Tag Archives: Washington

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Pacific, WA – Cooking fire at senior apartments extinguished by sprinkler system

Firefighters from the Valley Regional Fire Authority quickly responded and contained an unattended cooking fire at the Rainier Vista Apartments, 134 3rd Ave. SE, Pacific, early Saturday afternoon.

There were no reported injuries.

Responding to an automatic fire alarm at 1:45 p.m., the initial unit found smoke showing with a possible fire from the third floor. Firefighters soon discovered the source, an unattended cooking fire, which the automatic sprinkler system extinguished within several minutes.

The fire was contained to the original unit. The residence was unoccupied at the time of the fire. About a half dozen rooms and residents were affected by ongoing water mitigation efforts.

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Richland, WA – Kitchen fire at assisted living facility extinguished by sprinkler system

A stove fire broke out at a retirement and assisted living home in Richland on Wednesday but no residents were hurt.  Richland fire crews were alerted around noon to a fire at Riverton by Bonaventure on Bellerive Drive. A sprinkler system extinguished the small kitchen fire before crews arrived, said Battalion Chief Ron Duncan.

“Somebody left something on the stove and walked away from it,” he said.  Richland fire crews then received calls about an hour later because someone smelled smoke. It turned out to be smoke lingering from the previous fire, Duncan said.

Read more here: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/local/crime/article99156947.html#storylink=cpy
Apartment Building, Residential

Olympia, WA – No injuries in apartment fire controlled by sprinkler system

Olympia firefighters responded to a fire alarm about 6:45 p.m. Wednesday at a west Olympia apartment complex.  When they arrived at the Fern Street Southwest building, they found fire inside one of the second-floor apartments. The small fire was being kept under control by the automatic sprinkler system. Fire crews finished extinguishing the fire and ensured all occupants had gotten out of the building.

Damage was limited to a corner of the living room and was estimated at $45,000.  Olympia Fire Department responded; McLane Fire District 9 provided assistance by responding to an unrelated call for medical aid within the city.  No one was injured. On Thursday, the cause of the fire was undetermined.

Manufacturing, Manufacturing Plant

Seattle, WA – Fire in paint booth at industrial complex controlled by sprinkler system

Firefighters are working to determine the cause of a fire that erupted Saturday at an industrial complex in South Seattle. Witnesses reported seeing flames and smoke seeping from the building’s roof around 3:20 p.m. The business, located in the 400 block of South 96th Street, was not occupied at the time of the fire.  There were no reported injuries.

Initially, a single fire engine was dispatched. Due to the heat of the flames and the size of the building, however, the call was upgraded to a full response. The fire appears to have started in a paint booth, authorities said.

Firefighters reported smoke coming from smoke stacks on the roof of the single-story building and from under several roll-up doors. Upon entering, they found the sprinkler system had controlled the flames. The firefighters extinguished the fire.

Twelve sprinkler heads were activated due to the fire and heat. A King County fire investigator is investigating. Multiple departments responded, including personnel from North Highline Fire, Burien, Tukwila, Kent Fire Department, Kent Regional Fire Authority, Seattle Fire, King County Medic One, Rehab One and the King County Sheriff’s Office.

Apartment Building, Residential

West Richland, WA – Sprinkler system helps extinguish apartment patio fire

Firefighters from Benton Fire District 4 haul away charred items Monday morning from a second-floor patio at the Quail Springs Apartments on Dallas Road in West Richland.  A fire sprinkler on the patio helped extinguish the flames, said Fire Chief Bill Whealan.

Damage was limited to the outside of the unit that was empty at the time.  Investigators believe the fire started in a potted plant but are still investigating the cause.

Residential

Maple Valley, WA – Residential garage fire extinguished by single sprinkler

On Thursday June 30, 2016 just before 7:00 am in the 25600 block of SE 224th Street; Maple Valley firefighters responded to a residential garage fire. Upon arrival crews found light smoke coming from the garage door. Firefighters entered the structure and found the interior mostly clear. The building was equipped with an automatic fire sprinkler system and a single sprinkler head had extinguished the fire. Fire damage was limited to the point of origin and there was minimal water damage. Loss was estimated at $1,000. The cause of the fire was accidental.

 

Other Business, Place of Worship

Seattle, WA – Church fire during worship service controlled by sprinkler system

As reported on West Seattle Blog (Statement from Rev. Leah Atkinson Bilinski to Fauntleroy Church congregation):

This morning, during our worship service, we experienced a small fire in our fourth floor library. The fire was accidentally caused by a child (who was not physically harmed, but who is quite emotionally upset). The sprinkler system worked as it should, and the fire was contained to a very small area within the library.

Water did soak walls and flooring on the fourth floor outside the library, office floor below (outside of offices), lobby, and one bathroom in the narthex as it came through the ceiling.

A big thank you to all of our volunteers who jumped right to work cleaning up what water we could before the professionals arrived this afternoon. Bless you, bless you, bless you!

Our annual meeting will be rescheduled and we will be in touch with that new date within the next few days. If pieces of Music Sunday are able to rescheduled, we’ll also let you know that.

The fire was small, and we are a strong, healthy church. All will be well!

As we rejoice in that wellness, let us remember to pray today for those who are not well, notably those involved in the horribly tragic loss of life in Orlando. Let us pray for those lost, their families, LGBTQ families everywhere and a world in which so much hate still exists and is allowed to fester.

And to those prayers, I ask a smaller, but special additional prayer — for one very scared child and her family today, who need to know us as their church family. Love is so powerful, and I thank God for a church that loves well and adds love to a world in such desperate need of it.

Manufacturing, Other - Manufacturing

Naches, WA – Machinery fire at wood products manufacturer contained by sprinkler system

A smoking piece of machinery at Spinner Wood Products triggered an early morning response from the Naches and Gleed fire departments today. At about 4:11 a.m., firefighters responded to a fire alarm activated from the business, located at 10533 Old Naches Highway. Naches fire chief Alan Baird said the alarm was for a trip to the sprinkler system.

Baird said he originally upgraded the incident to a second-alarm fire as they didn’t know the size of the fire. It was determined that the fire originated in a piece of machinery used for printing names on pallets and bins. The combination of heat from the machine’s electrical motor and sawdust smoldered for hours, Baird said.

The fire was contained to the machine thanks to the sprinkler system, which activated over the machine in question. Baird said they wrapped up shortly after 6 a.m.; the fire chief added 10 firefighters were on scene.

Residential, Single Family Home

Camas, WA – Fire in house under construction is extinguished by sprinklers

A fire started in a Camas home under construction sometime over the weekend, and fire sprinklers installed in the house put out the fire before anyone noticed.

The home, at 3210 N.W. Hood Court, Camas, is in the sheetrock phase of construction, according to an email from Randy Miller, deputy fire marshal at the Camas-Washougal Fire Department, and the fire started in the laundry room wall and burned into the home’s entry way and attic.

Even though there were plastic protective cups over the sprinkler heads to protect them during construction, “the plastic covers still melted away in time for the two heads that were heat activated to control and extinguish the fire,” Miller wrote.

The fire department was called Monday morning after the subdivision supervisor for Pahlisch Homes unlocked the house and saw the damage. Fire Marshal Ron Schumacher and Miller investigated the fire, and “give credit to the fire sprinklers for avoiding to have our fire crews dispatched to a fully involved structure fire with exposures in the form of other homes under construction,” Miller wrote.

This was the fourth Camas house fire put out by a home sprinkler system, according to Miller. At the Camas city council meeting on April 18, the councilors voted unanimously in favor of an ordinance requiring all newly built homes in the city to contain fire sprinklers, although many residents in Camas have been installing them in new homes for more than a decade because of a fee waiver the city put in place in 2003.

Last year, 215 new homes were built in Camas, and all but one of them were built with a fire sprinkler system.

 

Manufacturing, Manufacturing Plant

Ellensburg, WA – Business owner thankful that sprinklers helped stop fire at wood products company

A sprinkler system and quick response by firefighters helped limit damage from a fire at Wood Products Northwest in Ellensburg on Tuesday night.

It was caused by spontaneous combustion of rags soaked in oil-based paint.

Kittitas Valley Fire and Rescue received an alarm call about a sprinkler activation at 11:15 p.m. Tuesday at 409 S. Water St. KVFR Deputy Chief Rich Elliott said the department upgraded the alarm to a full response, and found a fire in a room used for cabinet finishes.

“The sprinkler system activated and was keeping the fire under control,” he said.

No one was in the building at the time.

Robert Hamlin, who owns the business with his wife, said he is thankful the sprinklers and fire alarm activated and for KVFR’s quick response.

When he arrived on scene at about midnight, much of the fire was already out, he said.

The fire was in the back of the business’ finish department, which has a three-hour firewall.

“Everything went the best it could. This could have been a huge disaster,” he said. “Combustibles, once they get going, can overwhelm the sprinkler system.”

Firefighters extinguished the fire and spent a few hours helping with water removal.

Elliott said the fire was determined to be accidental. Hamlin said he is still figuring out the extent of the damages, but said it appeared to mostly be water damage.

He hopes his 18 employees can return to work within the next 48 hours.