A patient at the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital was severely burned during a fire in the emergency room on Sunday morning.
A Saskatoon Fire Department investigator determined the fire was started when a patient, a man, began smoking when receiving oxygen — igniting a “small explosion,” according to a statement.
About 25 per cent of the patient’s upper body was burned.
Firefighters were alerted by an alarm company at 2 a.m. and received a call from hospital staff immediately afterwards.
As soon as hospital staff detected the fire, they began moving patients to other parts of the building and terminated the oxygen supply in the area.
When firefighters arrived, with seven trucks, they learned hospital security had already partially doused the fire by using a nearby fire extinguisher.
They immediately extinguished the flames. The fire caused approximately $1,000 in damage.
A fire battalion chief told Global News no other injuries were reported.