got an actual person on the intercom first and apparently that was a lot earlier than in my apartment. She’s on the seventh floor. To me it seems very disorganized and I’m very confused as to what would happen if a bigger emergency actually did happen,” Collins said.