OKLAHOMA CITY -- For Jim Greenlee, General Manger of Westquip, Inc., the 5:30 AM Saturday call from the alarm company was unusual but not particularly, ahem, alarming. "It was a motion sensor activation. I told the company to call back if there were another trigger," Greenlee said. Within five minutes, another sensor activation and another call led to the dispatch of a sheriff's deputy to check out the problem.
When the deputy arrived at the fenced facility, however, he hear a loud boom and immediately called the Oklahoma City fire department and Greenlee. Using the feed from infrared cameras already installed in the 20,000 sq. foot building as part of the alarm and fire protection system, the firemen determined a large object was on fire and burning in the middle of the shop. Westquip is a Toyota industrial equipment dealer, meaning many forklifts, warehouse parts and other material handling equipment are all in the building all the time.
"We could see the fire, and we could see the sprinkler head over it dumping water on it. What was on fire was a forklift, but the sprinkler contained it and kept it from spreading," Greenlee said. The wet-pipe fire sprinkler system, designed, installed and maintained by Williams Automatic Sprinkler, LLC of Oklahoma City, operated as expected according to Tim McCoy, Vice-President of Williams Automatic Sprinkler.
"The system performed as expected. It did its job the way it was designed to do and protected the building and the business," McCoy said.
The fire was quickly fully extinguished by the OKCFD and Westquip was open for business on Monday since there was no structural damage from the fire. Greenlee said total damages were estimated to be $285,000, but considering the seven million dollars in building and equipment at risk, he felt grateful the damage was contained by the sprinkler system.
"Tim [McCoy] and Williams Automatic Sprinkler have kept it upgraded and outfitted to keep pace with our growth, so we were always protected," Greenlee said. "We were able to be open for business Monday and our 55 employees still had jobs Monday."
Common Fire Sprinkler Myths and Facts
MYTH
“When a fire occurs, every sprinkler will activate, and sprinklers can be activated by smoke or burnt food.”
FACT
In the event of a fire, only the sprinkler closest to the fire will activate, spraying water directly on the fire, leaving the rest of the building dry and secure. Ninety percent of the time, just one sprinkler operates. Sprinklers respond to heat, not to smoke. Burnt toast, for instance, will not cause a sprinkler system to activate. While a sprinkler system can be designed to activate in response to an integrated smoke alarm, that is a specific design decision and not typical for home or most business sprinkler systems.
MYTH
“The water damage caused by the sprinkler system will be more extensive than fire damage.”
FACT
Fire sprinklers can significantly reduce property loss and damage due to a fire. The sprinkler will quickly control the heat and smoke from the fire, limiting damage to other areas of the building, giving any occupants valuable time to get out safely. Any resulting water damage from the sprinkler will be much less severe than the damage caused by water from fire-fighting hose lines. For instance, home fire sprinkler systems use about eight times less water than fire hoses on average.
When the deputy arrived at the fenced facility, however, he hear a loud boom and immediately called the Oklahoma City fire department and Greenlee. Using the feed from infrared cameras already installed in the 20,000 sq. foot building as part of the alarm and fire protection system, the firemen determined a large object was on fire and burning in the middle of the shop. Westquip is a Toyota industrial equipment dealer, meaning many forklifts, warehouse parts and other material handling equipment are all in the building all the time.
"We could see the fire, and we could see the sprinkler head over it dumping water on it. What was on fire was a forklift, but the sprinkler contained it and kept it from spreading," Greenlee said. The wet-pipe fire sprinkler system, designed, installed and maintained by Williams Automatic Sprinkler, LLC of Oklahoma City, operated as expected according to Tim McCoy, Vice-President of Williams Automatic Sprinkler.
"The system performed as expected. It did its job the way it was designed to do and protected the building and the business," McCoy said.
The fire was quickly fully extinguished by the OKCFD and Westquip was open for business on Monday since there was no structural damage from the fire. Greenlee said total damages were estimated to be $285,000, but considering the seven million dollars in building and equipment at risk, he felt grateful the damage was contained by the sprinkler system.
"Tim [McCoy] and Williams Automatic Sprinkler have kept it upgraded and outfitted to keep pace with our growth, so we were always protected," Greenlee said. "We were able to be open for business Monday and our 55 employees still had jobs Monday."
Common Fire Sprinkler Myths and Facts
MYTH
“When a fire occurs, every sprinkler will activate, and sprinklers can be activated by smoke or burnt food.”
FACT
In the event of a fire, only the sprinkler closest to the fire will activate, spraying water directly on the fire, leaving the rest of the building dry and secure. Ninety percent of the time, just one sprinkler operates. Sprinklers respond to heat, not to smoke. Burnt toast, for instance, will not cause a sprinkler system to activate. While a sprinkler system can be designed to activate in response to an integrated smoke alarm, that is a specific design decision and not typical for home or most business sprinkler systems.
MYTH
“The water damage caused by the sprinkler system will be more extensive than fire damage.”
FACT
Fire sprinklers can significantly reduce property loss and damage due to a fire. The sprinkler will quickly control the heat and smoke from the fire, limiting damage to other areas of the building, giving any occupants valuable time to get out safely. Any resulting water damage from the sprinkler will be much less severe than the damage caused by water from fire-fighting hose lines. For instance, home fire sprinkler systems use about eight times less water than fire hoses on average.