Electrical issue causes fire alarm at hospital

Photo courtesy Dave Douglas
Emergency response vehicles line up outside Pagosa Springs Medical Center Monday night in response to a fire alarm. The fire alarm went off after a transformer in an external light fixture burned out, causing smoke in an area of the hospital.

Pagosa Springs Medical Center was at the center of a little different kind of emergency action Monday evening when a burned-out transformer in an external light fixture triggered a fire alarm.

Pagosa Fire Protection District (PFPD) personnel were paged out to the fire alarm at approximately 8:15 p.m. Monday evening, with smoke being detected in the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU), indicated PFPD Assistant Chief Randy Larson and Capt. David Montoya.

The PACU is the area in which patients are prepared for and/or recover from surgery, explained Anne Bruzzese, PSMC chief administrative officer.

“We were able to isolate it to that room, but could not determine a cause,” Larson said.

Once the PFPD personnel were able to determine that no additional hazards existed, the facility was turned back over to PSMC staff, with PFPD personnel clearing the scene shortly after 10:30 p.m.

PSMC kept a fire watch over the facility Monday night, Larson explained.

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