An apartment catches on fire after cooking was left unattended in the kitchen.

On July 13 at 9:50 p.m., Colonial Heights Fire and EMS with Chesterfield Truck 12 were dispatched to the 200 block of Archer Avenue for an apartment fire.

Units arrived on the scene to find a fire in the kitchen had been extinguished by the fire sprinkler system.

Crews say minor damage was done to the apartment.

Two residents received burns after attempting to move the burning cookware from the stove to the sink.

The burns were non-life-threatening with one person being treated at the scene and the other was transported to MCV.

Occupants in the apartment and adjacent apartments were displaced. Red Cross was on scene to assist them if needed.

Damage from a Sunday night kitchen fire in a Sterling apartment was limited by an automatic sprinkler system, according to Loudoun County Fire-Rescue.

The fire occurred just after 9 p.m. June 28 at a second-floor Ridgehaven Terrace residence in the Cascades Overlook neighborhood. Emergency units from Cascades,Sterling Park, Kincora, Ashburn, and Fairfax County were called to the scene.

The fire was extinguished before crews arrived. Two apartment units were damaged by water from the sprinkler system and a total of six residents from the two residences were displaced. 

The fire was determined to accidental and a result of unattended food on the stove.

According to the Fire Marshal’s Office, the incident illustrates both the dangers of unattended cooking—a frequent cause of house fires—as well as the importance of lifesaving sprinkler systems.

“It’s important to educate the public about how automatic fire sprinklers help to contain and prevent fires from becoming more significant emergencies,” stated Fire Chief Keith Johnson. “Fire sprinklers save lives, including those of first responders, and greatly reduce the physical, emotional and financial damages that fires bring to a community.”

Five people were rescued Monday night when firefighters responded to a blaze in one unit at Douglass School Apartments in Bristol, Virginia.

Multiple crews arrived at the scene after the fire was reported at 9:17 p.m. at the apartment complex off Oakview Avenue, according to Mike Armstrong, the city’s fire chief.

Firefighters located the fire in the kitchen area of an apartment, where it appeared to have started on a stovetop with some type of combustible material, Armstrong said.

A sprinkler system contained the fire in the apartment where it started, but surrounding apartments still suffered water damage, he said.

A total of five occupants were evacuated from various apartments, and one person was treated for smoke inhalation but was not transported to a hospital, Armstrong said. No other injuries were reported.

Although the fire damage was contained, water damage in other apartments displaced at least two occupants, and the Red Cross is assisting them, he said.

The fire was determined to be accidental, the fire chief said.