Patients moved in hospital fire
Many patients in the North West receive treatment for cancer at Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry.
The Western Trust is this morning assessing the damage caused by a fire that saw 20 patients evacuated from a ward at Derry’s Altnagelvin Hospital.
Around 30 firefighters tackled the small electrical blaze on the hospital’s seventh floor at 10pm on Tuesday and evacuated 20 patients.
The blaze, which lasted two hours, is thought to have started in an electrical switch room and the fire service said no-one was injured ion the blaze.
The Western Health Trust has said it is still assessing the extent of the damage, during which six fire appliances were used. The Trust says the fire is not thought to be suspicious.
Director of Acute Services for the Western Trust, Mrs Geraldine Hillick commented: “I would like to commend our staff within the hospital for their detection of the fire and their immediate response in dealing with this incident. The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service and Northern Ireland Ambulance colleagues must be thanked for dealing with the incident quickly and efficiently.”
Barry McDowell, district commander for the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) said: “We had to evacuate patients from the seventh and eighth floors and search floors six, seven, eight, nine and ten to ensure there was no fire spreading throughout the hospital.”
He said the fire spread quickly and produced a lot of smoke.
Mr McDowell said firefighters and hospital staff worked together to ensure the safety of patients.
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Weather for Derry
Sunday 19 May 2013
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 10 C to 17 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 8 C to 14 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: North west
