Better prevention could have lessened an estimated $500,000 in damage from Tuesdays Dollar General fire in Silvis.

It would have made a great difference up there, said Assistant Silvis Fire Chief Steve Bein.

A restoration crew was trying to pick up the pieces on Wednesday at the Crosstown Shopping Center. Workers were clearing debris and securing the building just hours after a devastating fire.

Its pretty charred, said Property Manager Laurie Peters. It looks like pretty much all of the building got caught by the fire.

Thick smoke even startled firefighters on Tuesday. They worked high above and close to the ground. The fires timing and circumstances didnt help them.

Nobody was hurt. Shoppers and staffers made it out safely.

The fire worsened with paper products and other merchandise in the store. Plus, harm from something thats not inside.

There is no sprinkler system installed in this portion of the building, Peters said.

While the store had working smoke detectors that alerted employees to the fire, it did not have a sprinkler system.

While firefighters especially study the center of the building, whats not there could reveal a big part of the case.

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Lack of sprinkler system worsens Dollar General fire

30 minutes 54 seconds ago by Q2 News

BILLINGS - The owner of IHOP on the Billings West End is reviewing surveillance video after a person entered the restaurant and apparently tried to start a fire in the men's restroom.

Fire crews responded to the restaurant just before 7 a.m. Wednesday.

Owner Bob Llana said the restaurant was shut down momentarily while water around the restroom was cleaned up.

The restaurant reopened shortly after the cleanup.

Llana is not sure who caused the sprinkler system in the bathroom to go off, but he plans to review surveillance video and hand it over to the Billings Police Department.

He said nothing like this has happened at the restaurant before, and it appeared to be a random act.

"We handled it pretty quickly and took all the necessary steps," he said.

In the midst of the commotion, Llana said, the restaurant is celebrating the chain's highest operational assessment award for 2014.

He said they were reviewed and monitored on categories like food handling, preparation and cleanliness and scored perfect in all of the categories.

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Sprinkler system set off at IHOP

RICHLAND, WA- It is close to freezing outside and that can lead to some pretty big problems. This early cold snap has some companies in our area extremely busy. Now if you have not already, it is probably a good idea to take care of your sprinkler system.

Pat Mosley with Senske Systems said people should, "Definitely need to get their sprinklers blown out, absolutely. I mean this is such a critical time especially with this weather reaching below freezing now. If there is any water in their pipes it will crack, it will burst and the damages next year could be just tremendous."

Senkse Systems, one of the companies providing this service, said it is almost past their service season. They are still taking calls but have been working like crazy.

Jake Anderson called into Senkse and had his sprinkler system blown out. Anderson said he does it partly for, "The dog, she likes to enjoy the yard and she really likes it when its not all torn up. If we don't get the sprinklers blown out then the ice freezes in the pipes and we gotta fix them in the spring. It chews up all the grass."

Although Anderson told NBC Right Now he did not make his call too far in advance, Senske has been working on around 600 calls within the past few weeks. They have three crews at almost 20 sites a day.

Mosley said, "We're pretty busy because with this sudden cold weather, people are calling now because they don't want their pipes to freeze. We were thinking we would have kind of a milder winter, November month."

Now if you have not had your sprinklers blown out yet, Senske says the are taking a few more calls. Here are more options to check in with from area: -Craigslist search under "farm and garden services"

-Templeton Sprinkler Blowouts

-Tri-Cities Irrigation Landscape

-Quality Valve and Sprinkler

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Blow Out Your Sprinklers for Winter

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WICHITA, Kan. -- The cold weather is upon us. If you have a sprinkler system, you'll need to take steps to protect it from freezing.

Sean Nolte with Law Sprinkler Systems is in west Wichita to blow out the irrigation system at Dan O'Connell's house.

It's something O'Connell has had done every year. The last thing he wants if is for the water in the system to freeze potentially splitting one of the underground pvc pipes. For him it's peace of mind in case we have one of those bitterly cold winters.

"It was kind of lucky on that," said O'Connell. "Because I called last week and this was the first chance I could get in."

O'Connell has his own well so he doesn't have what's called a back flow. But those who are on city water have the device which prevents fertilizer and other contaminants from getting into the city water lines. Nolte says it's important to cover up the back flow to prevent it from freezing.

"I just have a blanket and a trash bag here," said Nolte. "And all I'm going to do is cover the back flow valve up with a blanket." He adds, "Put a trash bag over the top of it and it's going to buy you some time."

Nolte says if the water freezes and cracks the back flow you're looking at an expensive repair. The same is true if one of your underground irrigation pipes cracks.

It only costs about $50 to $65 to have your irrigation system blown out before winter. The experts say you may get by without having it done. but the one winter we have a long period of very cold weather, you may wish you had it done in the fall.

Continue reading here:
Time to winterize your lawn sprinkler system

TWIN FALLS You see them every fall pickups with large air compressors in tow. Those vehicles belong to people putting sprinkler systems to bed for the winter.

If homeowners dont winterize their sprinkler lines, water remaining in the pipes might freeze and break underground pipes and fittings. That can mean a costly repair. Lawn services, landscapers and others wanting a side business have stepped in to help homeowners, and at the same time put some green in their pocket.

It can be a big or little business.

Frank Scherer of Twin Falls is a retired school counselor and has been working with sprinkler systems for years.

I picked it up myself, he said. He doesnt own a large compressor. His fits nicely in the back of his pickup and, at 90 psi, has just enough power for the blowouts, he said.

I cant afford a big one. They cost thousands of dollars, he said.

But he has a big enough clientele to keep him busy. On a good day, he can do 10 or 12 blowouts, he said. At $30 per household, the money can add up.

His son Scott, while doing a winterization at a house Saturday in Twin Falls, said he knows how his father spends the extra income.

Its his cruising money, he said of his fathers love of vacations.

Once you have the right equipment, blowing out the sprinkler systems isnt too difficult, Scott said. Finding the valves on the sprinkler system can take a little time, but generally, it takes more time driving to the house than it takes to do the blowout, he said.

Original post:
Businessmen Find a Niche in Sprinkler Winterization

Zone 1 demo for under $200 sprinkler system
This zone covers sprinkler to water grass and shrubs. And is made up of different kinds of sprinklers.

By: Vish Man

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Zone 1 demo for under $200 sprinkler system - Video

LONE ROCK - Back in the late 1970s, nearly everyone thought it was a good idea to get irrigation water out of leaky ditches and into gravity fed pipelines on farmlands in the vicinity of Lone Rock School.

To do that, the Bitter Root Irrigation District and irrigators in the Three Mile Area came together to get the financing to build a gravity fed sprinkler system that would both conserve water and cut down on the amount of silt running into the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge.

For 30 years, irrigators on the system have paid $16 extra an acre to pay off their $1.18 million share of the $3 million system.

Through those same three decades, BRID has taken care of all the maintenance and operations of the system.

Unfortunately, the forward-thinking crew that put the deal together 30 years ago didnt make it perfectly clear what should happen when the bond was paid.

That lack of foresight is now setting the stage for a fight between some of the nearly 400 irrigators on the Three Mile Gravity System and the Bitter Root Irrigation District (BRID) that already has lawyers talking back and forth.

The trouble began to brew after BRIDs board of directors let irrigators on the system know that it believed once the system was paid for, it would become a private system belonging to the water users.

If the water users wanted BRID to continue maintaining and operating the system, they would need to form a subdistrict. Once that district was formed, irrigators on the system would be required to pay an additional $10 an acre for the first two years to cover BRIDs expenses.

To form a district, 60 percent of the users have to sign a petition that BRID is currently circulating. The petitioners have to own 60 percent of the impacted lands.

BRID officials contend that if the water users opt not to form a subdistrict, then once the system is paid for, it will become their responsibility to operate and maintain. The irrigation district will only be responsible for delivering water to each inlet structure.

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Future of Three Mile irrigation system sparks controversy

Theres no timeline for reopening the $24 million Bethel pool, which closed right after the grand opening this past Saturday due to a sprinkler system issue.

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Acting City Manager Pete Williams says the city wants to have experts look at the system, in light of the recent devastating fire at the new Alcohol Treatment center.

Bethel residents enjoy the new pool. (Photo by Ben Matheson / KYUK)

As we speak they are trying to determine what the problem is, until they can determine what it is and whats needed for the fix, its hard to give a timeline of when it will be open again, said Williams.

Doug Cobb works for ProDev, the project management firm, and is in Bethel trying to figure out the issue.

We have pressure at the hydrant and theres something inconsistent in the building, we have gotten the system to work successfully several times, but to pass that test that has to be done over and over, and over. Thats what were troubleshooting, said Cobb.

Williams says the crews thought they had found the problem Thursday morning, but another issue popped up.

The state Fire Marshall granted the city an exception last Saturday to host the grand opening, even though inspectors the day before found the pressure to run the sprinkler system to be inadequate.

Cobb says a fire sprinkler specialist from the Lower 48 has been consulted in the troubleshooting.

Continue reading here:
Crews Troubleshoot Bethels Pool Sprinkler System

LONE ROCK - Back in the late 1970s, nearly everyone thought it was a good idea to get irrigation water out of leaky ditches and into gravity fed pipelines on farmlands in the vicinity of Lone Rock School.

To do that, the Bitter Root Irrigation District and irrigators in the Three Mile Area came together to get the financing to build a gravity fed sprinkler system that would both conserve water and cut down on the amount of silt running into the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge.

For 30 years, irrigators on the system have paid $16 extra an acre to pay off their $1.18 million share of the $3 million system.

Through those same three decades, BRID has taken care of all the maintenance and operations of the system.

Unfortunately, the forward-thinking crew that put the deal together 30 years ago didnt make it perfectly clear what should happen when the bond was paid.

That lack of foresight is now setting the stage for a fight between some of the nearly 400 irrigators on the Three Mile Gravity System and the Bitter Root Irrigation District (BRID) that already has lawyers talking back and forth.

The trouble began to brew after BRIDs board of directors let irrigators on the system know that it believed once the system was paid for, it would become a private system belonging to the water users.

If the water users wanted BRID to continue maintaining and operating the system, they would need to form a subdistrict. Once that district was formed, irrigators on the system would be required to pay an additional $10 an acre for the first two years to cover BRIDs expenses.

To form a district, 60 percent of the users have to sign a petition that BRID is currently circulating. The petitioners have to own 60 percent of the impacted lands.

BRID officials contend that if the water users opt not to form a subdistrict, then once the system is paid for, it will become their responsibility to operate and maintain. The irrigation district will only be responsible for delivering water to each inlet structure.

Originally posted here:
Future of irrigation system sparks controversy

MISSOULA, Mont. -

Western Montana has a cold front heading over and many Montanans are scrambling this weekend to winterize their sprinkler system.

Employees at Dirtman Sprinklers say they've been booked for the past 6 weeks blowing out sprinkler systems.

They say ideally, you should winterize your system during the months of September or October but some people still wait until the last minute which can result in big problems if you don't shut the water off.

"Outside, you're probably going to have an exposed pipe or what we call a BFP which is a backflow preventer. You may want to cover that with a blanket, with these sub-zero temperatures, that can break and flood your basement," said Dirtman Sprinklers employee Shaun Reely.

If you don't fully winterize your system, they say you should at least shut off your outside water supply at the ball valve inside your house.

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Missoulians scramble to winterize sprinkler systems