A severe fire that started early this morning, Wednesday November 26th, at Santa Lucía Hospital in Cartagena caused the evacuation of multiple floors. The fire damaged one side of the fifth block of the big hospital complex in the port city, leaving it virtually completely destroyed. There have been no reports of injuries or deaths yet, only damage to property.
The fire is said to have originated approximately 7:15 a.m. on the terrace of this building. Strong gusts that were blowing around Cartagena on Wednesday morning immediately spread the fire to the third and fifth floors.
The self-protection and emergency plan is in effect, and the second, third, fourth, and fifth levels of the hospital have all been evacuated. To keep patients and staff safe from the fire, everyone in block five was evacuated to a different part of the hospital.
The fire was out by 8 a.m. thanks to the firefighters’ quick action. After the fire was put out, the people that were sent to help are checking all the inside places to make sure the building is in the best shape possible.
The Murcian Health Service and the Santa Lucía Hospital in Cartagena say that work is already being done to move patients from the impacted wards.
The regional government donated its planes and helicopters, as well as workers from the Fire and Rescue Consortium (CEIS). In the end, they didn’t need to be there, and the Cartagena firefighters were able to fix the problem quickly.
The fire, which started before morning, could be seen from many kilometres away. The police in the area also had to close the hospital for safety reasons.
The second fire in ten years
This isn’t the first time a fire like this has attacked the Santa Lucía Hospital in Cartagena. A decade ago, flames also destroyed half of the first block when a cigarette butt that hadn’t been put out properly in a maintenance area burned the facade.
The tragic fire in the Campanar (Valencia) building in February of last year brought attention back to the quality of the building materials used in the facades of Santa Lucía. The flames were already climbing up the back of block 1 of the health centre in just fifteen minutes, but thankfully no one died.
Author: Derek Appleton
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