A fire in Naperville's commercial block was swiftly contained by firefighters, preventing spread to nearby businesses. The cause is under investigation for safety compliance.
September 5, 2024
A fire in Naperville's commercial block was swiftly contained by firefighters, preventing spread to nearby businesses. The cause is under investigation for safety compliance.
A fire broke out in the 400 block of West 5th Avenue in Naperville on Tuesday night. A fire alarm had been triggered, there was an odor of smoke, and the sprinkler system had thankfully activated by the time the fire department arrived to investigate. Firefighters acted swiftly and the fire was under control within a half hour of their arrival.
The location of the fire is in a block of buildings used for commercial purposes. Adjacent to where the fire broke out is a strip which is home to a bakery and catering service, and other businesses such as a preschool and childcare center and a teen tutoring center. Firefighters worked to prevent the blaze from spreading to surrounding units and ensured that no one was injured, with station coverage assistance from the Bolingbrook Fire Department and Warrenville and Lisle Woodridge fire protection districts. The Naperville fire department is still investigating the potential causes of the fire.
The Office of the Illinois Fire Marshall operates the Division of Fire Prevention and conducts inspections of buildings for compliance with safety codes, specifically the National Fire Protection Association’s Life Safety Code. This is the most widely used resource which offers strategies for minimizing the effects of fire related hazards based on building construction, protection, and occupancy features, according to the NFPA.
The regulations of the Office of the Illinois Fire Marshall do not automatically supersede the regulations or ordinances which local governments and fire protection districts establish. Some jurisdictions choose to adopt OFSM’s code, however, but they may enforce their own rules regarding day care centers as long as those rules are more stringent than OFSM’s.
OFSM concentrates a big chunk of its efforts on educational facilities and state licensed day care centers. Because there are childcare facilities in this particular commercial strip of Naperville, it is possible that the fire departments’ investigation will be more in-depth as it relates to safety codes which focus on buildings housing businesses with this specific purpose.
The Facilities Requiring Smoke Detectors Act applies to any childcare facility as defined in Section 2.05 of the Child Care Act of 1969. It specifies that “every facility shall be equipped with at least one approved smoke detector in an operating condition within 15 feet of every room used for sleeping purposes,” and will be installed on the ceiling of such room. Preschools and Childcare Centers almost always include areas and rooms for napping, so this Act clearly applies and a smoke detector is doubtless to be among the safety features of the childcare center on the 400 block of West 5th Avenue in Naperville. In the present case, fire alarms were indeed activated and alerted the Naperville Fire Department, but they were the ones inside the unit in which the fire started. Had the blaze traveled to the adjacent units, the smoke detectors in the childcare facility would also have been activated. The Facilities Requiring Smoke Detectors Act is likely being complied with across this commercial strip.
The Naperville Fire Department conducts annual inspections on all commercially occupied buildings. The department also has jurisdiction over fire alarm permits and acceptance testing and inspection of fire alarm systems, according to the Naperville government website. If the investigation in the present case shows that all building codes were followed, there will hopefully be no issues when it comes to violations, and hopefully no foul play.
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