Prompt action controls fire in storage area

Damage was confined to a shed containing materials for sparklers.
YOUNGSTOWN -- A prompt response by city firefighters and a sound sprinkler system inside the Diamond Sparkler building, 555 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., likely prevented the spreading of a fire that broke out Sunday afternoon at a storage building.
Firefighters responded to a blaze that started shortly after 5 p.m. in a storage area attached to Diamond Sparkler near downtown.
Damage was restricted mainly to the adjacent storage area, and its roof was destroyed, Battalion Chief Tim McGarry noted.
Even though part of one side of the Diamond Sparkler building appeared to be charred, the building sustained little or no damage because the sprinklers inside were activated almost immediately after the blaze broke out, McGarry said.
"The sprinklers saved the building, as did progressive firefighting," he said.
The shed contained mostly chemicals used to make the sparklers, McGarry noted. A thick, black smoke filled the air for a while after the materials became engulfed.
No injuries were reported, and firefighters cleared the scene around 7:30 p.m., McGarry said.
No damage estimates were available at press time Sunday. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.