A late morning smoke incident at Piedmont Fayette Hospital on July 24 near an area under construction caused some patient rooms to be temporarily evacuated while smoke was ventilated from a stairwell fire that extinguished itself. There were no injuries in the incident.
Fayetteville Fire Chief Alan Jones said though the cause is under investigation, it appeared that a fire was ignited inside the walls of a stairwell area on the hospital’s east side where construction work related to the current emergency department expansion is located.
Hospital spokesman Mike Boylan there were no patient injuries during the evacuation and the patient moves to other areas of the hospital went smoothly.
Jones said the brief fire was thought to be caused as workers were cutting metal in the stairwell area between the first and second floors. The hot metal cuttings are believed to have dropped down and ignited material between the brick exterior wall and a curtain wall, Jones said.
Jones said the fire self-extinguished and did not require firefighters to lay down any water.
Firefighters went through four layers of sheetrock and a void space around the stairwell area to determine the location of the fire that had already extinguished itself but had resulted in significant smoke, Jones said.
Patients in rooms on the third floor and in the area closest to the stairwell on the second floor on the hospital’s east side were temporarily evacuated due to smoke in that portion of the building, Jones said, adding that those rooms were being ventilated.
“Most of the smoke was manifested on the third floor,” said Jones.
Boylan said Fayetteville and, under a mutual aid agreement, Fayette County Fire and EMS responded to the smoke alarm at approximately 11:45 a.m. There was some smoke and an odor present on the east side of our second and third floors but no evidence of fire. The all clear was called by the Fayetteville Fire Marshal at approximately 2:30 p.m., Boylan said.
“When the alarm was sounded, our staff and physicians followed standard procedure by evacuating patients, visitors and staff from the area,” said Boylan. “We appreciate all of the cooperation from staff and county agencies as well as our colleagues from Piedmont Newnan who were on standby to assist as needed. The event demonstrated our readiness to respond to emergencies and our commitment to patient safety.”
Boylan said steps have been taken to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Several Fayette County fire units were released by 2:30 p.m., Jones said.
Jones said traffic entering the hospital during the incident were diverted to the west entrance due to the number of fire units responding.
