Tag Archives: New Jersey

Apartment Building, Residential

Lakewood, NJ – Dryer fire in apartment building extinguished by sprinkler system

A dryer fire and subsequent sprinkler activation in a Lakewood apartment was cause for several families being displaced. At approximately 11 PM, residents woke up to their smoke alarm sounding, and found smoke billowing from their dryer.  The resident immediately called the Fire Department, and then opened the door to the dryer to try grabbing some of burning clothing articles to place them into a bathtub, but burned his hand in the process, officials confirm.

By this time, the apartment’s sprinkler system was activated, and extinguished the fire, but not before soaking the residence, and the apartments beneath, officials say. The fire department arrived, and ventilated the apartment.  The families from at least three apartments were displaced, sources told TLS.  The resident was treated at the scene by Lakewood First Aid.

Ocean County Fire Marshals determined the dryer was caused by being overloaded with clothing, officials say.

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.

Office Building, Other Business

Washington, NJ – Fire in records storage area at corporate building contained by sprinkler system

The cause of a fire in a storage area of the Albea Americas Corp. in Washington on Sunday remains under investigation, a fire official said. The blaze broke out around 6:15 a.m Sunday at 191 Route 31 in what the company refers to as its “tech area” on the building’s main floor, said Washington Fire Chief Bob Cammarota. He said the room mostly contained a storage area of paper records.

Once the sprinkler system went off, it helped keep the fire contained to the single area, Cammarota said. “It was a fire that could have been much worse,” he said. “The sprinkler system helped out a lot.”

About 20 employees on the overnight crew were evacuated safely and eventually were allowed back in the building, Cammarota said. He said they could work inside, but were told by fire officials to avoid entering the storage area.

Cammarota said the Warren County Fire Marshal’s Office continues to investigate.  An Albea Americas spokesman did not immediately return an email request for information. Albea is a global leader in personal care and cosmetic packaging, according to the company’s website.

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Pennsville Twp, NJ – Sprinklers credited with preventing spread of fire at independent living facility

A fire authorities say was caused by unattended cooking prompted the evacuation of residents from an age 55-plus high-rise Saturday morning.

The fire at the five story Kent Avenue Apartments at 11 Kent Ave. was reported around 11 a.m.

Deepwater Fire Chief Joe Hogan said the fire was sparked by unattended cooking. He said there was no one in the apartment where the blaze started when firefighters entered.

The fire was located in Apartment 507 in the east wing of the building — on the top floor.

No one — residents or firefighters — were hurt in the incident, Hogan said.

Approximately six to seven apartments were damaged from fire, smoke and water, Hogan said.

There was also reported water throughout various parts of the building.

Hogan credited the building’s sprinkler system with helping to quickly help douse the fire and prevent its spread.

Apartment Building, Residential

Toms River, NJ – Overnight apartment fire extinguished by single sprinkler

A flash fire caused when a resident tried to extinguish burning candle wax was controlled when the building’s automatic sprinkler system turned on, fire officials said Monday.

Two apartments at Greenview Way in The Villages at Bey Lea apartment complex were left uninhabitable due to damage from the fire Sunday evening, said James Mercready, director of the Toms River Bureau of Fire Prevention. One person suffered minor injuries, he said.

Firefighters from the Pleasant Plains Fire Company responded to the call at 11:20 p.m. and upon arrival found the fire — in the bathroom of one apartment — had been extinguished by a single fire sprinkler head that activated, Mercready said.

Toms River Fire Inspector Dominick Roselli determined the fire was accidental. Candle wax caught fire on the kitchen stove, and when the resident put it in the bathroom’s shower to put it out, it created a flash fire, Mercready said.

 The resident suffered minor injuries but refused medical attention, he said.

 Firefighters checked for extension of the fire and performed ventilation, as well as shutting off electric and gas service to the two units because of the damage, he said.

 Mercready said it is the second fire extinguished by the automatic sprinkler system at the complex and fifth sprinker-controlled fire in the township since October.

 “In each case, one fire sprinkler head activated and controlled and suppressed the fire,” he said. “A properly designed, installed and maintained fire sprinkler system is an essential component in fire and life safety as well as property protection.”

 “The rate of effectiveness has been very good during the more than 100 years they have been in use in the United States,” Mercready said.

 Due to the extent of the damage, Roselli ruled two apartments uninhabitable, but six others in the building were able to be reoccupied, Mercready said.

Other - Retail, Retail

Galloway Twp, NJ – Sprinkler system activates to help limit damage in fire at nail salon

At 12:21 p.m., police received a 911 call reporting a structure fire at Lucky Nails located on New York Road.  Emergency personnel found determined a camp stove was being used inside the building and set the contents of a room on fire, police said.

The sprinkler system was activated inside the building and the building sustained smoke and water damage, police said.  An investigation by Galloway Township Fire Marshal Ron Garbutt and Officer Bill Schroer determined the fire to be accidental in nature.

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Paramus, NJ – Overnight fire at nursing home contained by sprinkler system

The blaze at a Paramus nursing home began in a resident’s room and was contained by the sprinkler system at the Care One at Pine Rest Nursing Home on West Ridgewood Avenue shortly before 12:15 a.m. early Thursday.  A female resident was transported by ambulance to The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood with what were reported to be minor injuries.  There were also unconfirmed reports of two residents with smoke inhalation.

Hotel / Restaurant, Restaurant

Brick, NJ – Sprinklers save restaurant after fire breaks out in bathroom

A fire broke out in one of the restrooms at a new Brick Township restaurant. The Flaming Grille, a buffet-style restaurant in the Kennedy Mall shopping center, nearly lived up to its name Tuesday afternoon when a fire broke out about 4 p.m., officials said.

The Breton Woods and Pioneer Hose fire companies responded to the scene and found the fire had already been put out by the restaurant’s sprinkler system, said Kevin Batzel, director of the Brick Township Bureau of Fire Prevention.

Batzel said investigators determined the fire was started when smoking materials had been disposed of in the bathroom trash can. The activation of the sprinkler system helped avert a much larger fire, Batzel said. One sprinkler head activated during the incident.

“It’s an old building,” Batzel explained. “[The fire] would have traveled up pretty fast into that building.” There were a small number of patrons in the restaurant at the time, Batzel said. All were evacuated. The bureau is following up today at the restaurant, which is back in operation. “If it was not for the sprinkler system, that restaurant would be shut down,” said Batzel.

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

West Windsor, NJ – Arson fire at senior apartment complex extinguished by sprinklers

A trespasser was arrested for allegedly starting a fire at the Gables of West Windsor on Feb. 13.  The suspect started a fire was started just before 3 p.m. The building manager told police he did not belong in the building, according to West Windsor police.

When police and firefighters arrived at the building they found an activated sprinkler head and smoke in the vestibule.  Further investigation revealed that a small fire had been extinguished by the sprinkler system, according to police.

Apartment Building, Residential

Englewood, NJ – Sprinkler system credited with saving apartment complex from fire; No injuries and fire contained to one room

Firefighters battled a two-alarm fire at the Towne Center apartment complex on Friday evening, with the city’s fire chief crediting the building’s sprinkler system with containing the blaze to one room and preventing more extensive damage.

The fire was caused by a candle that fell over in a living room about 5:40 p.m. in an apartment on the fourth-floor of the 4½-story complex and led to the temporary evacuation of about 150 people, said city Fire Chief Gerald Marion. It was under control about 30 minutes later, he said, adding that no one was injured and the fire’s cause was determined to be “accidental.”

Marion said the building, comprising two connected towers, is made of the same lightweight construction as the Avalon apartment complex in Edgewater where about hundreds of people were displaced indefinitely last week when one of its two buildings was destroyed by fire despite the presence of a sprinkler system. The Englewood complex’s robust sprinkler system “did most of the work” of putting out Friday’s fire, the chief said.

“Had there not been a sprinkler, we would have potentially seen something similar to Edgewater,” Marion said. He said that owners of the Towne Center, which has more than 180 units, on Friday night began repairing damage to the apartment where the fire occurred. The family that resides there is staying elsewhere during repairs, he said. Other residents were allowed to return to their apartments about an hour after the fire began.