Water cooler sparks fire in Galleria-area high-rise

HFD responded to a high-rise fire Sunday morning. HFD responded to a high-rise fire Sunday morning. Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Water cooler sparks fire in Galleria-area high-rise 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

An electrical short in a water cooler sparked a one-alarm fire Sunday morning in a Houston high-rise.

Responding fire crews swarmed a tower in the 2000 block of West Loop South just after 9 a.m., according to Houston Fire Department spokesman Ruy Lozano.

But by the time firefighters got up to the 25th floor, the sprinklers had mostly extinguished the blaze and created "cold smoke" clinging to the floor.

"Smoke typically has a high temperature and rises, but because it was cooled by the sprinkler head it hugs the floor," Lozano explained.

"It is a typical phenomenon to see in high-rise firefighting when sprinklers extinguish fires."

Firefighters would typically clear out smoke through roof hatches. But given the stormy weather and low smoke, that approach didn't work Sunday morning so crews were still on scene by noon, trying to find other ways to evacuate the smoke.

The building was mostly empty at the time of the fire, although custodial staff and security were evacuated. No one was injured.

Arson investigators are still making an official determination on the cause of the fire, but Lozano said there is no reason to believe it was set intentionally.