The kitchen fire that temporarily displaced nine tenants at the Cedar Ridge Apartments last weekend did relatively little damage, and would have done more if not for the complex’s fire sprinklers, Vancouver Fire Marshal Heidi Scarpelli said.
The fire itself, which started at a stove, was relatively minor and doused quickly by the building’s fire sprinklers, Scarpelli said, even though the fire damaged the apartment below.
Firefighters were called to the three-story apartment building, at 4200 E. 18th St., just after 7 p.m. Nov. 7.
It’s the sprinklers and minor water damage that forced the tenants out of the apartments for a time, Scarpelli said, but the sprinklers prevented further damage to the building.
“The alternative is you could have a much, much larger fire,” she said.
Firefighters stick around after a fire to watch for any rekindled flames, she said. They also immediately call for a sprinkler system contractor to reset the system and replaced activated sprinkler heads; the mechanism that activates typical sprinkler heads aren’t reusable.
That, and whatever damage the fire may have done, leaves the home uninhabitable for a time, Scarpelli said.
“Fire sprinklers are so effective,” she said. “Typically, they say it takes three heads or less to control a fire. In reality, one or two heads will actually extinguish a fire.”
The Red Cross provided assistance to the nine tenants, five adults and four children, forced out by the fire.
Red Cross spokeswoman Paula Fasano Negele said the organization would be following up with the tenants as needed, but she said tenants are likely on their way to getting things back together.
With the weather cooling down and more people turning up the heat or building home fires, she wanted to remind people that the Red Cross offers free smoke alarms, and help with installation, in Southwest Washington.