Photo: Brockton Fire
BROCKTON, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — Brockton Hospital had to evacuate several patients Tuesday morning because of a fire in the facility.
The fire started at around 7 a.m. Tuesday and has since been mostly knocked down, except for some hot spots, and was likely caused by a transformer in the basement. Brockton Fire Chief Brian Nardelli said National Grid cut power to the building because it was too dangerous for fire crews to go inside the building if the backup generator was still online.
Without power, Chief Nardelli said the hospital had to evacuate some patients.
"Once the hospital went on emergency power, we still had a difficult time making our way in," Chief Nardelli said in a press conference. "We are removing some critically ill and injured patients that need to find other facilities because part of [the hospital] had to be shut down."
Lorraine McGrath, a spokeswoman for Brockton Hospital, said they are working with other healthcare providers in the area to find places to take the patients that had to be evacuated.
"We are working with our region five healthcare facilities in and around our area so we can come up with a plan of action for all patients and working with all of our staff to make sure that everyone is safe and placed in an appropriate place," she said.
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Brockton fire requested mutual aid from several surrounding cities and towns to help evacuate patients safely. Emergency crews did not specify how many patients had to be evacuated.
"The problem is we have to make sure we have the resources to be able to move some of these sick and injured patients," Chief Nardelli said. "Out-of-hospital time is a big issue with these patients and we need to make sure that we can get them to an appropriate facility but we have to move them there swiftly so they're not out of the hospital too long."
So far there is no timeline for when power will be restored.
This story will be updated if more information is made available.
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