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7-6-2011
For
16-year-old Matt Cherry and his 8-year-old brother, a
quick batch of French fries sounded like the perfect
television snack. Unfortunately, it resulted in much
more than that, but certainly could have been much
worse, had it not been for the family’s residential fire
sprinkler system.
Shortly before 10:00 p.m. Matt put some oil in a pot,
and heated it on the stove to cook some fries. The oil
overheated and ignited. Matt, in an attempt to
extinguish the fire, moved the pot to the sink, where
the fire spread to the curtains on the window. He
sustained minor burns to his hand in the process. About
this time, the sprinkler head in the kitchen activated.
Matt and his brother evacuated the home, and called 911
from a cellular.
The call was dispatched as a structure fire, which
initiated a response from Pleasant View Fire and Ashland
City Fire, as well as Cheatham County EMS and EMA.
As the first crews arrived on the scene, from the street
they could see smoke coming from the front door. Once
they opened the door of the fire engine, however, they
were greeted by the sounds of smoke alarms and the water
flow bell. Firefighters entered the home, and found that
the fire had been extinguished by a single sprinkler
head.
“As soon as I heard the flow alarm, I knew this
situation was going to be much better for the home owner
and our responders than what we first thought,” says
PVVFD Asst. Chief Brian Collins.
Instead of deploying fire hose and air packs, responders
equipped themselves with squeegies and shop vacs to
clean up the home. While the cost of the damage is not
immediately known, it is expected to be a mere fraction
of what it would have been, had the home not been
equipped with sprinklers.
Fire
fighters were able to replace the activated sprinkler
head and reset the system. The family was able to stay
in their own home that night.
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