Fire at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Dickson City; 77 sufferers evacuated

Authorities on Thursday morning continued to research the fireplace at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Dickson City that despatched flames taking pictures from the roof and required the evacuation of 77 sufferers relocated to different space hospitals.

Lackawanna County Emergency Management Agency Director Tom Taylor on Wednesday night time stated all of the sufferers had been evacuated and relocated to space hospitals. Dickson City Fire Chief Richard Chowanec stated there have been no accidents.

The extent of the injury to the hospital was not clear late Wednesday, however its closure, even quickly, would add stress to an already strained native well being care panorama, together with by way of emergency division beds.

Chowanec stated the fireplace name got here in at 9:40 p.m. He responded instantly and noticed smoke within the air. As he acquired nearer, he noticed flames coming by the roof of the orthopedic middle.

Firefighters knocked down the blaze in about half-hour, Chowanec stated. Crews had been nonetheless engaged on scorching spots after midnight.

The third and fourth flooring of the hospital sustained smoke injury and there was heavy hearth to the left facet — the orthopedic facet — of the constructing. That part “seems to be a total loss,” Taylor stated.

Patients in wheelchairs and stretchers or strolling with assist from workers had been moved to an adjoining constructing at 316 Main Ave. in Dickson City. Patients had been wrapped in hospital blankets as temperatures dipped into single digits.

At Citywide Animal Clinic on the opposite facet of Main Avenue, 10 ambulances crammed the parking zone, and extra emergency autos parked alongside Main Avenue.

Fire crews sprayed water to the highest flooring of the hospital as sufferers had been loaded onto ambulances.

An ambulance was delayed as first responders tried to clear a lane that was choked with emergency autos, utility autos and buses. A single lane was opened headed towards the Interstate 81 interchange.

There had been 4 County of Lackawanna Transit System buses parked close to the hospital, and an official may very well be overheard saying: “If you are family, go to the buses.”

A hospital workers member that answered the telephone within the emergency division of Commonwealth Health’s Regional Hospital of Scranton about 10:45 p.m. stated they didn’t but know in the event that they’d need to take transferred sufferers from Dickson City.

“We are open to them, but we don’t know,” the workers member stated. “We are ready for patients to come if they need to but we haven’t heard of anyone in particular coming yet.”

At least three utility autos had been on the hearth scene together with not less than one employee in a bucket truck in entrance of the hospital.

Taylor stated the sufferers had been triaged, with essential sufferers transported first. He stated sufferers had been taken to hospitals throughout the area. The medevac was on the scene. As of midnight, they had been nonetheless transporting sufferers out.

Geisinger confirmed in an announcement that its hospitals had been caring for sufferers “associated with the incident” on the Dickson City hospital. As of Thursday morning, 12 sufferers had been transferred to Geisinger Community Medical Center in Scranton and one to Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Plains Twp. Of the 13, 5 had been in honest situation as of 8:25 a.m., three had been in good situation, one was in essential situation and 4 had been handled and launched.

An earlier Geisinger assertion stated Lehigh Valley Health Network “is reaching out to patients’ families to help them understand where displaced patients are receiving care, but families inquiring about care locations should call 610-402-0498.”

Chowanec recommended police, hearth, EMA and hospital workers for the short and secure evacuation of all of the sufferers. He stated it’s too early to inform when sufferers will be capable of return. Fire, police and EMS crews, together with, Blakely, Throop, Eynon, Chinchilla, Moosic, Moscow, Justus and Greater Pittston, rushed to the scene. Off-shift staff additionally arrived to help.

A stream of ambulances, together with a Lehigh Valley Health Network medevac ambulance, pulled as much as the emergency departments of Geisinger Community Medical Center and Regional Hospital of Scranton, all through the night time and early morning to drop off sufferers.

State Rep. Bridget Kosierowski, D-114, Waverly Twp., stated about 12:30 a.m. Thursday that every one sufferers had been faraway from the hospital and had been secure.

Kosierowski, a longtime registered nurse, responded to the fireplace scene late Wednesday with Drew Popish, her former chief of workers who now serves as northeast regional director for the governor’s workplace. She praised the well being care employees who evacuated, stabilized and stored secure sufferers faraway from the Dickson City hospital, in addition to workers on the receiving hospitals.

“It is not short of a miracle that no one was injured and that the patients are safe,” Kosierowski stated. “I was really impressed with the coordination and the calmness of (the response), but that’s what these people train to do. That’s who they are. Again, I can’t say it enough, we are so blessed with the workforce we have here and the camaraderie of care. And I watched it live.”

Gov. Josh Shapiro stated on social media that state police, the state’s emergency administration company and the state Department of Health had been serving to to evacuate sufferers and safe the realm.

“Thank you to every first responder running toward danger to help their fellow Pennsylvanians. Lori and I are praying for the staff, patients, their families, and the entire community tonight,” he wrote.

U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan, R-8, Dallas Twp., stated on social media that his “thoughts are with the patients, staff, first responders, and families affected by the fire at Lehigh Valley Hospital–Dickson City.”

“I am traveling back from Washington, and my team and I will continue to closely monitor the situation and support local officials as they respond,” he stated.

The for-profit, physician-owned Coordinated Health broke floor on the Dickson City website in January 2019, after buying Scranton Orthopaedic Specialists in 2017. But work on what would have been known as Coordinated Health Scranton Hospital quickly stalled, and didn’t resume in earnest till after nonprofit Lehigh Valley Health Network acquired Coordinated in December 2019.

Officials gathered on the website to announce plans for an expanded hospital in October 2020, after development had resumed.

The acquisition and the hospital undertaking marked Lehigh Valley Health Network’s first main foray into Lackawanna County and the Scranton space. The new Dickson City hospital additionally crammed a void within the Midvalley area left when Mid Valley Hospital, a Commonwealth Health facility in Blakely, eradicated inpatient companies and its emergency room in 2014.

The new hospital finally opened in May 2022 with a 19-bay emergency room. It celebrated in June 2023 the addition of seven ICU beds and 9 new medical-surgical beds on a beforehand unfinished fourth flooring of the then roughly year-old facility.

Lehigh Valley Health Network and Philadelphia-based Jefferson Health accomplished a merger in 2024, closing the transaction that summer time to develop into a single well being system.