ROCKLAND — A dryer fire at Woodlands Memory Care laundry room, on Camden Street in Rockland, drew approximately 20 firefighters from area municipalities to the facility at 1:21 a.m., Sept. 29. But Rockland’s Fire Department quickly determined the source of the smoke was a fire in the dryer, where oily cooking towels ignited after laundering them failed to remove ignitable substances.

North East Mobile Health and Rockland Rescue ambulance crews also responded to the care home.

“Upon arrival there was smoke coming from the laundry area in the rear of the building,” said Asst. Chief Adam Miceli, in his incident report. “The initial crew was able to rapidly determine the issue was contained to the laundry area and that the smoke and fire was not extending into the occupied portion of the facility. The Woodlands staff had moved all residents to their ‘shelter in place’ areas and reported they had complete accountability.

“The crew then made entry to the laundry and found a small fire in one of the gas-fired commercial dryers, which was being contained by the building sprinkler system. The fire was quickly extinguished and the sprinkler was shut down after determining the fire had not spread from the dryer. The smoke was then cleared from the affected portion of the building and all mutual aid units were released. Rockland units remained onscene for a short time removing water from the laundry room and restoring the building alarms systems.”

Miceli reported that the on-duty staff at the Woodlands, “did an excellent job rapidly notifying the fire department and moving their residents to pre-established safety areas.”

He said the sprinkler system contained the fire to the dryer using just one sprinkler head.

“This coupled with the fire alarm system releasing self-closing  doors kept multiple barriers between the smoky fire area and the occupied section of the building just down the hall,” Miceli said. “Due to the staff, sprinklers, and alarm system no residents were displaced and the incident was concluded in just under one hour.”

Just hours later, at 6:16 a.m., Rockland Fire Dept. was again called out to a small fire, this time attributed to an electrical panel malfunction, at a Jameson Point Road home.

Rockland firefighters responded to the scene to discover that an electrical condensate pump had overheated and ignited, setting off a smoke detector in the basement.

“Upon arrival one of the two occupants met personnel and reported a smoke condition in the basement,” said Asst. Chief Adam Miceli, in his report. “The second occupant was in the basement looking for a cause when personnel entered. Firefighters quickly found a condensation pump smoldering in the mechanical room and were able to disconnect if from power mitigating the incident without hoses or extinguishers. While this fire was small and contained, the amount of smoke was considerable as compared to the actual unit, due to the plastic materials ignited. Firefighters spent a few minutes utilizing a high power fan to remove the smoke from the finished basement of the home.”

Miceli wrote: “The well-kept basement made for rapid access and ease of identifying the issue. RFD always urges caution when owners and occupants search for the cause of alarms and asks people take greater concern if any out of the ordinary conditions are encountered, as some smoldering fires are waiting for the right air influx which can be caused by persons not protected by turnout gear and trained to spot these conditions. That said, we’re very pleased  the situation turned out as it did with all persons safe, and only the small pump suffering damage.”