Shortly before 6 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, the Noblesville Fire Department (NFD) was dispatched on a reported apartment fire at The Flats at 146.
The first units on scene encountered a three-story apartment building with no smoke or flames seen from the exterior. When crews arrived, the residents of the 16-unit building were evacuating as the alarms sounded. Crews made their way to the second floor apartment and found the remnants of a kitchen fire that had been extinguished by the apartment’s sprinkler system. The occupant reported that he attempted to put out the fire with an extinguisher but was unsuccessful.
Noblesville Fire Marshall Darrel Cross stated, “Once again, fire protection systems functioned as designed. The fire sprinkler system controlled the fire with one sprinkler head activated until fire department arrival, and the fire alarm system alerted all occupants of the building to evacuate. Tenants of the other 15 units in the building were able to reoccupy their apartments within an hour, and there was minimal damage to the affected unit.”
This makes the second time in the past five weeks in which sprinklers have been credited with controlling a fire in this apartment complex. The functioning fire protection systems have not only saved property but provided safer conditions for evacuating tenants and responding firefighters.