Just in case any facility manager needs a reminder that no institutional or commercial building is safe from the threat of a fire, the Omaha Fire Department is here to help.
Firefighters who inadvertently left food cooking on the stove recently caused a fire that left their northwest Omaha fire station with extensive damage. It will take at least three weeks to repair the damage caused by fire at Station 43, according to the Omaha World-Herald. The fire gutted the station’s kitchen and living areas.
“It just goes to show that it can happen to anybody,” says Battalion Chief Scott Fitzpatrick. “Don’t get in a rush to leave the house.” Cooking is the most common cause of fires in both residential and nonresidential buildings in the United States, according to the U.S. Fire Administration.
A battalion chief working in his office in the building smelled smoke and called it in, Fitzpatrick says. The building’s smoke detectors also went off, he said.
The repair and renovation work at Station 43 will include the addition of a sprinkler system and a fire-suppression system over the stove. Those fire defenses are being added at all of the city’s 24 fire stations as they come up for renovation, Fitzpatrick says.
This Quick Read was submitted by Dan Hounsell — dan.hounsell@tradepressmedia.com — editor-in-chief of Facility Maintenance Decisions, and chief editor of Facilitiesnet.com.
