A fire at Cambridge Memorial Hospital on Tuesday afternoon left behind $1 million in damage, according to the Cambridge, Ont., fire department.
“We are estimating damages to be around $1,000,000,” John Percy, captain of fire prevention with Cambridge fire, told Global News in an email.
He said the fire was in a mechanical room on the roof of the “B” Wing of the hospital.
The fire began on Wednesday at around 1:30 p.m., according to the hospital, which credited the fire department with a quick response time, allowing firefighters to contain the fire.
“Due to the smoke that filled the elevator shaft and dissipated into the facility’s patient care areas on level 1 and 0, an evacuation was called,” a release from the hospital said.
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CMH said the ‘all clear’ was given at 5:30 p.m.
The fire also forced the hospital to cancel all surgeries and endoscopies on Thursday to allow time for an assessment of the damage as well as cleanup.
“If you have another appointment and have not been called, please come to hospital,” the release noted. “The emergency department remains open.”
On Thursday afternoon, the hospital said that 34 surgeries and 30 endoscopies were forced to be cancelled over the two-day stretch.
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“The good news is that urgent and emergency cases moved forward today for both endoscopy and surgery,” CMH spokesperson Stephan Beckhoff said. “Endoscopies will resume October 5. We are still cleaning and assessing the post-aneasthetic care unit and OR areas affected by the smoke. ”
Later in the afternoon, the hospital said that both surgeries and endoscopies would resume on Friday.
“The concern was to ensure the environment was completely safe for surgery,” Beckhoff said.
After the initial terminal clean, Cambridge Fire Department came in to do some air quality testing. Their meters did not register anything toxic. The hospital also changed the air filters to these areas and increasing fresh air flow. ”
He said that they will continue to monitor air quality going forward to make certain there are no changes.
The cause of the fire has not been provided at the time of publication.
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