TOMS RIVER, NJ The Pleasant Plains Fire Department responded quickly to the fire that broke out at the Tri City Plaza shopping center on Route 9 on Wednesday morning, forcing the building to be temporarily closed.
At around 11:31 a.m., firefighters were called in after a fire alarm went off and other people reported seeing smoke coming from the retail center’s pump room at the back. When workers arrived, they discovered smoke inside the fire sprinkler room. They used a single 1-3/4 hand line to swiftly put out the fire. The damage to the room of origin was successfully contained by the building’s fire sprinkler system.
There were no reports of civilian or emergency personnel being hurt. However, the building’s vital life safety systems were harmed by the fire, thus the Toms River Building Department decided that the property was unfit to occupy until the suppression and fire alarm systems were fixed. There are already steps being taken to minimize business impact and restore the systems.
Inspector DeEsposito of the Toms River Bureau of incident Prevention conducted an inquiry and found that the incident was unintentional and resulted from a mechanical malfunction of the sprinkler room’s diesel-powered fire pump.
Chief Inspector Janora of the Toms River Bureau of Fire Prevention can be reached at [email protected] or (732) 240-5153 for further details on the incident.
