A commercial sprinkler system helped stop the spread of a printer fire early Thursday morning.

Rockdale County Fire-Rescue responded to a structure fire at 1007 Irwin Bridge Rd NW at 4D Printing Inc. around 1:15 a.m.

When firefighters arrived, they saw moderate smoke coming from the side of the building and and sprinklers were already activated, according to a RCFR spokesperson. When they went in, there was heavy smoke and they found a print press that had caught fire.

This fire was completely contained by the activation of the sprinkler system. Fire crews put more water on the smoldering print press and ventilated the building.

This sprinkler system, which had just been serviced and was operational, did what it was designed to do. The sprinkler heads activated in a timely manner and controlled the fire entirely. Although there was property loss and damage this sprinkler system prevented any further spread of fire. This fire could have easily spread throughout the 30,000 square feet business and consumed the entire structure.

Sprinkler systems are widely used in commercial and multi-family structures based on codes. However, according to Cox, sprinklers are gaining popularity in residential structures because of their effectiveness. Sprinkler systems are designed to activate early in a real fire (responding to heat not smoke) but not to activate in a non-fire situation. Each sprinkler reacts only to the fire conditions in its area.