Pretoria east hospital declared safe for patients following Thursday night fire
The cause of the fire has been ruled as due to a mixture of gases in a theatre that has pressurised vessels.
The fire that engulfed the Netcare Pretoria East Hospital on December 5 has been confirmed to have started in the theatre building that had pressurised vessels and contained a mixture of gases, according to Tshwane Emergency Services (EMS).
The fire was swiftly contained on Thursday evening, allowing hundreds of patients, staff and doctors to safely evacuate the building. The building was declared safe within a few hours, said EMS spokesperson Valentine Matlala.
Resident Annamarrie de Beer said her daughter was traumatised by the fire.
“My daughter was in the maternity ward of the hospital and was very frightened when she learnt about the fire.”
De Beer said the fire caused a lot of panic and disruption for the patients.
“I am glad my daughter is safe and all other patients are okay. She was very traumatised and scared and she got transferred to Kloof hospital around 20:30.”
A lot of residents and family members took to social media to express their gratitude to the emergency services for their swift response and said the incident was traumatising.
Ward 101 councillor Malcolm de Klerk said no injury was reported and the fire was swiftly attended to.
“The only information that I got is that the fire came from the boiler/compressor room,” he said.
Matlala said the EMS received a call at 18:59 and immediately dispatched firefighting resources.
He said the first firefighters on the scene reported that the hospital was alight and parts of the roof had collapsed.
Some solar panels on the roof were on fire.
He said hospital staff told the firefighters where the lithium batteries were.
“They were advised that the building that caught fire was the theatre with pressurised vessels that contained a mixture of gases.”
Matlala said no injury was reported during firefighting operations.
“The fire was brought under control around 21:14 and certain sections of the hospital were declared safe for patients to be moved back in.”
Netcare spokesperson Lynne O’Connor said the fire was brought under control thanks to swift action by the Tshwane Fire Department, hospital staff and several emergency medical services providers.
“Ensuring the safety and well-being of our patients, healthcare workers and visitors is always our primary concern. Netcare 911 paramedics, hospital staff members and several other emergency service providers ensured that all patients were evacuated,” O’Connor said.
“We are pleased to confirm that the fire department has declared the building safe and that patients, doctors and staff members have now been moved back to the evacuated areas.
She said Netcare Pretoria East Hospital and the Netcare Group sincerely appreciated the assistance of the fire department and the superb support of all emergency medical services colleagues.
In another incident, a store in an east of Pretoria shopping centre caught fire on Saturday afternoon.
De Klerk said the fire at Linton’s Corner occurred around noon and damaged the roof of a Pick n Pay Clothing shop.
He said the fire was extinguished, with no injury reported.
A preliminary investigation suggests that a solar panel had caught on fire.
Do you have more information about the story?
Please send us an email to bennittb@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites: Rekord East
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram
