Chris Van Buskirk, Luis Fieldman
masslive.com
(TNS)
After Brockton firefighters knocked down a large fire at Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital on Tuesday morning, more than 30 ambulances were evacuating sick and injured patients, according to the city’s fire department.
A fire suspected to have started due to a faulty transformer in the hospital’s basement drew a multi-town response starting at about 7 a.m., which prompted evacuations of the medical facility located on Centre Street. The Brockton Fire Department will continue to investigate the cause of the fire, Chief Brian Nardelli said during a press conference Tuesday morning.
The Brockton Fire Department continued to raise the response level up to 10 alarms by 12:21 p.m. even after knocking down the fire hours earlier “for manpower to assist” with evacuations at the hospital.
By 9:24 a.m., the Brockton Fire Department reported knocking down the fire with no reported injuries.
Nardelli said during a press conference the fire department doesn’t have an exact number of patients evacuated, but said the hospital had “a mark of 187 patients, but people had been discharged and moved in and out.”
An employee at a business across the street from Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital who would only give her first name as Lisa saw ambulances and fire trucks rushing in all morning on Tuesday.
Her niece works in the radiation department at the hospital, she said.
“Smoke — her whole department was smoke,” Lisa said at about noon. “She just finally got to leave and she had to transport people.”
Rescue efforts were still underway as of 12:25 p.m. A string of ambulances from communities all across the area lined up in front of the hospital to move patients away. Vehicles from West Bridgewater, Holbrook, Rehoboth, Freetown, and Brewster poured into the building’s main parking lot.
EMS personnel could be seen wheeling patients into the ambulances as firefighters paced a parking lot full of police. A Brockton Fire Department ladder truck still had an extended ladder up to the roof. Much of the surrounding blocks were shut down and public access to the hospital was heavily restricted.
No smoke was obviously visible from the east side of the building at 11:30 a.m.
A Salvation Army truck was set up in an auxiliary parking lot and fire trucks littered the nearest main road to the hospital.
Fire chiefs from several departments could be seen directing operations.
City and hospital officials held a press conference Tuesday morning after firefighters successfully put out the fire.
“Once we were able to make our way in after shutting down the power, we had to make a decision about the hospital and what we were going to do with the patients,” Nardelli said during the press conference. “We are removing some critically ill and injured patients that need to find other facilities because part of it had to be shut down. The fire for the most part is extinguished. We still have some hotspots in there.”
Lorraine McGrath, a spokesperson for the hospital, said all patients are being evaluated and Brockton Hospital is working with regional healthcare facilities to come up with a plan for all patients and staff “to make sure that everybody is safe and placed in an appropriate place.”
Nardelli said National Grid had to shut off the power outside of the building that was feeding the flames. Emergency generators had to be shut off as well, Nardelli said.
Brockton Hospital was founded in 1896 and is the oldest and largest inpatient facility in the area, according to the hospital website. The facility is a nonprofit with 216 licensed beds.
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