Residential sprinkler extinguishes cooking fire

NFPA Journal, Sep/Oct 2006 by Tremblay, Kenneth

CALIFORNIA-A single sprinkler extinguished a fire in the kitchen of a single-family home that began when food left cooking unattended ignited. The single-story, wood-frame house, which covered 2,100 square feet (195 square meters), had both smoke alarms and a wet-pipe sprinkler system.

A water flow alarm alerted the home's occupant, who was outside, that the sprinkler had activated. By the time he reentered the house, the sprinkler had already extinguished the fire, so he turned off the electric stove and shut the water off at the street before calling the fire department business number at 6:39 p.m.

Firefighters arrived within five minutes to find water throughout the kitchen and a melted microwave oven above the burned stove. Before leaving, they removed the water with water vacuums, replaced the sprinkler, and put the sprinkler system back in service after advising the owner to have the system inspected.

The occupant said he began heating a pan of oil on the stove, then went outside and forgot about the pan.

The house, valued at $635,000, sustained $63,000 in damages. There were no injuries.