Sprinkler puts out fire at apartments that burned in 2007 (Madison, WI)

Six years after a blaze destroyed a Madison apartment building, officials say the sprinkler system at a new building on the same site prevented serious damage from a weekend fire.  The fire started Saturday when a discarded cigarette ignited a Christmas tree on a balcony, authorities said.  By the time firefighters arrived, however, an automatic sprinkler had already extinguished the fire, leaving the building with only cosmetic damage, officials said.  That’s a far cry from July of 2007, when a fire started by a cigarette butt caused $3.5 million in damage, according to State Journal archives.

“This is a perfect example of how fire sprinkler systems limit damage and most importantly, save lives,” Madison Fire Department spokeswoman Bernadette Galvez said in a statement.