photo by Brent McDonald, News Channel 9
photo by Brent McDonald, News Channel 9
photo by Brent McDonald, News Channel 9
photo by Brent McDonald, News Channel 9
The patients were initially taken out to the main entrance of the hospital before being moved across the street.
photo by Bruce Garner
With the emergency over, firefighters begin moving the patients back into the hospital. They used tarps to keep the rain off the patients. The parking garage where the patients were evacuated to can be seen in the upper left of the photo.
photo by Bruce Garner
The activation of a fire alarm forced the evacuation of a downtown hospital Monday morning.
The Chattanooga Fire Department received the alarm at 10:36 a.m. and responded to the Kindred Hospital at 709 Walnut Street with six fire companies. When firefighters confirmed that there was smoke in the building, Battalion Chief Nate Middlebrooks ordered an evacuation of the building as a precaution. Knowing that patients would have to be moved in their hospital beds, Chief Middlebrooks called for a second alarm response to bring in more firefighters to assist with the evacuation. A total of 12 fire companies were involved in the evacuation.
The firefighters were assisted with the evacuation by personnel with Hamilton County EMS, Chattanooga police and hospital staff. As the evacuation got underway, it began to rain. The firefighters draped tarps over the patients to keep them warm and dry. A total of 17 patients were evacuated from the hospital and moved across the street to a parking garage. Of those 17, EMS transported four patients to other hospitals because they were already in critical condition prior to this emergency and needed immediate care from medical personnel.
The firefighters later confirmed that the smoke came from the heating and air conditioning system on the roof of the hospital. There was no actual fire. The HVAC system was shut off until it could be checked out and repaired if necessary. After confirming that the potential threat was over, the patients were moved back into the hospital and the emergency was over.