A fire broke out in an administrative section of a hospital in Michigan City on Wednesday morning.
Because of the fire, there could be a disruption in services at Franciscan Health Michigan City, which is located just outside Michigan City.
The damage wasn’t enough to close the hospital in the area of U.S. 421 and Interstate 94.
“We ask for patience and understanding as some outpatient appointments or procedures may be rescheduled or transferred to other Franciscan locations as we continue to assess the situation and clean up,” said Dean Mazzoni, President and CEO of Franciscan Health Michigan City.
Just after 4 a.m. CST, Michigan City firefighters were first to arrive and later assisted by members of the Coolspring Township Volunteer Fire Department.
Coolspring Township Assistant Fire Chief Warren Smith said the fire was out in about 10 to 15 minutes with help from an automatic overhead sprinkler system.
Smith said a desk with a surface made of wood caught fire in an office on the 5th floor on the east side of the building.
Mazzoni said that area of the hospital is an administrative area of the outpatient tower.
The flames spread to other furnishings like a metal filing cabinet and chair.
Smith said extinguishers were used to put out the flames but not until water gushing from the sprinkler heads ran down to the fourth and third floors where some of the ceiling tiles absorbing the moisture were sagging
“Those sprinklers can put out a lot of water,” he said.
Mazzoni described the smoke and water damage to the outpatient tower as “significant.”
No structure damage was reported.
Smith said the cause of the fire is not yet known but it could be electrical since there were computers and other electrical devices on and near the desk.
Despite the hospital being outside the city limits in Coolspring Township, Michigan City firefighters also respond to calls from the hospital since they can get there quicker from being a full-time, constantly manned department, according to Smith
Smith said the faster response made a difference in limiting the damage.
“They’re probably there 15 minutes before we can get there,” he said.
Mazzoni said no patients were injured or evacuated as a result of the fire.
Firefighters were dispatched around 2 p.m. to the hospital at 2800 Main St. in response to a fire alarm, according to Tiadora Josef, Bridgeport’s director of public information.
Josef said the responding crews arrived to find the aftermath of a small fire in an operating room that has been extinguished by an automatic sprinkler. She said the crews confirmed the fire was out and has not spread.
Building officials then shut the sprinkler head off and maintenance crews began cleaning up the residual water, Josef said.
Josef said no injuries were reported and the building was not evacuated. She said the operating room was not in use at the time of the fire and the fire marshal’s office is investigating the cause of the blaze.
Concord Fire was dispatched just after 9:20 a.m. and smoke was reported in the building. Firefighters were able to quickly locate a small fire in the basement of Generations Dental Care offices at 9 Triangle Park Drive. The modern building’s sprinkler system had been activated, keeping the fire in check, according to Chisholm. There were no injuries.
Firefighters dragged hoses into the building and cleared the offices of smoke while employees and patients were evacuated.
A preliminary investigation determined that the fire started in the area of a trash can and that it was accidental, though its exact source remains unclear, Chisholm said.
The Charlottetown Fire Department said it received a call just after 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The department said the fire was caused by a pot of grease sitting on a stove that was left on accidentally.
“There was smoke and flames visible in a window on the first floor and we managed to extinguish the fire fairly quickly,” said Kent Mitchell, the deputy chief.
“It wasn’t a great big fire, but it doesn’t take much of a fire to create a lot of smoke.”
This is the second day in a row that Health P.E.I.-run clinics are closed in the building. According to a news release from Health P.E.I., crews are still cleaning the area and working to remove the smell of smoke.
This means patients are being contacted about new times and locations for their appointments.
The director of community specialty services with Health P.E.I. said staff were able to get into the building after everything was extinguished to get the information they needed to continue with service.
Mitchell said there were people in the building when the fire started but they all got out when the alarm went off.
“This building had a fire alarm system, sprinkler system, so that’s all good. But in any other building we certainly encourage you make sure you test your smoke alarms,” he said.
“It’s a lesson for everybody because it’s the smoke that really causes damage not necessarily the the size of the fire.”
He estimated it could take a few days minimum to have the building all cleaned up.
An early morning fire at TidalHealth Peninsula Regional has been ruled accidental.
The fire was reported at around 1:25 a.m., in an Environmental Services Storage Closet. Crews were able to control the blaze in just over 20 minutes.
Maryland State Fire Marshals say the fire involved an electric vacuum cleaner attached to the wall and was caused by the failure of a lithium-ion battery. The incident reportedly took place in an employee-only area and was controlled by the automatic sprinkler system. No patients were displaced or required evacuation, and hospital operations were not affected. The sprinkler and alarm system were placed back in service.
The department remained open and operational throughout the day.
Jean-François Lalonde, 43, was to appear in court Friday to face charges of arson endangering life, arson to property, possessing incendiary materials and breach of probation, the Ottawa Police Service said in a news release.
Police said hospital security had already taken a suspect into custody by the time emergency services responded to the fire at 6:34 a.m. The fire was extinguished by the hospital’s sprinkler system.
The Ottawa Hospital declared a “Code Red” at 6:30 a.m. because of the fire. About 30 patients had to be moved to other areas of the facility, hospital spokesperson Rebecca Abelson said.
A spokesperson for Ottawa Fire Services said a sprinkler head was activated when they arrived and firefighters helped clean up the water.
No staff or patient injuries were reported, Abelson said.
Officials say the initial dispatch was for an activated alarm that was upgraded to a structure fire after reports of smoke in the building. The first arriving crews found a small fire in an ultrasound machine and extinguished it.
The building’s fire sprinkler system had contained the fire to the machine. There was no other fire damage.
Due to a significant amount of smoke, Sanford staff were about to evacuate the building but stopped once they knew the fire was contained.
Sanford is working diligently to minimize any impact to our patient’s experience due to this morning’s incident. At this time, patient care has not been impacted.
No people were in the wing when the fire occurred. There were no patients affected and no injuries.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation. A damage estimate was not immediately available.
Largo Fire said around 8 p.m. smoke was seen coming from the third floor. Fire crews from Clearwater, Seminole, and Largo were called to assist.
“Preliminary investigation shows that a paper towel dispenser possibly overloaded with some batteries, and because again paper towels are highly flammable, it overheated the paper towels inside, started to drip molten plastic down onto the table that they had tissue paper and towels on and then it extended to the wall from there. It was contained at the height of about midway up the wall,” Largo Fire District Chief, Kyle Lighthiser, said.
Lighthiser said the fire burned through the paper towels and said it’s unclear how long the fire was burning before the sprinkler system put it out. He said the staff was told to shut down the air conditioning system so smoke wasn’t circulating.
Fire crews then walked through the building with air monitors to make sure it was safe.
Lighthiser said maintenance is cleaning up any flooding but added that general cleanup will take several days.
There were no reported injuries.
Zion Fire-Rescue District Lt. Ian Kennedy said dispatchers received notification from an alarm monitoring company around 12:23 p.m. Monday for a fire alarm that had been activated at Cancer Treatment Centers of America, 2520 Elisha Avenue in Zion.
Firefighters arrived and found light smoke inside the building.
They also found a charred wall and a charred construction utility cart, Kennedy said. One sprinkler head had activated.
An investigation showed that workers cutting some type of material led to a power cord, which was in contact with copper and flammable materials, being damaged and causing the fire.
The fire occurred in an area of the hospital that was under construction, Kennedy said.
No patients or employees were near the immediate location of the incident. No injuries were reported.
Firefighters ensured the fire had not spread, performed ventilation and shut down the sprinkler system.
Zion Fire-Rescue Department Fire Chief Justin Stried said the hospital’s sprinkler system did its job and contained the fire until firefighters arrived and confirmed it had not spread.
Kennedy said it was a concern that there could have been considerable resource needs for patients, families and employees should the fire have turned out bigger than it was.
The Winthrop Harbor Fire Department assisted Zion firefighters at the scene. A preliminary estimate shows there was $5,000 in damage.
