Tag Archives: Night (9pm-5am)

Storage / Warehouse, Warehouse

Oglesby, IL – Sprinkler system keeps forklift fire from spreading through warehouse; No injuries reported

A forklift caught fire Friday morning at Advantage Logistics in Oglesby.

Fire crews were called out to the distribution center just after 2:30.  Oglesby Fire Chief Ronald Papurello says the business’ sprinkler system was activated and put out the fire.  The forklift apparently caught fire as it was being charged.

As a precaution a mutual aid request was put out to Peru, Tonica and Utica Fire Departments.  Nobody was injured.  The forklift was heavily damaged but the fire didn’t spread to anywhere else.

Apartment Building, Residential

Palatine, IL – Fire sprinklers put out apartment bathroom fire; No injuries reported

No injuries resulted from a small fire early Saturday in an apartment building on the 1100 block of North Sterling Avenue in Palatine, officials said. Firefighters called to the building at 12:40 a.m. found moderate smoke and two sprinkler heads activated in a bathroom, which extinguished the flames. The fire damage was limited to the bathroom in the unit, with moderate water damage to the apartment below.

Officials said the fire remained under investigation Monday. A damage estimate was not yet available.

Residence Hall/Dormitory, Residential

Louisville, KY – Sprinkler system contains fire after man sets trash can in dorm at U of L on fire

 A man was arrested Saturday after police said he started a fire inside a University of Louisville dormitory bathroom. 

According to an arrest report, police took Antonio Spuria, 18, into custody after witnesses and evidence pointed to him setting a 55-gallon garbage can on fire around 2 a.m. Saturday inside the men’s restroom on the second floor of Miller Hall Dormitory, located on U of L’s Belknap Campus. 

Multiple students were inside the dorm at the time of the fire, and the building had to be evacuated for several hours while crews with the Louisville Fire Department cleaned up and repaired its sprinkler system, according to Spuria’s arrest report. 

Spuria was booked at Louisville Metro Corrections around 2:30 p.m. Saturday and was charged with first-degree arson and wanton endangerment, according to his arrest report. 

College/University (on campus), School / University

Amherst, MA – Dorm room sprinkler system bookcase that caught on fire; No injuries reported

At least six University of Massachusetts students have been displaced following a fire that started in their dorm early Friday morning. 

Assistant Fire Chief Lindsay Stromgren said firefighters responded to Maple Hall in the Commonwealth Honors College around 3:30 a.m. for an alarm. Soon after, the department received reports of smoke on the second floor, he said.

Stromgren said the fire started on a wooden bookcase in a student’s bedroom. The young woman woke up to the fire alarm and left the building, and the sprinkler system controlled the fire until firefighters arrived, Stromgren said. 

The entire dorm was evacuated for three hours, except for the second floor, which students were not allowed to re-enter for an even longer period of time due to water mitigation, Stromgren said. Students were brought to the nearby Roots Cafe during the evacuation to keep warm, he said.

At least six people who lived in the suite in which the fire started have been displaced indefinitely, Stromgren said.

“UMass is making arrangements for them,” he said.

Amherst fire investigators and the state fire marshal’s office are investigating the fire, Stromgren said. It is believed the fire was unintentional and accidental, he said, and no one was hurt.

Food Processing, Manufacturing

Kidron, OH – Fire system prevents fire from spreading from boiler room at poultry processing plant; No injuries reported

The sprinkler system at Gerber’s Poultry did its job. A fire in a boiler room at the well-known Ohio poultry processor late Saturday activated an alarm, summoning the Kidron Volunteer Fire Department to the plant at 5889 Kidron Road, at 11:14 p.m., Assistant Chief Ron Taylor said.

The first officer arrived on the scene several minutes later to find no smoke or flames showing, but saw water running out under an exterior boiler room door.

Firefighters gained access to the building when the maintenance staff arrived. They found an activated sprinkler head above a fire in an upstairs area on the mezzanine. The sprinkler system had suppressed the fire and prevented it from spreading and causing further damage.

“This is why we encourage sprinkler systems,” the Fire Department wrote on its Facebook page.

Glenn Mott, vice president of compliance for Gerber’s added, “Everything worked perfectly.”

Firefighters extinguished the remaining fire with fire extinguishers.

A second alarm and the Rapid Intervention Team were canceled once the extent of the fire was determined to be under control.

Kidron Fire declared the fire out at 11:31 p.m. Crews remained on scene to do an overhaul and clean up until 12:38 a.m.

No one was in the building at the time of the incident and no injuries were reported. The damage was estimated between $5,000 and $10,000.

The Wayne County Fire Investigation Team investigated and determined the fire was caused by a malfunctioning heating unit that ignited material in an adjacent area.

Residence Hall/Dormitory, Residential

Athens, GA – Fire contained to single dorm room thanks to fire sprinkler system; No injuries reported

While a fire damaged one room at a University of Georgia student dormitory over the weekend, the ensuing water damage means many other students were affected.

As a result, 54 students have been temporarily displaced from Myers Hall, which is off South Lumpkin Street on UGA’s campus, university spokesman Greg Trevor told AJC.com.

The fire took place early Sunday morning and was isolated to a single room, triggering the sprinkler in that room, Trevor said in an emailed statement. 

The Athens-Clarke County Fire Department responded and were able to quickly extinguish the fire. No one was injured, and students were able to reenter the building later that morning.

However, the water damage affected 54 students, the statement said. The university is providing temporary housing for those affected while the cleanup is completed. The places where those students will be housed was not provided.

The damages are expected to be repaired by Monday, allowing those students to move back into the dorm.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation. AJC.com has reached out to the fire department for more information.

Apartment Building, Residential

West Dundee, IL -Apartment balcony fire kept in check by fire sprinkler system

An automatic sprinkler system kept a fire on the balcony of a West Dundee apartment from spreading into the building early Friday morning, officials said.

A water gong alarm at 3:08 a.m. woke residents of a second-floor unit on the 3100 block of Canterfield Parkway East, and they soon realized the furniture on their balcony was on fire, according to a news release from the village.

All residents of the building had evacuated by the time firefighters arrived. Firefighters extinguished the blaze, which authorities believe was caused by careless use of smoking materials, within five minutes, the news release said.

Hospital/Care Facility, Hospital/Medical Clinic

Franklin, TN – Fire sprinkler extinguishes fire at unoccupied pediatric clinic; No injuries reported

A fire broke out at an unoccupied pediatric clinic in Franklin just before 9 p.m. Friday. The flames were extinguished by the building’s automatic sprinkler system.

When the sprinkler system was triggered, the fire alarms sounded, dispatching the Franklin Fire Department to the location. Those crews arrived at Pediatric Associates of Franklin – located at 570 Baker’s Bridge Avenue – and found light smoke and one active sprinkler. The sprinkler had extinguished a fire in a patient examination room before firefighters made it there.

Franklin fire investigators said the damage was limited to the room where the small blaze began.

Damage to the building is estimated to be less than $10,000. No interruption of business or care is expected for the practice.

Apartment Building, Residential

Beverly, MA – Fire sprinklers keep apartment kitchen fire from spreading; No injuries reported

Kim Douglas was at work on Wednesday night when she got a frantic phone call from her mother around midnight.

“She said, ‘The house is on fire,'” Douglas said.

Fortunately, Douglas’ 74-year-old mother and the rest of the residents of the seven-story Station 101 apartment building on Rantoul Street escaped unharmed in what Beverly Fire Department officials said could have turned into a much worse situation.

A fire that started in the kitchen of a fourth-floor apartment forced the evacuation of residents and caused about 30 of them to have to find another place to stay. A man in the apartment where the fire started was found unresponsive by firefighters in a smoke-filled bedroom, but he became alert when firefighters quickly got him outside and was seemingly uninjured, fire officials said.

Beverly fire Capt. Jeff Sirois said fire sprinklers proved effective in limiting the spread of the flames, although there was a “substantial” amount of smoke and water damage from the fourth floor to the first floor.

“In the grand scheme of things it could’ve been a lot worse if the building wasn’t sprinklered,” Sirois said.

Sirois said the cause of the fire is under investigation but might have been “cooking related.”

Firefighters were called to the building at 101 Rantoul St. at 11:45 p.m. and arrived to find the fourth-floor hallway filled with smoke from a kitchen fire in one of the apartments. Crews worked to fully extinguish the fire, which officials said had been held at bay by sprinklers.

Once the fire was out, crews ventilated the smoke and pulled ceiling tiles damaged by water on the first three floors. The Beverly Fire Department posted a fire watch overnight until the alarm system could be reactivated.

Station 101, formerly known as The Millery, has been an apartment building for decades. It has 99 one- and two-bedroom apartments and is valued at more than $10 million, according to city records. It is unclear how many people live there. Officials from Peabody Properties, which manages the building, did not return phone calls.

Douglas, 48, praised firefighters as well as the management company and the American Red Cross for their response to the fire. Douglas said the Red Cross gave residents gift cards for breakfast and hotel rooms. She and her mother spent Wednesday night in a hotel and were expected to stay one more night before returning to their apartment on Friday.

“Everybody was right on top of everything,” Douglas said.

Douglas said her apartment, which is two floors below the apartment where the fire started, had very little damage, other than wet furniture and rugs. She said there was up to two inches of water on the floor in the hallways below the fourth floor.

“For me, my mom got out,” she said. “Everything else is material stuff.” 

Storage / Warehouse, Warehouse

Lakewood, NJ – Pallet on fire at warehouse contained thanks to fire sprinkler; No injuries reported

A sprinkler system kept a fire in a Prospect Street warehouse Thursday night from growing into a much larger blaze, the fire chief said.

Fire crews were called at 10:54 p.m. and found a pallet full of cardboard boxes on fire, Lakewood Fire Chief Mike D’Elia, Jr. said.

Firefighters extinguished the blaze within a matter of minutes, D’Elia said.

There was no one inside the warehouse at the time and no injuries were reported.

The chief said investigators indicated batteries in a Bluetooth device likely started the fire.

A sprinkler directly above the fire activated and kept the fire “at bay,” D’Elia said. The damage was contained to the boxes on one pallet.

He estimated that had the sprinklers not activated, about a quarter of the items in the warehouse would have been in flames by the time firefighters arrived.

“It did it’s job,” D’Elia said of the sprinkler system.