An automatic fire sprinkler kept a fire in a Northwest supermarket from spreading early Monday morning. The cause of the fire appears accidental. There were no injuries.
Firefighters were alerted at 4:15AM Monday morning that a fire was in the bakery of the King's Ranch Market at 840 N. Decatur Blvd (Decatur/Washington). When firefighters arrived they found thick white smoke inside the 1 story concrete block supermarket, which was still closed to the public when the fire broke out.
A manager told firefighters that approximately 15 employees were just beginning work for the day; the store normally opens at 6:00AM. In the bakery, one of the employees had just turned on the proofer (a device that warms bread dough to make it rise quickly) and noticed sparkes coming out of an electric cable that supplies power to the unit. The sparks caught some nearby cardboard boxes on fire, which activated the automatic fire sprinkler. Fire damage was confined to the area around the proofer in the bakery; there was moderate smoke odor throughout the rest of the store. The automatic fire sprinkler also left a significant amount of water on the floor, which was cleaned up by firefighters and store employees.
The store will not be able to open to the public until an inspection is completed by the Clark County Health District, which is expected later this morning. There were no injuries in connection with the incident.
