Posted: June 23, 2009

Menomonee Falls — Sparks from some employees doing some grinding work could have been the cause of a fire last week that caused about $50,000 damage at Builders Hardware, N5690 Continental Parkway.

Menomonee Falls Fire Chief Jeffrey Hevey said the Fire Department received a call at 8:42 a.m. on June 17 reporting a fire at the building. Firefighters arrived within six minutes of the call and saw heavy smoke at the rear of the building, he said.

Sprinklers contained the fire in the building and firefighters extinguished the rest of the blaze, Hevey said.

While it typically takes about one to two sprinkler heads to contain a fire, Hevey said, nine were needed for this one.

"This was a hot, moving fire," he said. "The sprinkler system saved that building."

Firefighters evacuated the building and about 50 people were outside for two hours, Hevey said. Employees were back to work about 10:30 a.m., he said.

No one was injured.

Hevey said the cause of the fire remains under investigation. Employees working near a filtering system, made up of paper filters and plastic, smelled smoke and then saw the system was on fire, he said.

The Butler Fire Department provided mutual aid; the Brookfield and Germantown fire departments provided backup at the vacant stations in Menomonee Falls.

 

- K. L. Klein