Tag Archives: Night (9pm-5am)

Apartment Building, Residential

Raleigh, NC – Fire on 22nd floor of high-rise apartment extinguished by fire sprinklers, contained to single unit

A fire at a downtown Raleigh high-rise Wednesday morning evacuated a number of people and resulted in damage to one unit, officials said.

A call regarding a fire on the 22nd floor of the SkyHouse Raleigh apartment building located at 308 S. Blount St. came in at 12:37 a.m.

According to authorities, a fire broke out on the balcony of a 22nd-floor unit and the fire was hot enough to activate the sprinklers in that unit. The fire was extinguished by the sprinkler system.

There was minimal fire damage to the unit, but it did sustain water damage.

Apartments built after 2002 are required to have sprinkler systems.

Multiple people were evacuated while crews were handling the fire. Everyone was allowed back to their units except for the peron whose apartment was damaged.

Officials said they’re not sure what started the fire, but a Raleigh Fire Department incident report lists the fire’s cause as “accidental.”

The person who lived in the apartment refused treatment for injuries, according to the report.

Hotel / Motel, Hotel / Restaurant

Ridgefield, CT – Hotel fire controlled by sprinkler system; No injuries reported

The cause of a fire that broke out at the Days Inn by Wyndham on Route 7 Thursday night is under investigation.

It all started around 10:40 p.m., when an automatic fire alarm went off at the 34-guestroom hotel at 296 Ethan Allen Highway.

The Days Inn has a Ridgefield address, but Redding firefighters were first to respond.

While en route to the scene, dispatch informed them that smoke was coming from the hotel and had activated the sprinkler system.

A working fire was discovered in one of the rooms around 10:50 p.m., and mutual aid from Ridgefield was requested. Georgetown Volunteer Fire Department also responded.

Ridgefield sent two engines and an ambulance, said Ridgefield Fire Chief Jerry Myers.

West Redding Engine 1 stretched a single hose-line into the building and the fire was contained to the unit.

The fire was knocked down shortly after 11 p.m.

Firefighters shut off the hotel’s alarm and sprinkler systems, and started clearing the scene around 11:06 p.m.

There were no reported injuries.

Ridgefield and West Redding Fire Marshal Mickey Grasso is investigating the cause of the fire, but he could not be reached for comment Monday morning.

Other / Not Specified, Other Business

Binghamton, NY – Early morning fire at beverage store kept in check by fire sprinkler system; No injuries reported

An early morning fire damaged a beverage store on Main Street in Binghamton, not far from the Johnson City line.

A blaze at the Beer Depot was reported at 12:41 AM, both by alarms in the building and passersby who saw thick smoke billowing out the front and rear of the building.

No one was inside the building at the time and firefighters were able to bring the fire under control.

A sprinkler system helped to keep it from spreading to the adjacent Lane’s Liquor Store, although that building did suffer smoke damage.

Fire officials say they believe they have narrowed down the cause, which does not appear to be suspicious, but need to await a visit tomorrow by investigators from the News State Department of Ag and Markets, before officially releasing a cause.

Other / Not Specified, Other Business

Moses Lake, WA – Fire sprinkler system prevents major damage at local business

A fire sprinkler system prevented major fire damage at a Moses Lake business Thursday night.

About 11 p.m. the Moses Lake Fire Department responded to a fire alarm at the Central Machinery sales building. When firefighters arrived they found smoke coming from the building and were able to hear the water flow alarm from the fire sprinkler system.

“The first arriving engine was tasked with pumping in to the fire sprinkler system to increase water flow for fire suppression while firefighters gained entry into the building for fire attack. Once inside the building firefighters discovered a commercial vehicle with fire inside the cab and engine compartment,” reads a press release from the MLFD. “The fire had been contained to the vehicle through the proper operation of the fire sprinkler system. Two sprinkler heads opened and suppressed the fire until firefighters could access the seat of the fire and fully extinguish it using fire hose hand lines.”

A total of two engines, one squad car, one medical unit, one ladder truck, two command units, the city’s fire marshal and 10 personnel responded to the scene. Through their investigation the MLFD traced the origin of the fire back to a “wiring bundle” in the battery box compartment of the commercial vehicle. The MLFD says the fire spread from the battery box, to the cab and then to the engine compartment.

Hotel / Restaurant, Restaurant

Bowie, TX – Sprinkler system contains fire at local pizzeria

The City of Bowie Fire Department responded to an early morning fire at Milano’s Pizza in downtown to find the sprinkler system had contained a small fire in the back of the building.

Fire Chief Doug Page said the fire call came in at 4:30 a.m. Wednesday. The alarm company reported a water flow alarm indicating the system had been activated. 

Firefighters found the outside indicators show water was flowing in the system. 
Page said the firemen made entry and found a single sprinkler and the fire it contained on a back stairway in the building going to the third floor.

“There were two, five-gallon buckets filled with kitchen rags on the stairwell and at this time we believe there was spontaneous combustion that started a fire. For restaurants this is a common finding which is why there are recommendations on how to store them,” said Page. 
There was very little damage added the chief other than a burn on the landing and the plastic had melted. 

“Without the sprinkler system going off the fire could have easily run the building before it was found. This is the second building in downtown where a sprinkler system contained a fire,” concluded the chief.

Storage / Warehouse, Warehouse

Washington, DC – Sprinkler system contains fire started in basement of scooter warehouse

The warehouse fire started in a bin full of lithium batteries in the basement on Tuesday night just before midnight, says D.C. Fire spokesperson Vito Maggiolo. Smoke from the fire triggered the basement sprinkler system, which contained the fire to the immediate area and automatically triggered a call to the fire department. The department has ruled it an accidental fire, Maggiolo says.

Skip said in a statement on Twitter that the fire was not a scooter fire, and was not a charging-related fire. “The storage bin contained batteries removed as a result of the proper operation of Skip’s quality control process,” the company wrote. “Our D.C. warehouse team is working with experts to expedite the disposal of used batteries and is fully cooperating in the investigation.”

The latest fire comes after a parked Skip scooter caught fire on a sidewalk in late May. The company suspended operations for a short time after that fire, too, though it said at the time that they had “no reason to believe this affects any other vehicles in our fleet.” Skip reportedly addressed some “risk factors” that made it more likely for a fire like this to happen again, DDOT told the Post, though the agency did not specify what those risk factors were. The company put tamper-resistant battery cages on the scooters. The company found the cause of the fire was likely to be some kind of damage to the scooter, reports the Post.

There have also been additional fires at the Skip warehouse. Maggiolo tells DCist that the department responded to a very similar fire in September 2018, in the same basement storage area. That time, a scooter in charging mode went up in flames and triggered the smoke alarms and the sprinkler system. That fire was also ruled accidental, and “the result of an unspecified electrical event.”

The Washington Post reports that there was yet another warehouse fire in October. DDOT reportedly learned about those additional fires on Wednesday and issued the suspension, according to the outlet.

Read full story https://dcist.com/story/19/06/20/city-suspends-skips-scooter-license-after-warehouse-fire/

Hotel / Motel, Hotel / Restaurant

Ocean City, MD – Single fire sprinkler extinguishes fire at hotel restaurant, minimizing fire damage

A properly functioning sprinkler system is being credited this week for saving a restaurant in a beachfront hotel early Tuesday morning.

Around 4 a.m. on Tuesday, the Ocean City Fire Department (OCFD) was dispatched to a fire alarm activation indicating a fire sprinkler waterflow at the Castle in the Sand Hotel. While firefighters were responding to the initial call, a second call came in minutes later from hotel staff advising they had investigated the source of the fire alarm activation and could see fire burning in a restaurant in the basement of the lodging establishment.

When firefighters arrived, they found the alarm system sounding and the hotel occupants evacuating. Hotel staff directed OCFD responders to the basement where they found a single fire sprinkler had discharged and extinguished the fire, limiting damage to a small area in the rear of the restaurant. Ocean City Fire Marshal David Hartley credited the hotel’s working and updated fire suppression system for preventing further damage and potential injury.

“A properly functioning fire sprinkler system saved lives and property at the Caste in the Sand this morning,” he said on Tuesday. “The hotel’s diligence in servicing and maintaining its fire protection systems ensured that everything worked properly, which limited the damage and ensured the safe evacuation of hotel occupants.”

Once the fire was suppressed and safety was ensured, hotel occupants returned to their rooms within about 30 minutes of the initial call. The Beach House restaurant in the Castle in the Sand is expected to return to normal business following a brief cleanup.

Fire Marshal’s Office investigators have ruled the cause of the fire as accidental and attributed it to the spontaneous combustion of laundered, cooking oil-saturated cleaning rags, a scenario deemed fairly common in restaurants.

“This phenomenon is unfortunately a common occurrence in commercial kitchens,” said Hartley. We often see fires that begin due to cleaning towels that have soaked up vegetable-based cooking oils and spontaneously ignite, even after being properly washed and dried.”

As a result, the Ocean City Fire Marshal’s Office is encouraging restaurant employees to minimize the likelihood of a spontaneous ignition incident by ensuring dryer cooling and tumbling cycles are utilized, towels are spread out to minimize pile sizes and also by storing clean and dirty towels in non-combustible hampers or other containers.


Manufacturing, Paper Mill / Saw Mill

Penticton, BC, Canada – Fire caused by forklift contained by fire sprinklers

Penticton fire crews were called to a blaze at Greenwood Forest Products just after 4:30 a.m. on Monday.

Firefighters saw black smoke coming out of the middle and north end of the building when they arrived, fire department Deputy Chief Chris Forrester said.

When crews entered the building, they found one of the forklifts had caught fire, he added.

“When we were setting up to enter the building, there were two very loud pops, and my best guess is that those were the tires exploding on the forklift,” Forrester said.

The sprinkler system had turned on and extinguished most of the blaze, according to Forrester.

Any damage inside the building was likely due to smoke or water damage, not flames, he added.

Other Business

Wheeling, IL – Fire at commercial laundry facility held in check by fire sprinklers; No injuries reported

No injuries were reported in a fire Saturday night at a commercial laundry facility in Wheeling, fire officials said.

Crews responded about 8:30 p.m. to 45 W. Hintz Road for an activated alarm at Crothall Healthcare Laundry Systems, said Battalion Chief Mark Menzel of the Wheeling Fire Department. When they arrived, they found fire inside the business, which was closed and unoccupied.

The blaze was being “held in check” by an automatic sprinkler system, Menzel said. Firefighters finished extinguishing the fire and ventilated smoke from the building.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known. An investigation is ongoing.

Apartment Building, Residential

Brockton, MA – Single sprinkler extinguishes fire at high rise building

A sprinkler system helped avert potential widespread damage Friday night by quickly extinguishing a fire.

Engine 2, Engine 4 and Ladder 2 of the Brockton Fire Department, along with a deputy chief, responded to the Campello High Rise, a Brockton Housing Authority property at 1380 Main St., about 8:57 p.m. The department had received a box alarm for the building.

There was no smoke coming from the building when firefighters arrived, but they quickly learned sprinklers had activated on the second floor. They determined there was a fire in the trash chute.

“Last evening, a fire in a trash chute was extinguished by a sprinkler at a 10-story high rise building,” the Brockton Fire Department wrote in a tweet on Saturday morning.