Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential Amherst, NY – Sprinkler system quickly contains Christmas night fire at nursing home December 27, 2014 viking210 Three people are recovering Friday morning after a small fire at a nursing home in Amherst Thursday night. Catholic Health officials said an overheated motor on an electric wheelchair sparked a small fire.Fire crews arrived at Saint Francis nursing home in Amherst around 9 p.m. Thursday. They said smoke started pouring from a wheelchair in a vacant room. The sprinkler system kicked in, and the fire was quickly contained. Neighboring fire companies were called to help move the patients. Medical personnel checked out 45 people. Two patients and one worker were taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation. “Most of the residents were not affected by the smoke, but the ones in that area were moved to another part of the building,” JoAnn Cavanaugh, Catholic Health Director of Public Relations. “We have other empty beds in the facility that they will spend the night until we can clear out the rooms from the water and the smoke.”
