by Robin Kemp
Southern Regional Medical Center is temporarily moving non-critical emergency patients to another part of the facility after a “small fire” in a patient room set off the emergency room sprinkler system.
In a press release, SRMC said, “(C)risis patients–heart attack, stroke, etc.–brought to the hospital via EMA continue to be received and treated.”Walk-in emergency patients will be treated but are being “diverted to a care area close to the Emergency Department.”
Clayton County Fire and Emergency Services Deputy Chief of Operations Laura Richardson said CCFES firefighters were at the hospital “when a small fire started in a patient room adjacent to where they were standing. Our firefighters quickly extinguished the fire with a handheld extinguisher the same time the sprinkler system activated.”
Their quick action contained the fire to that room but the sprinkler system soaked the ER, so hospital staff and firefighters “collaborated to quickly relocate the remaining patients in the emergency room until the water could be removed,” she said. “The hospital’s emergency action plans are in place and we are continuing to provide the excellent level of care for which CCFES and SRMC are known.”
Richardson said the cause of the fire is under investigation.
