A fire

A commercial building at 12675 Townsend St. in Brookfield, which houses a gym and a cleaning service, was left with significant smoke damage after it caught fire on Aug. 22, the City of Brookfield Fire Department said.

If it wasn't for two people inside of the gym, TNT Performance, who called 911 at around 7:40 p.m. when they noticed smoke in the building, the damage could've been worse.

That's because the building didn't have any fire alarm systems installed, said Brookfield Fire Chief David Mason.

Now, he's working to determine if this violates municipal or National Fire Protection Association code.

While most commercial buildings do require a smoke detector or sprinkler system, "this situation is unique because one side of this building is used for storage and the other is a fitness center," Mason said.

The two occupants exited the building before the fire department arrived, authorities said, and City of Brookfield fire crews, along with eight other area fire departments, had the fire under control by 8:16 p.m.

It's not rare for fires to happen at night when no one's inside of the building, Mason said.

When a passerby notices smoke or flames and calls the fire department, personnel often determine that the fire had been burning for up to several hours, he said.

"I'm glad somebody was at that office to report the fire," Mason said.

While fires are more likely to happen in commercial buildings during the day, the most amount of damage is done at night, according to the NFPA.

"Fires that occurred between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. caused an average of $73,800 of property damage each, while those occurring between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. caused an average of $33,900 of property loss each," an NFPA report of structure fires in commercial properties found.

While a sprinkler system is most preferred to contain a fire, "just having a smoke detector in there would send an alarm to a monitoring company and then the fire department would get notified," Mason said.

In places like churches and day cares, or buildings that are more recently renovated than this one, rules for fire alarm systems are more straightforward, he said.

Regardless of what he decides when it comes to how the law applies to 12675 Townsend St., Mason anticipates that a fire alarm system of some kind will now be installed by the owner.

The cause of this fire that started in the part of the building that houses cleaning company Charis Facility Advantage is still under investigation.

For building owners who want to make sure they're in compliance, he urges people to read their local ordinances and NFPA regulations.

"Every year, there are 16,500 office and store fires in the United States," the fire department's news release said. "Plan and practice multiple escape routes in case one is blocked and remove any obstacles from exits."

Quinn Clark can be emailed at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @Quinn_A_Clark.

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