Sprinkler System Saves the Day After Fire Breaks out at Vernon's Court Towers

he sprinkler system won.

And it saved at least one apartment at Court Towers in Rockville on Thursday, the fire chief said.

A fire broke out just before 6 p.m. on Thursday at the six-floor building on Court Street. Fire chief William Call said a woman in a third-floor apartment was cooking and some grease caught fire.

The resident was OK after the ordeal, he said

The complex is administered by the local Housing Authority, which maintains the sprinkler system as part of the local fire code. Call said the system, which pours out 15 gallons a minute, knocked down the fire quickly.

The Fire Department still had to contend with smoke and one resident was taken to Rockville General Hospital for minor smoke inhalation, he said.

Kitchen cabinets in the third-flood apartment were damaged and there was some water damage to two apartments below, Call said.

Call said the woman who lived in the third-floor apartment could sleep there tonight. All residents evacuated when the alarm sounded were let back inside, Call said. 

The Red Cross was on hand to assist the residents.