Residential Fire Sprinklers .com

Protecting Your Home & Family

By Jay Hamburger – Park Record

A vicious fire destroyed an Old Town house and damaged at least two neighboring houses Friday morning, one of the most devastating fires in Park City’s renowned historic district in more than a decade.

Nobody was reported injured, but three men renting one of the houses rushed outside to escape the blaze. Firefighters arrived at about 6:20 a.m. and doused the flames from several locations on and around the 700 block of Norfolk Avenue. They continued to hose down the houses through the morning, and investigators spent much of the day at the scene.

Most of the visible flames were extinguished by 9:30 a.m., but the houses continued to smolder until late in the day.

Bob Evans, a Park City Fire District captain, said flames engulfed the house at 711 Norfolk Ave. before firefighters arrived. The fire gutted the house and charred the backyard. A road, acting as a fire barrier, stopped the flames from reaching the brush beyond the backyard, Evans said.

The fire spread to the attic of a house next door, 713 Norfolk Ave., collapsing the roof. Evans said four firefighters entered 713 Norfolk Ave., saw the collapsed roof and deemed it too dangerous to stay inside. The two houses are about six feet from each other. Evans was unsure if anybody was inside 713 Norfolk Ave. when it caught fire.

The 713 Norfolk Ave. house is a treasured structure from Park City’s historic silver-mining era. It is widely known as the Angel House, and it once operated as an inn.

A third house, next door on the other side, suffered damage on at least the exterior. The address was not immediately known.

The fire sent smoke billowing above the western reaches of Old Town, and a haze enveloped the neighborhood. The smoke plume was visible from numerous vantages in Old Town, and along Park City’s S.R. 224 and S.R. 248 entryways.

“You don’t really get a chance to think about anything. Instinct takes over. You get out of there,” said John DeFilippo, who was inside 711 Norfolk Ave.

DeFilippo, 28, and three roommates rent the house, he said. He moved in on Wednesday. Two of the roommates – Doug Locklair, 27, and John Connell, 25 — were also inside and got out quickly. The three renters left the house within two minutes of realizing there was a fire, DeFilippo said. Five minutes after they got outside, flames ripped through the house, he said.

“There wasn’t any smoke or anything. There was nothing. It went from nothing to fully engulfed,” he said.

One of his roommates woke up DeFilippo to alert him. DeFilippo left clothes and $2,000 worth of ski equipment and camping gear inside. DeFilippo is from Alabama and moved to Park City in November, working at Deer Valley Resort and then Hotel Park City.

“I didn’t lose anything that wasn’t irreplaceable – got to wing it, figure out what’s going on,” he said.

The Salt Lake City chapter of the American Red Cross met with the roommates on Friday, providing them with money for meals and clothes. One needed assistance buying new eyeglasses. David Neale, a Red Cross official, said the relief organization will assist them with first month’s rent and a security deposit when they find new lodging.

Investigators by midday had not determined what caused the fire. Ron Ivie, City Hall’s chief building official and the city’s fire marshal, was at the scene but not immediately available for comment. The investigators interviewed the people inside.

To read the full article click here.

By Chris Stevens – The Daily Item

SAUGUS – Developers by law do not have to include sprinklers in the attic of new construction, but Fire Chief James Blanchard is hoping that will change soon.

Fire officials said the absence of attic sprinklers was the reason the Dearborn Road apartment complex burned to the ground in Peabody last month.

Blanchard said he is now pressuring Greater Lynn Senior Services to include attic sprinklers in its new senior housing project on Denver Street.

“The same people that built that Peabody development built Avalon Bay (in Saugus) and it has the same problem,” Blanchard said. “We have the same challenge that Peabody and Danvers had.”

The fire in Peabody burned out of control after flames moved up the outside of the building through a soffit vent and into the attic. Once in the attic, Blanchard said it could burn unchecked because it was nearly impossible to get to.

While sprinklers would have kept the fire in check, Blanchard said they currently are not required in attics. Developers are allowed to build to what is called Code 13R, which only requires sprinklers in rooms and common areas like hallways, where people might congregate.
But he is beginning to push developers to sprinkler attics starting with the GLSS project, which recently broke ground Denver Street.

Blanchard said he feels particularly with a senior housing complex there is a serious potential for loss of life if a fire like the one in Peabody breaks out.

“They’re seniors and their reaction times are not as good,” he said.

“They might surprise me,” he added. “They haven’t acquiesced but they haven’t said no yet either.”

Like any other developer, GLSS doesn’t have to comply but Blanchard said he would take the developers to the Fire Marshal’s Sprinkler Board if he had too. Developers typically win against such a challenge, but Blanchard said he planned to use the Peabody fire for his defense.

“The senior housing will be a good test case,” he added.

Peter Rossetti, who sits on the board with GLSS, said the project manager and the architect “are going to figure out what can they can do whether it’s sprinklers or something else. The safety issue will be taken care of.”

Blanchard has another card up his sleeve as well. The Balser-Harkins bill will soon be coming up before legislators. Penned by Boston Reps. Ruth Balser and Lida Harkins following the 2001 Newton fire that flattened an office building and left five people dead, the law would require sprinklers in every room of every new and existing building greater than 7,500 square feet.

The bill has come up every year since it was first filed, but Blanchard said he’s been told it has the best chance of passing this year due in large part to the Peabody fire.

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By DAN SPRINGER – La Crosse Tribune

A public housing duplex where fire that took the life of a 6-year-old boy Sunday had all the required fire prevention and warning equipment, La Crosse fire and housing authority officials said Monday.

Angelo “Lolo” Nakel Poppe died after he was rescued from a second-story bedroom at 2830 Huber Court about 9:30 a.m. Sunday.
La Crosse fire officials said Poppe died from smoke inhalation and that the fire was likely caused by Poppe playing with a cigarette lighter.

Division Chief Jeff Brohmer, head of fire inspection and arson for the La Crosse Fire Department, said the building, which is operated by the La Crosse Housing Authority, met all code requirements and had just undergone an annual inspection by housing authority staff.

That inspection, which was done Thursday, showed no problems, said Don Anthony, maintenance engineer for the housing authority.

“When we do our annual inspection, we come in and have someone check housekeeping to make sure it’s been kept up,” Anthony said. “While we’re in there, we check the life safety equipment, make sure the exits aren’t blocked, there aren’t materials around the gas fire appliances, the smoke detector is in working order, and we check the ground fault interrupters.”

While the building did not have a fire extinguisher or sprinkler system, Brohmer said state or city fire codes don’t require them.

A new state law requires buildings with 11 or more units to have a working sprinkler system. And, in 2011 that requirement will fall to new buildings with three or more units, Brohmer said.

A working sprinkler system would have likely saved Poppe’s life because it would have drastically reduced the smoke that likely caused Poppe’s death, said Brohmer, who stressed it was uncommon for sprinkler systems to have been installed in buildings of this type when it was built.

Fire officials Monday mourned Poppe’s death and said it should serve as a tragic reminder to all parents to do everything possible to avoid similar deaths.

“This department has been very proactive in educating parents about the dangers in their homes and urging them to do everything possible to protect their children,” said fire Capt. John Helfrich. “Today we have to be a little proactive and try harder to get that message out.” In the past two decades, the La Crosse Fire Department has started a number of programs to spread the word about fire safety.

Each year, La Crosse firefighters meet with area second grade, fifth grade and high school students to discuss fire prevention ideas that can then be taken home to parents.

Children are often sent home with information to share with their parents and second-grade students get a fire prevention checklist to complete, Helfrich said.

Recently, the department has worked with Gundersen Lutheran to allow fire officials to meet with first-time parents to discuss ways to prevent fires. But, in 1990, the department started the most intensive approach to reach young people most likely to start fires, Brohmer said.

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By Elizabeth Rhodes – Seattle Times

Burien’s worst residential fire in nearly two decades claimed three lives, injured five other people and left 31 homeless when two adjoining apartment buildings burned early this morning.

The cause of the blaze, which destroyed the eight-unit Tara Apartments and heavily damaged the identical Jenny Marie Apartments, has not been determined and the names of the dead have not been released.

Two survivors are hospitalized at Harborview Medical Center, one with burns, the other with broken bones, said Mike Marrs, fire chief of King County Fire District 2. Their names were not released.

Others were treated and released from nearby hospitals.

This afternoon, the smell of smoke still hung in the air as survivors and neighbors watched firefighters mop up from the three-alarm blaze in the 400 block of Southwest 155th Street.

Several witnesses expressed shock at how fast the fire consumed the squat, two-story Tara, which had smoke detectors but no sprinklers. They said they first saw the fire inching up a wall of the building’s open-air stairwell.

Within minutes the entire building was engulfed and in a half-hour it was gone, said Shan Coleman, a Jamaican musician who lives in an apartment across the street.

Alerted by a woman’s screams, Coleman hurled a 15-pound rock through a sliding-glass door to rescue a family trapped in one of Tara’s ground-floor units.

Firefighters from five jurisdictions battled the blaze from about 1 to 4 a.m. Sunday.

Marr said firefighters could respond only defensively as the fast-moving blaze incinerated the Tara, spread to the Jenny Marie and then threatened other structures in a neighborhood.

Marrs said it was the deadliest fire he’d seen in his 17 years with the fire district. “I feel terrible for the families,” he said.

Several neighbors said they heard the victims were a young boy and his grandfather, who were trapped in an upstairs unit in Tara, and a middle-aged disabled man who lived in a unit below them.

Neighbors described the boy, about 8, as a playful child well-known for his love of animals. His grandfather was thought to be visiting from Oregon.

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In Steve Leyton’s recent rebuttal to my response to his misinformed article, he states, "they (in reference to the words of my letter ) were quoted word for word". His quote was “SPRINKLER FITTERS UNION TO OPPOSE FIRE SPRINKLERS”. Word for word, my words did not state, "sprinkler fitters union to oppose fire sprinklers". As a former California fire official, my words have often been misquoted or twisted by people like Mr. Leyton with obvious motives, so I am not surprised.

Both the USA Sprinkler Fitters Association and the Sprinkler Fitters Association of California strongly support fire sprinklers, regardless of Mr. Leyton’s play on words. It would be ridiculous to think otherwise considering that fire sprinklers are the livelihood for sprinkler fitters.

Furthermore, Mr. Leyton challenges the sprinkler fitters union to demonstrate its commitment to supporting fire sprinklers, by stating it "clearly, unequivocally and UNCONDITIONALLY support fire sprinkler requirements ". Do you think the fire service would accept any and all proposed fire sprinkler requirements unconditionally , regardless of the particular proposal? There could be many instances where proposed language as written is inadequate, making the proposal unacceptable to many fire-related organizations, including ours.

No one should ever question the commitment of the USA Sprinkler Fitters Association, or the local sprinkler fitter unions regarding fire sprinklers. You will see the commitment they have to fire sprinklers firsthand at www.usasprinklerfitters.org, as well as to other important fire safety causes. And, as I stated in my previous article, we strongly support the Federal Fire Sprinkler Incentive Act and actively participate with lobbying efforts in its regard.

We know that some of those who oppose required minimum training standards will do what they can to discredit the sprinkler fitter unions. They will fight hard against any proposition that will require them to hire trained and qualified fire sprinkler installers. If they really believed in training, then why do they have such a problem with required training?

California’s AB 2288 includes as qualifying training, not only the union’s sprinkler fitter apprenticeship program, but also California’s state-approved American Fire Sprinkler Association (AFSA) sprinkler fitter apprenticeship program. In fact, AB 2288 accepts any state or federally approved sprinkler fitter apprenticeship program as qualifying training for certification. It even provides language to permit the State Fire Marshal to recognize other qualifying training as it is developed in the future. In light of the numerous and diverse qualifying training options available with AB 2288, why oppose a minimum statewide training standard for sprinkler installers?

Furthermore, some of our opponents have misrepresented the contents of California’s AB 2288, the organizations of which they claim to represent, and the positions taken by other fire service groups and organizations in regards to AB 2288. Even when corrected, they continue to disseminate knowingly false information, an indication that they have become quite desperate in their attempt to kill our bill.

We have many supporters of AB 2288, which include fire service organizations, fire departments, fire marshals and fire chiefs. They have joined the Sprinkler Fitters Association of California in supporting the concept of a minimum training standard for those who install fire suppression systems, and they support AB 2288. These are people, organizations, first-responders, and government entities of California that do see the need for a minimum training standard for those who install fire suppression systems.

Thus, we will continue to strive for requirements that will better serve the reputation of fire sprinklers while better serving the life safety of our public and first-responders. We believe that trained and qualified sprinkler installers are an important and necessary factor for achieving this goal.

The original article written by Steve Leyton on this topic is Sprinkler Fitters Union To Oppose Fire Sprinklers

Randy D. Roxson has also written a formal response to Steve Leyton’s original article on this topic. Sprinkler Fitter Unions Across Nation Support Fire Sprinklers

By Pauline Repard – San Diego Union Tribune

Food burning on a stove set off fire sprinklers at St. Stephen’s Retirement Center on Imperial Avenue in Valencia Park in southeast San Diego Monday evening, fire officials said.

The burning food triggered the overhead sprinkler in a second-floor unit of the four-story building west of Valencia Parkway, San Diego Fire-Rescue Department officials said

The sprinkler doused the fire, which started at about 6:30 p.m., but caused water damage to some units below.

No injuries were reported, but at least six residents in several rooms were evacuated and need to stay somewhere else tonight.

To read the full article click here.

By PAT GROSSMITH – The Union Leader

KEENE – A sprinkler system quickly extinguished a kitchen fire this morning in a high-rise apartment building, according a fire official.

The fire department was directly alerted at 7:30 a.m. when the sprinkler system was activated on the top floor of the six-story James C. Cleveland federal building at 21 Roxbury Plaza.

Fire Chief Gary Lamoureux said the fire was out when they arrived three minutes later. The fifth and sixth floors were evacuated and no one was injured.

The fire, he said, was caused by grease in a frying pan on top of a stove.

The building is home to many senior citizens as well as other residents whose rent is subsidized, according to Lamoreux.

To read the full article click here.

Honolulu Advertiser

Automatic sprinklers doused a Salt Lake apartment fire today that Honolulu Fire Department investigators determined was intentionally set.
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The 3:40 p.m. fire, which started in the kitchen of unit 204 of the Country Club Plaza complex at 5090 Likini St., was nearly extinguished by the sprinklers when firefighters arrived, said HFD spokesman Capt. Earle Kealoha.

Paper and cardboard were set on fire in the kitchen, Kealoha said. No one was at home and no injuries were reported.

The fire caused an estimated $50,000 structural damage to unit 204 and $1,000 loss to contents, Kealoha said. An adjoining apartment and first-floor unit sustained water damage.

To read the full article click here.

Occupational Health Safety

For the first time, nursing homes and other long-term care facilities in the United States will have to install fire sprinkler systems throughout their buildings if they wish to continue to serve Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. A rule published this week by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services regulation gives facilities five years to comply fully with the rule. Newly constructed and renovated nursing homes already were required to be equipped with sprinklers.

About 3 million elderly and disabled Americans live in 16,000 nursing homes nationwide, all of which must have comprehensive sprinkler systems in place by 2013. CMS said there has never been a multiple-fatality fire in a facility with a sprinkler system that meets the rule’s requirements. “CMS is taking further action to protect the lives of our beneficiaries through a more comprehensive and effective approach to fire safety,” said Kerry Weems, acting administrator of CMS. “In the past, certain older facilities were exempt from having an automatic sprinkler system, but we now will hold all 16,000 nursing homes in the nation to this standard.”

As an interim step, CMS in March 2005 began requiring long-term care facilities that did not have sprinklers to install battery-operated smoke alarms in all patient rooms and public areas. The agency also includes the number of fire safety violations and sprinkler status on its Nursing Home Compare Web site.

To read the full article click here.

By JAMES T. HAMMOND – The State

Almost 1,000 USC students who live in dorms could go another year without fire-dousing sprinklers and other fire protection because of a state building moratorium.

The State Budget and Control Board has halted for three months the start of major construction projects on campuses across the state — including renovations of three residence halls at the University of South Carolina to add fire protection and sprinklers.

Because dorm renovations must be done in the summer when students go home, USC officials said, the moratorium could effectively mean a year-long delay in adding the life-saving protection to the dormitories.

Columbia Fire Chief Bradley Anderson, whose department provides fire service for the USC campus, said sprinklers can make a life-or-death difference in the event of a fire in a residential building.

“I applaud the university for trying to move forward to complete this work,” Anderson said. “They have been working hard at it, and they are aware of how important it is.

“I don’t know the intricacies of their funding process, but anything that can be done to provide students with sprinkler protection, I would encourage. The university has a good handle on what needs to be done.”

Students living in the three residence halls — Preston College, DeSaussure College, and Patterson Hall — could go another year without the new fire safety features.

The three residence halls combined have 920 beds.

“Having every bed with a sprinkler is a priority,” USC spokesman Russ McKinney said. “We’d hate to see our efforts to reach 100 percent delayed.”

To read the full article click here .