A large fire broke out on the roof of the hospital
Patients and members of staff were evacuated to a university building after a fire broke out on the roof of St Michael’s Hospital yesterday, Thursday, May 22.
The hospital, on Southwell Street, partially evacuated staff and patients around 4.30pm.
Patients and staff were safely moved to the nearby Life Sciences building, part of the University of Bristol, as fire crews battled the fire.
They were moved and given basic supplies during what was described as a “stressful” time while emergency services dealt with the blaze
Professor Jeremy Tavaré, Pro Vice-Chancellor for the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, said: “We’re immensely proud of our staff’s response, acting swiftly to welcome patients and hospital staff into our Life Sciences building while emergency services tackled the fire
“Our campus, school and faculty teams immediately got to work to provide a safe and welcoming space, alongside basic supplies like blankets, food and water, during what must have been an incredibly stressful and worrying time for all involved.
“While the NHS and emergency services are the real heroes, I witnessed first-hand the amazing care and compassion shown by our staff and cannot thank them enough.”
The fire was confirmed to have been safely extinguished by early evening with no injuries reported.
Smoke and flames coming from St Michael’s Hospital in Bristol
(Image: Submitted/Bristol Live)
The hospital was confirmed to have reopened after a huge fire involving solar panels broke out.
Avon Fire and Rescue Service said that a fault in the solar panels on the roof of the building caused the fire.
A spokesperson for Avon Fire and Rescue Service said: “Following a fire in a hospital on Southwell Street, Bristol yesterday evening (Thursday, May 22), Avon Fire & Rescue Services’ Fire Investigation Team have established the cause of the fire to be accidental due to a fault in the solar panels, on the roof of the building.
“Firefighters safely extinguished the fire on the roof and no other part of the hospital was affected by the fire.”
Photos and videos taken at the scene reveal a huge emergency service response rushed to the blaze but, despite the ongoing incident, at 6.39pm, firefighters stopped for one minute.
A spokesperson for Avon Fire and Rescue Service said fire crews observed one minute silence in honour of the deaths during the major blaze in Bicester last week.