Tag Archives: Texas

Other - School / University, School / University

Lewisville, TX – Fire in sawdust collector at career center is suppressed by sprinkler system

The Dale Jackson Career Center in Lewisville on Edmonds Lane was evacuated Wednesday after a fire broke out in a sawdust collection system on the south side of the building.  Students and staff were all evacuated safely, according to a parent email sent out by Randall Holder, the principal of the campus.  Assistant fire chief Mark McNeal said the fire triggered a sprinkler system that muted its effect.  Units from Lewisville and Flower Mound fire departments fought the blaze.

Update -12:10 p.m.: Principal Randall Holder sent the following parent notice:

Dear Dale Jackson Parents,

We wanted to follow up with you about the situation at Dale Jackson Career Center.

Please know all of our students and staff safely evacuated the building this morning due to a fire at the back of the campus. All students are back at their home campuses and Dale Jackson classes have been canceled for the remainder of the day

Currently, we are waiting on the fire department to deem the building safe for students and staff to retrieve their vehicles and belongings. We will notify you as soon as this happens.

We appreciate your patience and understanding.

Thank you,
Randall Holder
Principal

Update 2 p.m.: Holder sent another update:

We wanted to share the following update with you.

At this time, students will not be allowed back in the building for the remainder of the day, but they may pick up their vehicles if they are able to.

All classes will resume a normal schedule tomorrow, however, the Mill and Cabinetmaking class will be moved to a different classroom in the building.

If it is an absolute emergency and a student must retrieve their belongings from inside DJCC today, the building will remain open until 6 p.m. However, students are encouraged to email their DJCC teacher to make these arrangements. Law enforcement will be present on campus throughout the night to ensure the security of the building.

We are proud of the way our students and staff handled this disruption to their school day, and we are extremely grateful our first responders arrived so quickly.

Please know the safety and security of our students and staff are my top priority here at Dale Jackson.

Thank you for your patience and continued support of our campus.

Randall Holder
Principal​​​​​​​

Update 4:34 p.m.:  The fire started when the woodworking class’ tablesaw kicked up embers, which fell into the sawdust collection tanks and turned into a full-on blaze. The class used their fire extinguisher on the tablesaw, but could not reach into the tanks.

McNeal said firefighting crews were nervous that opening the tanks would cause a dust explosion, so they opened vents into the sawdust system to allow smoke to dissipate. This is what lead to such a drawn-out, visible fight. McNeal said nobody was hurt.

Hotel / Motel, Hotel / Restaurant

Lufkin, TX – Fire at Comfort Inn & Suites suppressed with help from sprinkler system

Lufkin fire crews battled a fire at the Comfort Inn & Suites early Tuesday morning.  No injuries were reported.  Jessica Pebsworth, a spokeswoman for the City of Lufkin, said that fire department personnel were dispatched out to the Comfort Inn & Suites located at 4402 S. First Street after the fire was reported at 12:25 a.m. Tuesday.

“Though the cause of the fire is unknown, the blaze appeared to have started on the building facade,” Pebworth said. The fire then worked its way into the hotel’s attic, triggering the sprinkler system, Pebsworth said. She added that a pipe burst during the incident, causing significant water damage.  Comfort Inn & Suites employees evacuated and relocated all of the hotel’s occupants, Pebsworth said.  The Lufkin Fire Department is still investigating the incident.

Other Business, Place of Worship

Killeen, TX – Early morning church fire contained by sprinkler system; No injuries reported

An early morning fire at Lifeway Fellowship Church in Killeen led to Sunday worship services being canceled, as fire, smoke and water damage forced church staff to close the building.

“The alarm went off at 4 a.m., so no one was in the building, luckily,” Pastor Jimmy Towers said. “According to the (Killeen) Fire Department, there was an electrical shortage in the walls and that caught the insulation on fire.”

Towers said while the fire was mostly contained to the back of the church building, the sprinkler system led to most of the floor of the building being flooded.

“The sprinkler system didn’t really damage the furniture, it just flooded the floors,” he said. “We have people there right now working to clean it up, and we have the doors open to try and get the smoke out.”

Towers said he received a call about the fire shortly after 4 a.m. He said by the time he arrived at the church, the fire department already had the fire under control.

“I couldn’t be more pleased with how the fire department handled the blaze,” he said. “They got it under control very quickly.

Despite canceling the Sunday services, Towers said the church members who didn’t get the message about the fire still held a small prayer circle in the parking lot at 8 a.m.

Towers is not sure when the building will reopen, but said he hopes to have it ready for next Sunday’s services.

Apartment Building, Residential

San Antonio, TX – Arson fire at apartment extinguished by sprinkler system

Bexar County fire investigators have arrested a woman for allegedly setting fire to an apartment from which she was being evicted. An arrest warrant affidavit said a neighbor called 911 early Monday morning after noticing water pouring into her home from the apartment upstairs. She also heard fire alarms going off inside her own home. Firefighters arrived a short time later and saw hazy smoke inside that upstairs apartment, located in the 5500 block of Missions Bluffs. Once they entered the unit, they determined that the fire had been extinguished by the sprinkler system. The affidavit said arson investigators later found evidence that someone had intentionally set fire to mattresses in two different bedrooms. It said they also determined that Immanie Rogers, 23, lived alone inside that apartment and was facing eviction. They found her eviction notice on top of one the mattresses that had been set on fire, the affidavit said. Investigators said they obtained surveillance video showing Rogers’ car leaving the property shortly before the fire broke out. She was arrested Tuesday on a charge of arson.

Residential, Residential High Rise

Austin, TX – Fire in trash chute of high rise apartment building contained by sprinkler system

<The> fire last Sunday developed downtown on West 3rd Street at Amli, a hi-rise apartment building.  AFD said the fire began in the first floor parking garage. They believe someone may have thrown a hot item in the trash compactor. Division Chief Thayer Smith said the sprinkler helped prevent the fire from spreading up the building. When fire crews arrived they extinguished what was left of the fire and worked on smoke removal. Residents were able to return to their homes later that day.

“We really got to ask folks you know not dispose of that stuff in the trash compactor because this is the result of what happens when you do that,” Smith said.  The apartment fire was the second hi-rise fire the department has responded to in the last two weeks for someone tossing an improper item down the trash chute. The building sustained minimal damage.

Athletic Club/Sports Facility, Other Business

Houston, TX – Fire below concourse level of Toyota Center arena put out by sprinkler system

Arson investigators as of Monday had not determined the cause of a fire over the weekend at the Toyota Center. The Houston Fire Department was alerted to a fire around 8:30 a.m. Sunday in the lower level of the building under the concourse level. When units arrived, the fire was out due to the sprinkler system. The fire was contained to a small area of the facility. The sprinkler system was put back in service and the building is safe to use, according to officials. Officials said there is no structural damage.

Manufacturing, Manufacturing Plant

Cleburne, TX – Paint booth fire at lighting manufacturer extinguished with help from sprinkler system

Cleburne firefighters responded to an automatic fire alarm with water flow at 12:48 p.m. Thursday in the 1700 block of Hal Avenue to find a large amount of smoke exiting the building at low velocity through large roll up doors. One employee advised that the fire was in the building’s paint booth oven area. The building, about 150 foot by 600 foot, is used to manufacture and paint lighting poles and light components, according to reports. Firefighters used about 300 gallons of water but noted that the building’s sprinkler system extinguished much of the fire.

The fire remained contained to the paint booth area and caused no additional damage other than smoke and heat damage to sheet metal at the oven’s entry, according to reports. A highly flammable powder substance had been allowed to build up and get into the duct work, which resulted in a flash fire caused by heat, firefighters said of the fire’s cause. No employees were injured in the fire.

Apartment Building, Residential

Harris County, TX – (no media coverage) Apartment balcony fire contained by sprinkler system; Assists firefighters with extinguishing blaze

*** FIRE DEPARTMENT REPORTED – No Media Coverage *** On Sunday, March 18 at approximately 8:17 am, HCFMO was requested by Cy-Fair Fire Department to assist with an apartment fire. Upon arrival, investigators noted the fire was contained to an exterior balcony because of the activation of one sprinkler head. The total loss due to fire and water damage was $5,300, with pre-incident value at $510,000.

Apartment Building, Residential

Cleburne, TX – Fire in apartment at historic building contained to room of origin by sprinkler system

Cleburne firefighters say that an apartment fire in a historic downtown building was limited to the room of origin thanks to the building’s sprinkler system. That said, firefighters also noted that the building’s sprinkler system appears to be “substandard and poorly installed.”

Firefighters responded at 6:43 p.m. to the 400 block of East Henderson Street on reports of an earlier fire already extinguished. The fire originated in the kitchen of an apartment on the building’s second floor because of a pan of unattended oil on the stove top. The occupants told firefighters they went downstairs to eat but returned to find that the pan of oil had caught fire and spread to the microwave oven and cabinets above the stove, according to reports.

The occupants were unable to shut the sprinkler system off, which resulted in water damage to the kitchen area and the apartment below. Cleburne Assistant Fire Chief Keith Scarbrough said the fire may have caused far more damage but for the sprinkler system.

“Sprinkler systems work,” Scarbrough said. “Statistics from across the U.S. show that they put fires out 97 percent of the time. Of the other 3 percent, 1 percent is because of mechanical failure like weather or freezing temperatures.

“The other 1 percent is because someone turns them off and the last 1 percent is because the fire’s too big for the sprinkler’s capacity. That’s instances where someone originally used the building for offices or something like that and installed a system to handle that but later repurposed the use of the building, like making it a warehouse or paint processing facility and didn’t upgrade the sprinkler system to suit the new purpose.

“But, in my career here, I’ve seen three earlier instances where sprinkler systems almost certainly saved buildings from being lost, two school fires, a manufacturing plant fire and now this fire.

“Sprinkler systems are one of the most effective fire fighting processes available, which is why all businesses and even homes should have them.”

Firefighters responded to an industrial oven fire at 12:38 a.m. Saturday in the 200 block of West Industrial Boulevard to find heavy smoke emitting from the roof level of the plant.

Excess materials within the system caused the plant’s industrial ovens to catch fire. Workers on scene extinguished some but not all the fire having to quit because of heavy smoke. Cleburne firefighters completed the task and remained on scene until the ovens cooled sufficiently.

Firefighters responded to reports of a possible house fire at 8:05 p.m. March 2 in the 1700 block of Shawnee Drive.

Homeowners told firefighters they left a pot of chicken unattended on the stove. They turned the stove off and removed the chicken but the incident filled the home with smoke.

Firefighters checked but found no signs of heat or fire in the house. They set fans to clear the house of smoke and made note that the pot contained a burned chicken.