Sprinkler system contains Granby house fire

GRANBY — Firefighters arrived at a Chicopee Street house fire on Thursday night to find that a sprinkler system had already contained the blaze, keeping damage to a minimum.

The Granby Fire Department received a report of a structure fire at 8:45 p.m. and foud the building’s fire suppression system limited damage to some flooring and surrounding items and prevented any injury, according to the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services. 

“As a rule of thumb, a residential fire can double in size every 30 seconds and become deadly in a matter of minutes,” said Granby Deputy Chief Tyler Yvon. “They (the sprinklers) were especially valuable because this home was in an area without hydrants, and we would have been working with limited water supply in our initial attack on the fire.”

Granby firefighters and State Police fire investigators identified a lithium polymer battery left unattended in a charger as the cause of the fire. Fires caused by lithium-ion and lithium polymer batteries are growing in number across the state, so Yvon advises residents to unplug chargers when finished and only use the battery, cord and charging equipment from the manufacturer of the device.

“The home’s sprinkler system functioned just as it was designed to, and it protected the residents from what could have been a multiple-alarm fire,” State Fire Marshal Jon Davine said in a statement. “Sprinklers are the fastest way to get water on a fire before it gets out of control.”

Emilee Klein can be reached at eklein@gazettenet.com.