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 THE FIRE safety planning and procedures of Royal Marsden Hospital and London Fire Brigade have been praised following a serious blaze at the hospital on 2 January.
More than 120 firefighters managed to contain the fire to the roof area and top floor of the building, while fire crews and hospital staff carried out a staged evacuation lasting about two hours.
Fire crews were called to the specialist cancer care hospital in west London at 1.20pm. Firefighters quickly worked to control the fire in the roof, which was spreading rapidly because of the wind.
Some 800 staff, 79 inpatients and 80 outpatients were evacuated and moved to alternative hospitals, including the nearby Royal Brompton. Two patients were undergoing surgery and three were in post-operative recovery at the time.
The fire destroyed half of the roof area and some of the floor below. Two minor injuries were reported. As Fire Risk Management went to press, the cause of the fire was still under investigation but was not thought to be suspicious.
Fire crews worked with hospital staff and contractors to salvage medical equipment and undertook damage limitation and clear-up work. The hospital opened its doors again on 7 January.
Following the incident, fire crews and hospital staff were praised for their handling of the emergency. Prime Minister Gordon Brown visited firefighters at Chelsea Fire Station to thank them for their work, saying he had ‘nothing but the fullest of praise’ for staff and emergency services who evacuated patients safely.
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