Three need treatment after fire at hospital

Three HealthAlliance Hospital employees at the Broadway Campus are treated for smoke inhalation after fighting a fire.

Three HealthAlliance Hospital employees at the Broadway Campus were treated for smoke inhalation Sunday after fighting a fire in the facility’s boiler room, a city fire department official said Monday.

Assistant Chief Chris Rea said the fire had been partially knocked down by the employees when firefighters arrived at 9:06 p.m. The fire was called in by employees who activated an alarm in the furnace room, closed the door to prevent the spread of smoke and fumes and then attempted to extinguish the blaze with “extinguishers on hand,” Rea said.

When the employees realized they were unable to control the fire, they left the room and closed the door behind them, preventing the spread of fumes and smoke to patient areas of the hospital, he said.

Rea said firefighters were able to extinguish the blaze, which caused “extensive damage” to one of the facility’s oil-fired hot water heaters, in about 10 minutes. He said there was heavy smoke in the boiler room and moderate smoke in the adjacent stairway and hallway when firefighters arrived.

The smoke was cleared using fans and all floors of the hospital were checked and cleared for carbon monoxide. The hospital was not evacuated and patients were not endangered, Rea said.

The injured employees’ names and conditions were not immediately available Monday. No Kingston firefighters were injured, Rea said.

The cause of the fire is undetermined, but is not considered suspicious, Rea said.

Firefighters were back in service at 10:15 p.m.