By Alicia Myers – KOLN

As many as 40 people have to start over after a fire destroyed their apartment building. Now some our wondering, could sprinklers have stopped the blaze from spreading?

Just after 6:15 Saturday morning, the Thomasbrook Apartments near 60th and Normal caught fire from an improperly disposed cigarette. The building didn’t have a sprinkler system due to its age. Now, inspectors say that could have minimized the damage by thousands of dollars.

Years of memories burned in just a few moments. The fire was like several around the capital city in the past where hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage was done. According to fire inspectors, a simple add of sprinklers could have minimized the damage.

A simple spray from a sprinkler system could have helped minimize the Thomasbrook Apartment fire from more than $1.5 million worth of damage to a mere $5,000, according to Fire Inspector Bob Fiedler.

“We’ve had several apartment fires with fires on the balconies, and the residential type sprinkler system protects the interior portions of the building and keeps it confined to a room or an area within the apartment,” Fiedler said.

“If this was a sprinkled building with a fire in a unit, it probably would have confined it to a bedroom or to a kitchen before it even got into the corridor system, which everyone uses to get out of the building.”

Because the building was constructed in the ’70s, sprinkler systems were not yet required. In the past three decades, however, fire codes have changed tremendously, helping improve the safety of residents.

“If the balcony would have been sprinkled under the new 2006 code, which has been in effect about six months, everything built here and after would have to have sprinkled balconies. That would have controlled the fire prior to its getting into the attic,” Fiedler said.

That’s one of several reasons sprinkler systems are so important. Fire inspectors say asking about a sprinkler system should be one of your top priorities while searching for a new apartment.

“As a fire inspector, that’s what I would be asking for. There’s never been a multiple fire death in a sprinkled building, regardless of whether it’s been residential or commercial,” Fiedler said.

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