Fire

I woke this morning to the radio alarm by the bed as normal. What wasn't so normal was waking to hear the news telling us there had been a spate of fires around Hamilton over night (arson) and that one of the Private Hospitals had had to be evacuated. In the next breath the reporter went on to say my hospital!

I of course zipped downstairs to the computer and googled it to find out the details.

Here is what I found thanks to tvnz:

"The Fire Service has dealt with a spate of suspicious fires in Hamilton overnight. Appliances from Ngarawahia, Te Awamutu, Cambridge and around Hamilton were brought in to help.

The first of three fires broke out at 2.42am at Braemar Hospital in Frankton.

This was followed by a car fire in Queens Avenue 20 minutes later.

At 3.15am firefighters were called to Hamilton Girls High School where a skip bin was set alight near the school gym.

At Braemar Hospital, a wheelie bin fire set against an external wall ignited the hospital's gas feed. Fire then spread to the hospital's ceiling vent. The building's fire sprinkler system activated and stopped the fire from spreading, averting tragedy. The hospital's fire alarm is linked to the Fire Service communications centre and automatically alerted firefighters to the emergency. More than 30 firefighters and eight fire appliances brought the fire under control. Firefighters dissipated a gas cloud using water. Hospital staff have evacuated the hospital of half of their 30 bed ridden patients to safe areas - 10 of which have been bussed to another hospital. "

OMG, should make for a rather interesting day at work today, even if I am doing an admin position. Sounds like everything was gained under control quickly due to the sprinkler system, but they tend to leave a little bit of a mess when they go off!

Will let you know how work is today, just what was needed the week before Christmas, at least people can't say their stay at Braemar wasn't interesting?!

P.S: Now that I am at work I can give you an update......One of the corridors is rather wet from the fire being put out, but it was at the back of the hospital not the front. Business is carrying on as normal as luckily due to the sprinkler system things were under control very quickly.

It has caused a mess of the outside of the building, but again it is at the back of the hospital and has taken over space of a car park, so not quite as big a mess as it could have been.

According to someone at work this morning they already have someone in custody for the little arson trip they went on last night in the area.