Project Highlights

• Municipality of Durango, Colo., asks developer Timberline Builders to install fire sprinklers in roughly half of the attached units the company was erecting at the Parkside Terrace complex, but Timberline chooses to protect all seven units with an Uponor Fire Protection System
• By combining cold-water plumbing with fire sprinklers in a single interconnected grid of Wirsbo AQUAPEX® crosslinked polyethylene tubing, the Uponor Fire Protection System saves installation time and costs
• Uponor Fire Protection System quickly and successfully contains a garage fire that threatens to engulf all seven attached units

Background

Former fire-fighter Gretchen Schmeisser watched in disbelief as flames from her overheated van threatened to destroy her three-level, 1,600-square-foot, townhome in Durango, Colo. But her shock soon turned to elated relief, as she realized that two of the home’s fire sprinklers in the garage had activated.

“Damage to the home was limited to the garage, thanks in large part to the fire sprinklers, which controlled the flames before they could build deadly heat and smoke, typical of a gasoline fire,” says Durango Fire Marshal Tom Kaufman.

Other than the garage itself and some light smoke damage to the upper two floors of the Schmeisser home, the seven attached units in the building – part of the 71-unit Parkside Terrace complex – escaped the blaze unscathed. In fact, Schmeisser and her daughter were able to sleep in their own beds that same evening, just a few hours after the fire.