A family of one adult and four children living in a Covington apartment were initially trapped by a fire in a breezeway before a sprinkler system activated and extinguished the fire at 2 p.m. today, Saturday.
According to a release from Capt. Kyle Ohashi, spokesman for the Kent Fire Department, the occupants in the apartment were terrified when they found a fire outside their units in the 17100 block of Southeast 268 Place.
Firefighters arrived with reports of an apartment complex fire with victims trapped by the flames. Upon investigation, the Kent Fire Department found a fire outside an apartment in an enclosed breezeway shared by four units.
No one has injured and the fire was contained to the area of origin, though there was a small amount of water damage from the sprinkler system. Maintenance personnel are assisting families with water removal. Everyone affected was able to stay in their apartments.
The cause of the fire has been determined to be an incendiary device intentionally used on flammable materials outside the apartment. The fire is under further investigation.
The Kent Fire Department stated sprinkler systems provide fire protection not found elsewhere. While every home should have at least one smoke alarm, they can only warn you of a danger. Sprinkler systems extinguish fires in their earliest stages, reducing fire damage and protecting occupants.
Residential sprinkler systems activate one head at a time, not all at once. In the case of the above apartment fire, there were two sprinkler heads in the breezeway, about 10 feet apart. Because the fire was to one side, only one head discharged. This meant about 10-20 gallons of water per minute was released. It only takes temperatures reaching approximately 135 degrees for the sprinkler heads to activate. This amount was sufficient to suppress the fire and allow the occupants to escape safely from their residence while causing a minimal amount of damage to the structure.
Fire safety groups from around the country support sprinkler systems becoming a normal part of new construction in all types of residences.
