Sibu hospital patients relocated as small fire broke out

SIBU: About 1,000 patients from 18 wards at the Sibu Hospital here, as well as its staff and members of the public had to be evacuated to safer areas when smoke was detected coming out from the ceiling of Ward 23 this morning.
It was learnt that the small fire, believed to have been caused by a short circuit, was detected by several nurses of the ward at about 8 am before the fire alarm was triggered and the evacuation process was initiated.
Sibu Fire and Rescue Department acting chief Wan Kamarudin Wan Ahmad confirmed the incident, saying that the department received a call about the situation at 8.19 am before deploying 10 firefighters in two engines.
He said all patients were safely evacuated to three assembly points when the firefighters arrived at the scene.
"What we did was tracing the source of fire and extinguished it with the building's fire extinguishers," he told Bernama here.
Wan Kamarudin said no one was injured in the incident, and that the cause of the fire was still being investigated.
It was learnt that the patients and nurses were allowed to return to their respective wards around 10 am except for those from Ward 23, who returned there 30 minutes later.
Wan Kamarudin also praised the hospital for the high level of preparedness shown by its staff which enabled them to act quickly in such a situation.
"Indeed, the Sibu Hospital often conducted fire drills for its staff. In fact, two drills were carried out this year. It is learnt that there will be another one on Nov 25," he added.— Bernama