CHEVERLY, Md. (WUSA9) -- Prince George's Hospital is running on generators after a fire at the power plant. It means all surgeries or complex procedures may need to be rescheduled.
We spoke to a father who was very distraught on Friday morning. He brought his 15-month-old daughter into the emergency room. She had a lump on her neck. Hospital staff turned him away because they didn't have the power to scan her. They couldn't use any CAT scans so they couldn't detect what was wrong. Staff members said it would be hours before they could transfer her, but of course, this was an emergency situation for this young family so they chose to drive the girl themselves to Children's Hospital.
The patients inside are still being cared for, but those complex operations and procedures and elective surgeries are being rescheduled.
Some ambulances are parked outsude at the emergency room. They're not transporting patients because all ambulances and helicopters are also heading to other hospitals. Prince George's Hospital Center is one of two trauma centers int eh area.
The reason is that flames broke out around 7:30 p.m. in the power plant directly behind the emergency room. Three transformers were on fire, and they knocked out power to the entire hospital. The generator quickly kicked in though. The generators have fuel for about 24 hours and will be refueled as necessary again.
The fire chief tells us the hospital calls this a "mini disaster" and that staff members followed their emergency plan.
Thursday night, two nearby neighborhoods of Cheverly and Chapel Oaks were also without power but it is not known if their power outage was related to the fire at the power plant. It has been restored according to Pepco's website.
Republished with permission of WUSA9.
