A sprinkler head did its job Monday afternoon at the Denton Senior Center and extinguished a fire in a kiln room before it spread to the rest of the city building.

The fire started in mid-afternoon and flames spread up a wall and across the ceiling before the sprinkler system detected the flames and the head began flowing water, said Battalion Chief Tom Nations.

“The fire spread across some shelves, but the head popped and it stopped the fire,” he said. “It did what sprinklers are made to do.”

Fire Marshal Rick Jones said a preliminary investigation determined that the pottery kilns in the room had nothing to do with the fire.

“There was a shop vac plugged in at that wall, and it appears the fire started in the shop vac,” Jones said. “We collected the appliance and will be sending it off to have it checked to see if there was a malfunction.”

Jones estimated $20,000 in damages.

The alarm notified the fire department, which responded to find the fire already out. Firefighters remained on the scene to help with cleaning up the water, Nations said. Seniors who were using the center at the time were asked to leave the building.

City spokesman John Cabrales said Monday afternoon that plans were to open the center at regular time Tuesday.

DONNA FIELDER can be reached at 940-566-6885. Her e-mail address is dfielder@dentonrc.com .