Efficient fire drill at hospital

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32425, 12 October 1970, Page 14

Efficient fire drill at hospital

As fire alarms sounded In the Christchurch Hospital one day last week, nurses, orderlies and kitchen staff sprang into action.

Nurses strapped bedridden patients to mattresses. Orderlies dragged the mattresses and patients down stairs and fire escapes to “safe” corridors and the outside. Walking patients were directed out of the “danger” area. Wheelchair patients were quietly and without fuss cleared from the wards. Young patients were carried by male orderlies to safety with soothing words for the children who were frightened and not aware of what was going on. In the meantime, the kitchen staff were making tea and coffee to give to the patients once they had been cleared from the building. The three wards involved were completely cleared within 10 minutes.

It was only a fire drill exercise but it showed to both the hospital authorities and the fire brigade that should a genuine fire eventuate all or part of the hospital could be cleared quickly.

“The exercise was a resounding success,” said the deputy chief fire officer of the Christchurch Metropolitan Fire Brigade (Mr B. F. Hyland). The medical superintendent of the hospital (Dr R. A. Grayland) said the “dummy run” had been more successful than thought possible, “though all concerned did learn a lot from the drill.”

When the fire brigade arrived, an appliance was driven to the end of the “burning wing.” A few seconds later the 100 ft ladder was extended, allowing firemen to reach the roof where several patients had gone. By means of a pulley, a small ladder was sent on to the roof and a man simulating an injured patient was lowered to the ground. The

pulley then sent up slings into which patients were strapped and lowered to the ground.

, As one patient came down, the pulley took an empty sling back up. It took just less than a minute to put a patient into the sling and lower him to the ground three storeys below. The exercise involved nearly 60 patients and 100 staff. Few knew before the alarm went that the exercise was to be held.