Tag Archives: New York

Other Business, Place of Worship

Amherst, NY – Sprinkler system activates to contain church arson fire

A Molotov cocktail was thrown into a chapel early Saturday morning in Amherst. Amherst Police say that around 5:30 a.m. they responded to a fire alarm at the Chapel at Crosspoint. When they arrived they found that a Molotov cocktail had been thrown through a glass door and started a fire. A sprinkler system contained the fire.

Damage was estimated to be $10,000. Amherst Police and the A.T.F are investigating the incident, including checking security cameras belonging to the Chapel and nearby businesses. Anyone with information is asked to call (716) 689-1364.

Hotel / Restaurant, Restaurant

Amherst, NY – Sprinkler system aids firefighters in fire at Subway restaurant in shopping plaza

No one was injured in a fire that broke out inside of the Subway restaurant in at the corner of Maple Road and North Forest Thursday morning.

Getzville Fire Company Chief Scott Preston said firefighters were alerted to the fire around 1 a.m. from both a Twin City Ambulance supervisor and an automatic fire alarm at PizzaWorks two doors down. Smoke filled a few stores at the Maple Forest Plaza and firefighters didn’t initially know where the fire was located.

The fire was found at the Subway restaurant by a police officer. Fire crews made entry and fought back flames near the food preparation area. They were aided by the restaurant’s sprinkler system.  Thanks to the quick response of firefighters and the sprinkler system, the fire did not spread to other businesses in the plaza.  No one was hurt.

Department Store, Retail

Manhasset, NY – Fire in freight elevator at Macy’s department store controlled with help from sprinkler system

A fire broke out in a freight elevator at the Macy’s department store in Manhasset last Sunday morning. Manhasset-Lakeville officials said they were able to contain the fire using the building’s sprinkler system.

Several Manhasset-Lakeville Fire Department companies as well as the Port Washington Fire Department’s FAST rescue and rehabilitation unit and Nassau County Police were dispatched to the site around 10:30 a.m. and discovered the fire and smoke throughout the building.

Only Macy’s employees were in the store at the time of the fire. No injuries were reported. The cause of the fire is being investigated by the Nassau County Fire Marshals office. Fire teams then sought to ventilate the building of smoke and carbon monoxide.

Manufacturing, Power / Energy Facility

Buchanan, NY – Transformer fire at nuclear power plant doused with help from sprinkler system

As reported by CNN … a transformer failure at the Indian Point nuclear power plant caused an explosion and fire at the facility Saturday evening, sending billows of black smoke into the air near Buchanan, New York.

The fire broke out on the non-nuclear side of the plant, about 200 yards away from the reactor building, according to Entergy spokesman Jerry Nappi.

“The fire is out and the plant is safe and stable,” Nappi said. Federal officials said one reactor unit automatically shut down.  No one was injured in the blaze.

A sprinkler system doused the fire with the help of personnel on the scene, Nappi said.   There was “no threat to public safety at any time,” the facility said in a tweet. “All Indian Point emergency systems worked as designed.”

Multiple emergency services agencies responded to the explosion at the plant, located approximately 50 miles north of Manhattan, including the Westchester County and New York State Police.

“We saw just a huge black ball of smoke right across the river,” witness Gustavus Gricius told CNN. “We could smell the oily, electric burn smell.”

Gov. Andrew Cuomo was at the plant and received a briefing on the accident.  He called the incident “relatively minor” but added, “these situations we take very seriously. This is a nuclear-powered plant; it’s nothing to be trifled with.”

The blast sent the facility into an emergency response situation classified as an “unusual event,” according to Nappi.

The event was declared at 5:50 p.m. and the fire was out by 6:15 p.m.  Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said the agency had three inspectors respond.

“They’re cooling down the reactor and we’ll have to investigate the cause of the fire,” he said.

The facility houses two nuclear reactor units and produces approximately 25% of the electricity for New York City and Westchester County, according to its website.

Apartment Building, Residential

Schenectady, NY – Sprinklers activate; help contain overnight apartment fire

The fire, which broke out around 1 a.m. Saturday at 799 Albany St., left the 48-unit apartment building temporarily closed to about 25 tenants, according to the Red Cross.  Deputy Fire Chief Michael O’Clair said the hallway sprinkler system kicked on.   The fire damage was limited and confined to one apartment building.  

Residents were able to enter the building Saturday afternoon to retrieve some belongings, but the building is not expected to be habitable until Tuesday.  The cause of the fire had not been determined later Saturday.

Apartment Building, Residential

Syracuse, NY – Sprinkler system helps contain off-campus apartment fire at Syracuse University

A camp stove fire in an apartment on the corner of Euclid and Livingston avenues set off the sprinkler system in the apartment Sunday night. 

A senior in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications who asked not to be identified by name said he was experimenting with a new camp stove in preparation for a camping trip during Spring Break when the flame of the stove escalated beyond its intended height, setting off the sprinkler system. The fire, located in an apartment building at 320 Euclid Ave., was reported just after 9 p.m. Sunday night. The Syracuse Fire Department left the scene just before 9:50 p.m.

The student, who lives on the third floor of the apartment building, said nothing was burnt. He said that when he saw the flame rise, he went to the bathroom sink and extinguished the flame, but the sprinkler system went off.

Syracuse Fire Department District Chief Robert Whitehead said the sprinkler system did exactly what it was supposed to. There was still water in some light fixtures and some electricity was shut off in the building, but that “everything was handled,” he said.

A National Grid van came to the scene around 9:30 p.m. and remained at the scene past 10 p.m.  Chelcie Pellegrino, a senior communication and rhetorical studies major who lives in the apartment building, said she was inside when the fire started, but said she did not hear an alarm. Pellegrino said she heard fire trucks come to the scene and heard people running up the stairs of the building. She added that if she was not able to stay in her apartment tonight, she had friends who lived on Livingston.

Apartment Building, Residential

Brunswick, NY – Overnight apartment fire contained to one unit by sprinkler system

The fire started around 2 a.m. Monday morning at the enclave at Duncan Meadows Apartments. The fire chief tells NEWS10ABC the buildings sprinkler system contained the fire to one unit. Officials say no one was hurt and residents were allowed to return after crews finished their investigations.  Some residents to wait in their cars while the building was evacuated.

Government Office, Government/Military

Riverhead, NY – Sprinkler system activates; Helps control fire in records storage room

Riverhead firefighters found paper records burning in a second-floor records storage room at the county center when they responded to an automatic alarm this afternoon just before 1 o’clock.

There was a heavy smoke condition on the second floor when the first fire chief arrived. He immediately called for the department to respond to a working structure fire.  The fire activated the sprinkler system in that area of the building.

The chief called for the county fire marshal to respond and investigate. Firefighters quickly put the fire out. No one was injured in the incident.

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Amherst, NY – Sprinkler system quickly contains Christmas night fire at nursing home

Three people are recovering Friday morning after a small fire at a nursing home in Amherst Thursday night.  Catholic Health officials said an overheated motor on an electric wheelchair sparked a small fire.Fire crews arrived at Saint Francis nursing home in Amherst around 9 p.m. Thursday.  They said smoke started pouring from a wheelchair in a vacant room.  The sprinkler system kicked in, and the fire was quickly contained. Neighboring fire companies were called to help move the patients.  Medical personnel checked out 45 people. Two patients and one worker were taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation. “Most of the residents were not affected by the smoke, but the ones in that area were moved to another part of the building,” JoAnn Cavanaugh, Catholic Health Director of Public Relations. “We have other empty beds in the facility that they will spend the night until we can clear out the rooms from the water and the smoke.”

Other Business

New York City, NY – Sprinkler system helps control fire at American Museum of Natural History

The blaze started when maintenance workers were using a blow torch to repair an AC unit on the outside of the building’s first floor around 3:30 p.m.  One of the unit’s filters caught fire, sending clouds of thick, black smoke circulating into the hall of Northwest Coast Indians, the FDNY said.

Several artifacts at the American Museum of Natural History suffered minor damage when a fire on the outside of the building sent smoke circulating inside, activating the emergency sprinkler system, officials said.

Schiralli said three or four thousand people self evacuated from the Museum while firefighters went to work extinguishing the blaze.

The extent of the damage to the artifacts was not immediately clear but museum staff insisted the they would be open for business as usual on Saturday.