Christmas Eve fire at assisted living center snuffed out by sprinklers (Bloomington, IL)

A fire sprinkler system is being credited with extinguishing a Christmas Eve fire even before firefighters arrived.  Bloomington Fire Department Public Information Officer Brad McCollum said that at 7:43 p.m. Tuesday, firefighters responded to the third floor of The Downtowner, a 36-unit, eight-story, assisted-living apartment building and found the apartment’s resident in a hallway that was filled with light smoke. “Upon entering the apartment, they found an overstuffed chair and end table that had sustained damage from a fire that had been completely extinguished by the sprinkler system,” .McCollum said the outcome could have been tragic for the resident if not for the effectiveness of the sprinkler system.