Fire Department

Around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, City of Madison Firefighters were called to the 3500 block of Anderson Street for an alarm sounding in a multi-unit apartment complex. Engine 8’s crew found a kitchen fire was extinguished by a single fire sprinkler head.

The fire sprinkler system provided a quick activation to the grease fire. Damage to the apartment would have sustained significant damage if not for the sprinkler.

Firefighters ventilated the building with positive pressure fans and helped clean up some of the water.

The occupant told crew members that he was heating grease for deep frying and fell asleep.

No one was injured as a result of the fire.

Damage is estimated at $2,000.00.

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The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) explains the Benefits of residential fire sprinklers:
NFPA’s Fire Sprinkler Initiative highlights key research underscoring how fire sprinklers can reduce the risk of death or injury from fire. According to NFPA's "U.S. Experience with Sprinklers" report:

• the civilian death rate was 81 percent lower in homes with fire sprinklers than in homes without them.
• the average firefighter injury rate was nearly 80 percent lower when fire sprinklers were present during fires.
• when sprinklers were present, fires were kept to the room of origin 97 percent of the time.
• the home fire death rate was 90 percent lower when fire sprinklers and hardwired smoke alarms were present. By comparison, this death rate is only 18 percent lower when battery-powered smoke alarms are present but automatic extinguishing systems weren't.