Sprinkler System Stops General Beadle Fire
Rapid City, S.D. - Just before noon today, Truck 1
was dispatched to 10 Van Buren Street at General Beadle Elementary for an
automatic fire alarm. As the crew was arriving on-scene, Pennington County
9-1-1 dispatch advised that a caller was reporting an active fire in the kitchen.
A full first alarm response for a commercial structure fire was dispatched.
That alarm included additional units from Station 1 as well as Stations 3 and
7.
Once inside, Truck 1 found that there had been a fire on the
stove in the kitchen. The fire was extinguished by the commercial hood system
as well as a single sprinkler head from the fire sprinkler system. The full
first alarm assignment was canceled while Truck 1 remained on-scene.
The building was occupied at the time of the fire by Rapid
City Area Schools personnel who were making and distributing lunches. The Rapid
City Community Health office was also open and operating at the time of the
fire. No injuries were reported and occupants safely and quickly evacuated.
The fire was confined to the stove area. Smoke was quickly
cleared by firefighters who also assisted with clean-up of water from the
sprinkler system.
An investigator from the Rapid City Fire Department
determined that the fire was accidental. Boxes used for lunch distribution nearby
the stove caught fire and were quickly extinguished by the sprinkler and hood
systems. The fire should not negatively impact ongoing lunch distribution.
“The sprinkler system did exactly what it was designed to
do”, said Lt. Brian Staton with the Rapid City Fire Department’s Fire and Life
Safety Division. “Only the number of heads needed to put the fire out were
activated. Instead of dealing with a big fire, we’re squeegeeing up water”.
The Rapid City Fire Department advocates for fire sprinkler protection,
especially in large, public occupancies. A large fire in a facility like
General Beadle could have been catastrophic. A large fire would likely have
disrupted lunch distribution to children and families in need, displaced
healthcare resources, and negatively impacted the ability to deliver education
to several hundred students. Instead, the fire was quickly doused.
For questions or comment regarding this release, please
contact Jim Bussell, Public Information Officer for the Rapid City Fire Department,
at the information provided above and below.
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