Sprinklers Douse Small Kitchen Fire and Six Other Apartments Get Flooded

A kitchen fire at the Riverview Apartments complex on Richards Avenue set off a sprinkler system which caused so much damage to seven different apartments that the occupants all had to find somewhere else to live until their homes dry out.

The seven to 10 occupants may be displaced for a couple of says, according to the management of the two-building complex at 93 Richards Ave., according to a Norwalk Fire Department news release.

A report of the fire in Apartment 404, on the fourth floor of Building 1 was received by the fire department just after 10 a.m.

When they arrived, firefighters stopped the sprinklers, which flowed out at a rate of 15 gallons per minute, and looked to see if the fire had spread into the walls or kitchen cabinets. Power was shut off to several apartments below the one with the fire, since water was flowing into them, sometimes from leaks through ceiling fixtures.

The two four-story buildings in the complex have a total of 46 apartments.

Fire Inspector Kirk McDonald began investigating the fire. The apartment's occupant told him she may have turned on the wrong burner to heat up a teapot, then left the kitchen before another pot on the stove caught fire. The flames spread to an ornamental plant on the cabinets, and that started the sprinkler system flowing.

Smoke from the fire very lightly damaged the kitchen before the sprinklers turned on and doused the flames.

Electricity was quickly restored in the apartment building, and electrical contractors were brought in to inspect the flooded apartments.

Managers at the complex made housing arrangements for displaced tenants.

The Fire Department responded with two engines, two trucks, a rescue and command car. Firefighters cleared the scene at 11:30 a.m., 90 minutes after they were called to it.