Tag Archives: Rhode Island

Other / Not Specified, Other Business

Coventry, RI – Early morning fire at business controlled with help from sprinkler system

Several businesses in Coventry were damaged Wednesday morning after a small fire triggered the emergency sprinkler system. The fire started at about 2:30 a.m. inside a building at 577 Tiogue Ave. The fire scorched an exterior door, but the sprinkler system kept the flames from spreading until fire crews could arrive at the scene.

Several businesses sustained heavy damage from the amount of water used by the sprinkler alarm. Central Coventry Fire District Chief Peter Lamb said the fire was accidental but would not comment on the cause. Nobody was in the building when the fire broke out.

Other / Not Specified, Other Business

Cumberland, RI – Sprinkler system extinguishes fire at business caused by charged batteries

Charged batteries shipped to a company that refurbishes electronic equipment “heated up to ignition temperature” and started a fire in the Cadillac Mills complex Thursday, Cumberland Fire Chief Kenneth A. Finlay said.  The fire, at Aztek Technologies, 30 Meeting St., Cumberland, was extinguished by the building’s sprinkler system before firefighters arrived, Finlay said.

Firefighters were called to the mill, which has entrances on Meeting Street and Titus Street, at 5:16 p.m. Thursday. They found only smoke, water and a 24- by 36- by 18-inch cardboard box of batteries where the fire apparently started.  Some of the company’s product near the box of batteries had been damaged, he said.

Usually the company receives shipments of batteries that haven’t been charged, but the box contained live batteries, which Finlay attributed to a packing error. Employees of the many businesses in the mill complex evacuated when the alarm sounded, including 10 from Texcel Industries, which makes military and camouflage webbing.  No one was injured.

The building sustains some water damage because firefighters had trouble turning off the sprinkler system, Finlay said.

Firefighters from the Saylesville fire company in Lincoln assisted with a ladder truck.

 

College/University (on campus), School / University

Providence, RI – Sprinklers activated properly during Brown University locker room fire

During Thursday’s electrical fire in the men’s track and field locker room in the Olney-Margolies Athletic Center, all fire prevention measures functioned properly, said Stephen Maiorisi, vice president of facilities management. Though several of the athletes present at the time of the fire observed that the sprinkler system did not immediately activate, Stephen Morin, director of environmental health and safety, wrote in an email to The Herald that the heat-activated sprinkler heads did respond to the fire.

The fire was “10 or 15 feet away” from the heat detector, said Luke Muzikowski ’17, a member of the team who was present at the time of the fire. Both the detector and the sprinklers are activated when the room reaches a certain temperature, Devlin said, adding that the alarm and sprinkler systems were therefore not at the threshold temperature to activate the alarm by the time the runners left the locker room and the building was evacuated.

“It worked exactly the way it was supposed to,” Maiorisi said.

Adult Care/Rehab Center, Hospital/Care Facility

Sprinkler activates in fire at adult group home (East Providence, RI)

A fire forced the evacuation of an adult group home Thursday night.

The fire at 803 Willett Avenue began shortly before 8 p.m. in a second-floor closet, setting off the sprinkler system, the city’s fire marshal, Capt. Kenneth P. Botelho, said. Thirteen occupants – 11 residents and two staffers – had safely evacuated the building by the time firefighters arrived, he said.

The occupants were relocated to another group home in Warren. The building is temporarily uninhabitable due to water damage from the sprinkler, Botelho said, but there was no structural damage. The cause of the fire is under investigation, he said.

Apartment Building, Residential

Sprinklers control fire, limit damage in fire at multi-use complex (Pawtucket, RI)

A small fire in a third-floor space of the Hope Artiste Village complex was put out by firefighters Wednesday night. Battalion Chief Joseph Murray said that the fire started on a wood floor that was being renovated, triggering the sprinkler system. Murray said the sprinklers contained the fire to about a 15-foot section of floor. The floor was unoccupied and there were no injuries, said Murray. The complex houses shops, workshop studio apartments and other businesses in a 19th-century mill complex.

Apartment Building, Residential

Apartment fire eliminated by fire sprinklers (Cranston, RI)

Fire sprinklers quickly extinguished the fire that broke out on the sixth floor of an apartment building. No injuries were reported. ***Blog Editor’s Note – Please let us know what you think of the coverage by WPRI.com and journalist John Mitchell, who focused on water damage rather than the lives and property saved by the automatic fire sprinkler system. ***