Tag Archives: Night (9pm-5am)

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Northbridge, MA – Fire in light fixture at nursing home extinguished by sprinkler system; No injuries reported

Staff at Beaumont Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center said they knew they’d been successful in evacuating the building without too much trauma when the residents said they felt like the event was a party and not the result of a small fire. The fire Monday night, in a light fixture, was quickly extinguished by the facility’s sprinkler system, said Matthew Salmon, Beaumont’s owner. The fire damage was hardly noticeable, but the water that was pumped out of the sprinkler flooded the floor and flowed down to a lower level of the center, forcing 28 of the 150 residents to be evacuated.

Staff gathered up residents, collected their needed personal belongings and organized their medications and charts so they could be taken to nearby facilities in the Beaumont group or to St. Camillus Health Care, where they spent the night. “They said it was like a party,” a nursing supervisor told Mr. Salmon.

Mr. Salmon anticipated the residents would return by Tuesday evening. The evacuation went off exactly as it should, and it’s something care facilities practice with fire alarms and evacuations in mock situations.  “We have a plan in place,” Mr. Salmon said. “We’re part of Mass. MAP (the Massachusetts Long Term Care Mutual Aid Plan).”

The plan sets how an evacuation and relocation of patients in care facilities is to be carried out, Mr. Salmon said. So if another facility was evacuated, some of its residents could be moved to Beaumont, he explained. Fire doors closed during the incident, and some residents who sheltered in place slept through it, Mr. Salmon said.  The Fire Department was credited with quickly minimizing the damage being done by the sprinklers and for setting up a response of vehicles that could move residents who had to leave the building.

A task force of ambulances was called to the home, along with the Worcester Regional Transit Authority’s AmbuBus, a retrofitted 1996 bus equipped with medical supplies and the ability to carry 25 patients in wheelchairs and on stretchers. The bus has been deployed just twice since in was made ready for use in 2010, but it is used for training, WRTA spokesman Meaghan Lyver said.

On Tuesday, elevators at Beaumont were out of service and some alarms weren’t working, so staff members were monitoring those areas. Fans were circulating air and drying rugs in the affected area, and Mr. Salmon said once the health board gave an OK, folks could move back into their rooms.

Other Business

New Bedford, MA – Damage from arson fire at laundry business limited by sprinkler system

State and New Bedford fire officials are investigating another suspicious, early-morning fire that damaged a laundry building Thursday in the city’s near North End, officials said.  The fire at Purity Services Laundry, 405 Myrtle St., was in a garage loading area that is inside the building, according to Fire Chief Michael Gomes.

“It was not accidental,” the chief said of the fire.  Damage from the blaze was minimized due to the activation of the company’s sprinkler system, according to Gomes and Jennifer Mieth, a spokeswoman for the state Fire Marshal’s office. Gomes said the Fire Department learned of the fire when the sprinkler system was activated.

Firefighters were able to extinguish the fire within 20 minutes of their arrival. According to the New Bedford Police Department log, the fire occurred at 3:07 a.m. Thursday.  Items held in the storage area suffered fire damage and there was smoke damage throughout the building, Gomes said.

Officials with Purity Services Laundry were not available for comments Friday morning.

Investigators said they have not determined whether Thursday’s fire is related to numerous early-morning fires in the city’s near North End during July and August.

Chief Gomes said this fire is under investigation by the New Bedford Fire and Police Departments and the state Fire Marshal’s office.

Anyone with information can call the state’s arson hotline, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at 1-800-682-9229, Mieth said. All calls are confidential.

Primary / Secondary School, School / University

Portland, OR – Sprinklers help control overnight fire at elementary school

A school in southwest Portland caught fire early Thursday morning, just two days after it welcomed students for the school year.

Portland Fire and Rescue crews responded to the blaze at Southwest Sherman Street and Southwest Water Avenue at 2:43 a.m., which firefighters said started as a dumpster fire before spreading to The International School.

The private elementary school is a Spanish, Chinese and Japanese language immersion school with 418 students.

Crews knocked down the fire, but not before one building’s electrical system was damaged. Water sprinklers helped minimize fire activity but also added to the destruction.

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Roanoke, VA – Late night fire at assisted living facility contained by single sprinkler; No injuries reported

Roanoke County Fire and Rescue responded to a commercial fire alarm activation Wednesday morning.  Authorities say it happened around 2:05 a.m. on the 6900 block of Williamson Road, at North Roanoke Assisted Living.  Upon arrival, crews found light smoke and one fire sprinkler device that had activated.  Further investigation determined that a single laundry bag on an outside stoop area had ignited. The occupants of one building of the assisted living facility were temporarily moved to other buildings in the facility.  There were no injuries reported. The fire is still under investigation.

Other Business

Sumter, SC – Sprinkler system controls fire at uniform company; Firefighters extinguish flames upon arrival

Sumter Fire Department extinguished a relatively small blaze at a local service business’ facility early Saturday morning, according to a spokesman and an official report.  Emergency units responded to a fire alarm at UniFirst, 2040 Union Camp Blvd., and arrived on the scene at 4:04 a.m. Saturday. Within two minutes, the units had the fire officially under control, according to the incident report. Sumter Fire Department Battalion Chief Joey Duggan said the facility’s emergency sprinkler system actually had the fire under control and saved the building from more extensive damage.

“The sprinkler saved it,” Duggan said. “If the company didn’t have a sprinkler system in that building, it would have been a big problem.”

The building was unoccupied at the time, and no one was injured, according to Battalion Chief Steven Dara, who was on scene. Dara said spontaneous combustion of soiled towels and rags contained in a few large laundry baskets caused the fire. Dara estimated the damage/loss at $30,000.

UniFirst provides uniform rental and facility services to business and industry in Sumter County and surrounding areas.

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Gloverville, SC – Sprinkler system helps extinguish fire at senior living facility

It was a long morning for the people living at the Village at Horse Creek.

Captain Harold Cain at the Langley Fire Department responded to the call he said, “When we got there we had people upstairs and there was smoke coming from the room, dispatch let us know one of the residents said there was smoke coming from that room.”

The Langley Fire Department says one elderly man caused the fire around three-thirty this morning.

“He was smoking and he fell asleep and it caught the couch on fire,” said Cain.Aiken County Police and the Langley Fire Department were able to get more than 30 people out of their apartments, including the man who started the fire.

Sherill Mikell, a resident at the Village at Horse Creek was there to see it.”He brought him outside and sat him down on the sidewalk and i just thought that is a hero,” she said.

The residents were taken to clearwater baptist church because of water damage from the sprinkler system.

“They took them to the church this morning, they have a gym up there and the emergency management and the bus took them from there and they opened the church up for them to stay there,” said Cain.

Red Cross stepped in to help everyone, by supplying them with food and water.

“This morning red cross comes and they fed us sausage biscuits and then this afternoon for lunch we had subway,” said Mikell.

Most people were allowed back in their rooms around three o’clock this afternoon, but red cross made other hotel arrangements for at least four residents who could not move back in just yet because of water damage.

Auto Dealership, Retail

Montreal, QC, Canada – Arson fire at car dealership put out by sprinkler system

A car dealership on Cote-de-Liesse was damaged by an incendiary device thrown through a window on Sunday morning.

At 2:00 a.m., a 911 call was made reporting the fire. When firefighters arrived, they found the fire extinguished by the sprinkler system.

Surveillance footage showed a man throwing an object at the window to break it and then throwing the incendiary device once they were inside.

The SPVM arson squad is investigating. No arrests have yet been made. 

Hospital/Care Facility, Hospital/Medical Clinic

New Iberia, LA – Late night arson fire at medical center extinguished by sprinkler system

A man has been arrested after, fire marshals say, he intentionally set a fire at Iberia Medical Center early Friday morning. Ruddy Romero, Jr., 25, of New Iberia, allegedly set fire to a hospital blanket on a set of chairs in an Intensive Care Unit waiting room on the second floor. Romero set the fire before leaving the hospital, according to Chief Deputy Brant Thompson. State fire marshal investigators say the fire alarm system activated, hence alerting hospital employees, patients, and visitors. The alarm was immediately followed by the activation of the fire sprinkler system, which quickly extinguished the fire shortly before 1:30 a.m. Romero was later interviewed by investigators and admitted to lighting the blanket on fire, directly threatening more than 100 patients, staff members, and visitors, Thompson says. Romero was arrested on charges of aggravated arson. He is being held in the Iberia Parish jail on a $20,000 bond.

Place of Worship

Modesto, CA – Sprinkler system keeps arson fire at church from spreading

Treading carefully through standing water in the basement of Christ Unity Baptist Church on Tuesday afternoon, the Rev. Nathaniel Green and his wife, Dorothea, were pained by more than just the damage done in an act of arson and vandalism. They struggled to understand why.

The man suspected of breaking into the church on the 1300 block of L Street, 57-year-old Theodore Garcia, is someone they’ve cared for and employed, Nathaniel Green said. “He’s really worked for us,” the pastor said at his office desk. Behind him, a table was covered in broken glass from the window behind it. “He loves me and my wife, he loves this church.”

Green said he understands Garcia has battled drug addictions, and the pastor indicated he regrets that wages paid to him may have fed that addiction. He said he hasn’t spoken to Garcia but suspects that the man was despondent and suicidal. Garcia had knives with him, and bloody handprints (church staff believe he cut his hands breaking windows) were on at least two Bibles near the church altar.

“Isn’t it something, the power of what drugs can do?” Dorothea Green said as she surveyed fire damage, pried-open doors and other vandalism done throughout the basement. A couch was set on fire, as was clothing to be donated to the homeless. A fire in the dining hall damaged a table and carpeting. In all, the Greens believe five separate blazes were set. And the sprinkler system caused more damage, leaving water at least an inch deep throughout basement rooms and corridors.

The Rev. Green said the damage means the church’s homeless breakfasts and food giveaways will have to be put on hold. “I’m hoping we’ll be able to hold services,” he said. “We do have a few people with severe asthma,” he added, noting that smoke can be smelled throughout the church. The church also hosts several groups – including Narcotics Anonymous, children of alcoholics and families of inmates – that regularly meet in rooms, he said, that also will be temporarily affected.

The vandalism at the church came to light about 11:20 p.m. Monday when a sergeant and officer with Rank Investigation & Protection responded to a report of a subject breaking windows there. They encountered an uncooperative man who ran back inside the church and started a fire, according to a post on Rank’s Facebook page.

The Modesto Police and Fire departments were on scene within minutes, Rank reported. A Modesto Fire Department incident summary says light smoke was coming from the first and second floors of the southeast corner of the church. Crews determined a fire sprinkler was keeping the fires – in the basement level – from spreading. Police found the man on his hands and knees near the church altar, said Lt. Tom Ciccarelli. He was armed with knives and would not comply with commands from officers.

The department’s Critical Incident Team was activated to negotiate with the man, the lieutenant said. Talking with him was unsuccessful, Ciccarelli said. A bean bag round was fired at him, but had no effect.

At some point, the man – later identified Garcia – got up. When the knives were on the floor and he moved far enough away from them, officers were able to take him into custody, Ciccarelli said. Officers at the scene were unable to ascertain a motive, he said. The incident was concluded close to 2 a.m.

Garcia was medically cleared at the scene and booked into the Stanislaus County Jail. He is being held on charges of arson and vandalism, with bail at $200,000. The Rev. Green was dealing with his insurer Tuesday afternoon, but no financial estimate of church damage was immediately available.

Hotel / Motel, Hotel / Restaurant

Macedonia, OH – Fire chief credits sprinklers with putting out arson fire at hotel

A Virginia man has been charged with first-degree felony aggravated arson in connection with an allegation that he set a mattress on fire at the Highland Road Motel 6 on July 29.

Fire Chief Tim Black said the only reported injury in the late night fire was a 4-year-old boy sleeping in a neighboring room who suffered mild smoke inhalation. He said the boy was not taken to a hospital, but “was just checked out” at the scene.

Black said that thanks to the motel’s sprinkler system, damage was limited to the room with the fire. About half of the mattress was burned and there was some water and possibly some smoke damage in the room, said Black. He did not have a damage estimate.“

[Sprinklers] work. They work well,” said Black.

He said the motel was evacuated for an unspecified period of time.