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Firefighters from Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue were dispatched at 6:40 PM Wednesday to a report of water leaking from a townhouse at 171 N. 42nd Place in Ridgefield, Washington. Neighbors reported that no one was home and water was seen leaking from the second-story balcony and a window.
Per dispatch protocols, only one response unit was sent to the suspected water leak. Tower Ladder 21 (TO-21) from the Ridgefield station arrived to find water leaking from the second floor, but also noticed smoke from a second-story bedroom window. Captain Matt Woodford from TO-21 immediately recognized that the water was from a fire sprinkler system and there was a fire somewhere on the second floor. Capt. Woodford called for additional resources to be dispatched and the crew from TO-21 began the work of locating and extinguishing the remainder of the fire.
Firefighters located a smoldering fire involving a clothes hamper, clothing, and the carpet in a second-floor bedroom. The fire had been held in check by water from a single fire sprinkler head that was activated by the heat of the fire. Firefighters fully extinguished the fire, turned off the fire sprinkler system, and began the process of cleaning up the damage caused by the fire and water.
Fire Investigators from CCFR and the Clark County Fire Marshal’s Office determined that the fire was caused by an unattended candle that had been left burning on a paper plate on the floor. In addition, firefighters determined that the smoke alarms in the townhome had been disabled. According to Capt. Woodford, “Thanks to the fire sprinkler system, this incident had a good outcome. With the smoke alarms disabled, no one in the adjoining homes would have been alerted to the growing fire.”
There were no injuries at this incident. The residents were able to remain in the home once firefighters cleaned up the water from the fire sprinkler.
Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue reminds everybody to maintain working smoke alarms in their residence. Do not disable your smoke alarms. Smoke alarms do an extraordinary job of notifying people of a fire. Working smoke alarms can alert occupants to exit a building before the fire grows out of hand.
## Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue (CCFR) serves 45,000 people over 125 square miles, including the cities of La Center, Ridgefield, Woodland, and the Cowlitz Indian Reservation. Our combination department includes full-time and volunteer firefighters responding to an average of 5000 fire and emergency medical calls a year. CCFR operates under a balanced budget and has a history of passing independent financial audits by the state. ##