Hospital reopening date undetermined after fire
Officials are not sure when Brockton Hospital will be reopening following Tuesday’s 10-alarm electrical fire, and the city’s mayor says it may be a little too early to provide a timeframe.
Officials are determining repairs that are needed for the hospital to reopen, according to Signature Healthcare, which runs the hospital. Assessments are ongoing from insurance, fire, police, building and utility experts, the company said in a Friday update, its second since the fire.
Tuesday’s 10-alarm fire broke out in Brockton Hospital’s utility room, severely damaging the electrical rooms and knocking out power.
“We are really trying to strategize and figure out how we can get that back online. That’s my goal. We need to get that open as soon as possible,” Brockton Mayor Robert F. Sullivan said in a Friday interview with 95.9 FM WATD, a South Shore radio station.
The mayor said he will be meeting with officials from Brockton Hospital and other area healthcare facilities on Monday. Gov. Maura Healey, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll and U.S. Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren all have reached out asking how they can help, he said.
Officials continue to describe the response to the fire as a miracle since there were no injuries. Signature Healthcare said 176 patients were safely evacuated, with 138 being taken to other area healthcare facilities and the 38 others discharged.
All other outlying buildings on the hospital campus in Brockton are open, staffed and accepting scheduled patients. Signature Medical Group’s ambulatory sites also are open, according to the update.
All of the hospital’s permanent staff are being paid, and a plan is being developed for staff to be redeployed to other sites.
The unprecedented fire required a “comprehensive and coordinated response that involved numerous both public and private,” city Fire Chief Brian Nardelli said in a statement Thursday.
“Simultaneously performing firefighting operations as well as a large-scale evacuation is difficult in any occupancy, but is especially arduous in a healthcare facility containing sick and injured persons,” Nardelli said, adding
his appreciation for all the assistance his department received.
Eleven fire chiefs across Massachusetts responded to the morning blaze, which also drew more than 80 ambulances and dozens of firetrucks, Sullivan said.
Sullivan had a meeting at
Brockton Hospital Thursday with Robert Haffey, CEO and president of Signature Healthcare, and his team. The mayor then visited Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton Friday “because they are being inundated now,” he said.
Cape Cod Hospital, Falmouth Hospital, Boston hospitals
and South Shore Hospital also received patients.
“It was a scary, scary situation,” Sullivan said. “The takeaway is ‘Thank God no one was injured.’ It really could have been a different situation, but with the expertise and collaboration, we were able to get through that.”