The Washington Fire Department recently responded to the following:

JAN. 13

ALARM ACTIVATION: 7:29 a.m., 2550 Kenskill Ave., Wingate Packing – Dispatched to a fire alarm activation. Upon arrival employees had been evacuated, upon investigation the cause of the alarm was due to a problem with a pull station. Alarm was taken out of service until repairs are made.

JAN. 12

MUTUAL AIDE: 7:57 a.m., 1001 Lewis St. – Provide manpower to the Fayette County Life Squad for lift assistance.

SMOKE FOUND: 5:17 p.m., 2569 SR 41, owner: Linda Hays – Dispatched to a report of smoke coming from an electrical outlet. Fire fighters investigated and found an overheated electrical outlet. Fire fighters isolated the outlet by shutting power off at the circuit breaker. Upon further investigation it was determined the wiring to the outlet had overheated and melted causing the smoke. The occupant stated a hair dryer was in use when the smoke occurred but at a different outlet on the same circuit. The hair dryer in use may have caused the wiring to be overloaded. The circuit breaker for the defective outlet was left shut off and the occupant was advised to contact an electrician to have repairs made.

JAN. 11

ALARM ACTIVATION: 5:15 p.m., 456 Jamison Rd., Anchor Baptist Church – Received station tone from the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office reporting a fire alarm activation, zone 19. FD did not find any visible smoke or fire at the time of arrival. FD investigation found maintenance personnel performing test on the HVAC system. FD advised to contact the alarm monitoring company and have the system put in test while working on the system.

SMOKE FOUND: 10:38 a.m., 1800 Columbus Ave., Bob Evans – Received station tone from the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office reporting smoke in the restroom. FD did not find any visible smoke or fire at the time of arrival and confirmed the building had been evacuated. FD was informed by employees that the mulch to the right of the front main entrance door was burning and that they had poured water on it. FD finished extinguishing approximately a two foot linear edge of smoldering mulch up against the east side of the building just to the right of the main entrance door. FD began ventilating the structure when light smoke was observed coming down and out of a recessed light in the hallway just outside of both restrooms. It was confirmed with employees that the smoke detector(s) had not gone off to alert them and that they had smelled the smoke odor near the front door. FD investigation checked the rooftop HVAC units and did not find anything unusual with their operation and determined the smoke in and coming out of the attic area was not the result of a fire or problem with the HVAC unit(s) or within the attic itself. Further investigation with the use of thermal imaging cameras did find unusual elevated temperatures within the exterior wall of the men’s restroom. FD made an inspection hole in the exterior wall from within the restroom and found thick/heavy smoke in two adjacent cavities and traveling from below the inspection hole towards the ceiling. FD opened the wall at the inspection site, covering two cavities across and down to the floor and discovered structural members involved, with extensive damage to the member(s) in orientation to its’ exterior edge. FD personnel made the decision to also remove an identical section of the exterior finish of the affected area to ensure the fire was properly extinguished and overhauled. Although FD personnel could not determine the direct cause of the initial smoldering fire located within the mulch, it was able to determine the fire damage sustained within the exterior wall cavity of the building was directly attributed to the mulch fire, as this damage was located just below the brick-veneer on the exterior wall where it penetrated the wood sheeting and traveled up and into both wall cavities.

ALARM ACTIVATION: 9:13 p.m., 99 Summit Lane, owner: Washington Park Apartments, person involved: Edith Mullen – Received station tone from the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office reporting a fire alarm activation. FD did not find any visible smoke or fire at the time of arrival. FD spoke with the tenant and was advised that the alarm had not gone off. FD confirmed the alarm code and the room number at the enunciator panel and did not find any problem(s) during a check of the apartment.

JAN. 10

VEHICLE ACCIDENT: 3:17 p.m., W. East St. – FD responded to multi-vehicle accident. No injuries were reported. FD established a safe working area and assisted with general clean up.