Fire next door to sprinkler business put out quickly

Published: Friday, June 26, 2009 3:42 p.m. MDT
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 

SOUTH SALT LAKE — In business, it's all about location, location, location.

For one business here Friday, location may have saved the store.

A fire started at Tech Advanced Materials near 2700 South and 1000 West, about 9:40 a.m. The business uses acetone, a highly flammable substance, in metal materials, said South Salt Lake Fire Chief Steve Foote.

"As luck would have it, all our crews were close by doing training," he said.

Even luckier for the company, was that the adjacent business, Simplex Grinnell, specialized in making advanced fire sprinkler systems and had one installed throughout the complex.

An employee used four of Simplex's fire extinguishers on the fire in addition to the advanced sprinkler system activating and "dumping a whole bunch of water all at once," on the fire, Foote said.

"That held it in check until the cavalry showed up all at once," he said. "All the forces were aligned today."

The rest of the fire was put out quickly. Because of the acetone, Foote said the fire could have been much worse.

Investigators were still looking Friday at what may have sparked the fire. There were no injuries.

Story continues below

E-MAIL: preavy@desnews.com

Comments

You can be the first to comment on this story.

previousnext

Latest comments

Nothing proposed would keep young adults from learning of the reality of sex,...

Utes pound winless Lobos

the only "decent" team we played we lost to? I guess that Air Force isn't a...

I am watching the game again, and it is awesome!!!

Utes pound winless Lobos

I can't help but laugh inside when I read comments from YBU/TCU fans who...

(from the independant) I like Dennis Miller.... and Bill Maher, although I...

As a BYU alumnus, I can't justify to myself ever donating another dollar to...

Not a chance. Don't get me wrong they are both studs, but if Asiata wasn't...

Titan Fan, sorry that some of your best players got hurt. I hope they...

Utahns in House oppose reform bill

So sad how fear based so many are.

Will the Jazz even make the playoffs this year. The way they are playing it...

Advertisements
Advertisement