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Date: 1/27/2022
WESTFIELD — What was first thought to be a standard house fire call turned out to be a lesson in the importance of fire prevention and the evolution of fire codes.
A fire broke out on the second floor of building five of the Powder Mill apartment complex on Union Street the evening of Jan. 18, after an unattended candle ignited another object nearby. Westfield firefighters responded to the call, but upon arrival found that the fire was mostly contained and put out by a sprinkler system built into the residences.
Sprinkler systems for fire prevention are not a new concept, and have been a part of some building codes for decades, but were only comparatively recently installed when building five was rebuilt — after another fire there.
The previous fire, April 22, 2018, was started when somebody disposed of a partially lit cigarette in a planting pot, igniting the plant and spreading a fire to the rest of the building, which burned completely to the ground.
The major difference between the two fires, according to fire officials, was the sprinkler system, which did not exist in building five in 2018. After last week’s fire, the fire and water damage from the sprinklers extended to just two units, which should be able to be renovated and made livable again in the future.
Without the sprinklers, Fire Chief Patrick Egloff, a deputy chief at the time of the 2018 fire, said that the fire required mutual aid from other departments, and residents of 26 apartments lost their homes. With the sprinklers, all residents except for those in the two directly affected units can continue living uninterrupted.
“It was a great stop,” said Egloff.
Fire Prevention Officer Benjamin Warren said after last week’s fire that the sprinkler system didn’t even need to fully deploy; just one sprinkler unit got hot enough to deploy, which was all that was needed to greatly mitigate the damage done to the apartments.
The original building five was built in 1973, when fire codes did not require such a system in new apartment buildings. Now, Warren said that all buildings of at least 7,500 square feet require sprinklers, regardless of the building’s use.
Though it is not required in current fire or building codes in smaller buildings, Warren said that it isn’t a bad idea for owners of smaller businesses and residences to consider such a system.
“I know a few people with them, but they had to pay for it themselves,” said Warren. “Much of the resistance to it usually comes from building or construction companies, saying that it is just another cost for them.”
Though it may be another cost incurred on the property owner, Warren said that the money saved when sprinklers put out a fire could be significantly more. He said there are also benefits to home insurance rates from the installation of fire prevention systems.