Around 200 patients were moved to safety after a fire broke out at University Hospital Southampton on Sunday 1 February
Call operators at Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service (HIWFRS) were first alerted to the incident at approximately 5.30am, with more than 110 firefighters mobilised to the scene.
The fire is understood to have broken out in the endoscopy unit, and approximately 200 patients were moved from the affected area of the hospital by staff. In an update, the hospital said that patients were “being cared for in other areas, including in corridors”.
“No patients or staff were injured in the fire,” the hospital confirmed.
Crews used around 70 breathing apparatus and multiple hose reel jets to tackle the flames, alongside an aerial ladder platform.
Emergency services closed the roads surrounding the hospital, and visitors were also urged to stay away while firefighters worked to bring the fire under control.
By 5.15pm, the emergency response was scaled down to two fire appliances and a water carrier, and ventilation was used to clear smoke from the building. The fire was eventually contained, and a stop message came at 7.26pm.
Group manager for HIWFRS, Larry Mackrell, said that the fire had “stayed within the room of ignition”, adding:
“We’ll have an attendance here for the foreseeable future, but now we’re looking to scale down our operations.
The service’s Fire Investigation Unit was also present to ascertain the cause of the fire. Mackrell continued: “At this stage, we don’t have any information as to what caused the fire or really what was involved.”
Part of the hospital had suffered “significant damage”, creating a knock-on effect for outpatient appointments and some operations were cancelled. As reported by ITV News, chief medical officer Paul Grundy said that the incident had presented a huge challenge:
“We’ve had to move into a divert mode for patients coming into us from other hospitals,” he said.
“We’re asking for support across the system, so our partner hospitals in this network, other emergency departments are helping us, but also we’ll be needing help from other hospitals further afield, specialist services in, for example, Oxford, Bristol, Brighton, and so forth.”
A spokesperson for the hospital said: “We would like to thank our staff, healthcare partners, and community for how they have responded to the major incident we declared earlier today following a fire at Southampton General Hospital.
“As part of the emergency response, our staff moved more than 200 patients to other areas of our hospital where they are being cared for. Our focus continues to be safe patient care and moving them to other wards and departments across our site.”
(Photograph by University Hospital Southampton)