A short-circuit fire broke out in a back-up generator room of the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre early Saturday morning, requiring the evacuation of 24 patients and two family members from the internal medicine ward to a safe place at the hospital.
A statement by the Fire Services Bureau (CB) said that firefighters responded to an alert about a short-circuit fire in the back-up generator room of the internal medicine ward at the Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre at around 5 a.m. on Saturday, adding that the firefighters put out the blaze using fire extinguishers.
No one was injured in the incident, the CB statement noted.
In response to the incident, the Health Bureau (SSM) said in a statement later that day that the hospital had immediately activated the emergency management procedures and took effective countermeasures after the fire, such as notifying the hospital’s security guards, firefighters and police officers, adding that the firefighters and police left the scene at around 6 a.m. that day, when the affected ward was cleaned and resumed normal operation.
Speaking to local Chinese-language media after the incident, Dr Kuok Cheong U, SSM deputy director and director of the public hospital, said that the fire broke out at nearly 4 a.m. on Saturday, after which the hospital immediately activated an evacuation mechanism to transfer patients and their families from the affected ward to a safe place, adding that the ward resumed normal operation two hours after the fire.
Dr Kuok said that the blaze was initially believed to have been caused by a faulty component in the back-up generator system and, therefore, the hospital has requested the service provider to submit a detailed report as soon as possible to prevent any recurrence of similar incidents.
This undated file photo previously provided by the Health Bureau (SSM) shows the façade of the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre on Guia Hill.
