Oak Ridge Today

Sprinkler system extinguishes fire at assisted living facility

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Image courtesy City of Oak Ridge

Image courtesy City of Oak Ridge

 

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On Friday, August 24, at about 12:38 a.m., the Oak Ridge Fire Department responded to a fire alarm caused by water flow from sprinklers at NHC Healthcare on Laboratory Road.

The first unit on scene reported that an employee saw fire coming from a clothes dryer and then saw water flow in the dryer area. The engine company controlled the water from the sprinkler head, closed gas, and disconnected power from all three dryers. No injuries were reported, and no fire damage was noted in or around the dryer. Fire department personnel also mitigated the water from the sprinkler head activation. The facility was back to normal operation within a few hours.

This was the second incident worked by the Oak Ridge Fire Department in just 24 hours that involved the successful use of a life-saving device. [Read more…]

City crews working to restore power after early morning electrical failure

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Frank Callaghan Towers Electric Repairs

Oak Ridge Electric Department crews work to restore electricity to Frank Callaghan Towers on Fairbanks Road after a power failure was reported early Friday morning. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Oak Ridge Electric Department crews worked to restore electricity to Frank Callaghan Towers on Fairbanks Road after an early morning power failure on Friday.

The Oak Ridge Fire Department responded to the report of a fire alarm at Callaghan Towers on 115 Fairbanks Road at approximately 3:31 a.m. on Friday, September 18. When they arrived, ORFD firefighters investigated and found the elevator mechanical room was filled with smoke. ORFD entered into the room using a thermal imaging camera and found elevator motor number one to be smoking and elevator motor number two to be overheating, a press release said.

Firefighters disconnected power to the elevators and set up exhaust fans in the outside doorways to clear the building of smoke. Residents from the first floor were evacuated from the building until the building was cleared of smoke. Residents on floors two through six were sheltered in place in their rooms during the event. [Read more…]

Warning: Fire system scam leads to costly cleanup, temporary closure

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The cleanup will be costly for a local restaurant and its sister restaurant in Knoxville after they were hit by an overnight scam related to their fire alarm and fire suppression system, authorities said.

Here’s how the scam worked, according to Oak Ridge Deputy Fire Chief Josh Waldo: “An individual called both of the restaurants and indicated that there was a gas leak in the building and instructed the workers to activate their commercial fire suppression system and their fire alarm system and then break out a window for ventilation. This is a scam that has been pulled off before in town and in other jurisdictions as well.”

A press release from the City of Oak Ridge there was no problem at either restaurant, but the activation of the suppression system and ensuing cleanup will be costly for both businesses as they will be closed until repairs are made. [Read more…]

Y-12 repairs roll-up door that failed to close during fire alarm at HEUMF

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Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility

Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility (Photo courtesy of NNSA/B&W Y-12)

Workers have repaired a roll-up door that failed to close when a fire alarm system was activated at a high-security uranium storage building at the Y-12 National Security Complex in May.

“The fire alarms were activated due to smoke from a belt of a fan with a failed bearing, but there was no fire,” the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board said in a May 24 report. “The signal to the door closure device should cause a cable to release, allowing the door to close, but this did not occur because permanent deformation (kinks) in the cable caused it to knot when tension was released.” [Read more…]