Patients in Samoa's main hospital were evacuated yesterday as firemen battled a fire in the main control circuit board room.
Photo: 123RF
Talamua online reports patients in the Acute 7 and 8 wards of the Tupua Tamasese Meaole hospital were moved out and relocated to the hospital's pharmacy and outpatient areas.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Fire and Emergency Service Authority, Lelevaga Faafouina Mupo, said the smoke coming from the fire was serious and precautions needed to be made.
He says the control room will need to be rebuilt.
Lelevaga says the firefighters used a lot of fire extinguisher powder to spray the machines in the room, but flames already destroyed the interior of the room.
However he says the fire was extinguished before it reached oxygen containers and the main power machine.
Several patients told the media that they smelt burnt rubber in the early hours of the morning, and acknowledged the nurses who acted quickly in evacuating the building.