Juneau, Alaska (KINY) - Capital City Fire Rescue responded to 365 South Franklin Street on Tuesday night to douse a small structure fire.
On Tuesday, Sept. 13, at approximately 10 p.m., CCFR was dispatched to a water-flow alarm at the nearly 130-year-old commercial structure on South Franklin Street.
Upon arrival, fire personnel found smoke conditions at the third floor residence and the sprinkler system had activated and occupants had evacuated.
According to Fire Marshal Dan Jager, investigation revealed a fire in the concealed wall and ceiling spaces. Fire personnel were able to extinguish the remaining fire. A fire-origin and cause investigation was conducted.
"The area of origin was the third floor exterior deck," Jager said. "The point of origin was a wood screw that was found to have penetrated the wiring for an exterior light. It is unknown how long the screw had been in place, but it is believed that when the screw penetrated the plastic wire sheathing, it made contact with the copper wiring. By doing this, it caused electrical resistance which produced heat at that location at a very low temperature, which over a period of time caused the wood components to pyrolize."
Pyrolysis is where the wood mass is physically broken down through low temperature heating. As a result, the wood develops charring and the charring reduces the ignition temperature of the wood. As the wood chars, its ability to absorb heat is reduced. This change reduces the ignition temperature for the wood until the charred wood ignites and sustains a smoldering phase fire.
This condition is believed to have occurred in this fire.
The burning was contained inside of the wall space and traveled vertically to the ceiling space. Near the point of ignition, a sprinkler head had activated and knocked down a majority of the fire. Fire personnel used little water to finish extinguishing the concealed spaces. Since the fire was in concealed spaces, the smoke was unable to activate the building smoke alarms.
The occupants heard a popping sound and that is what led them to find the source by seeing smoke and fire near the ceiling which prompted calling 911 and evacuating.
There were no injuries reported and the main structure is insured. The business associated with the building sustained water damage as they were on the first floor.
Damage is undetermined at this time.
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