MADISON, Wis. --
The Madison Fire Department credits the installation of automatic fire sprinklers in saving the building that houses the new Madison Children's Museum in the city's downtown and preventing damage to many of its exhibits.
Firefighters responded to an alarm inside the building at 100 N. Hamilton St., just before 5 a.m. When crews got there, they found water running down the stairs of the rear of the building. They found the water coming from two sprinker heads that had extinguished a fire in the fourth floor break room.
A coffee maker in the break room caused the fire, but investigators said that they don't know why the appliance overheated. Firefighters limited water damage by turning off the sprinklers and sweeping water down a concrete stair tower.
Fire damage is estimated at $5,000 and water damage is listed at an additional $45,000. However, Fire Department officials said damage would have been much worse if the sprinklers hadn't been installed.
Officials said up to 90 percent of fires are contained by the operation of one sprinkler inside a facility.
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