Electrical fault caused hospital fire, report says

The fire started in a service duct

An electrical fault was the cause of a fire which led to an evacuation and critical incident being declared at a hospital, according to a report.

Bristol Royal Infirmary (BRI) had to bring in generators to power its intensive care unit and the accident and emergency department remained closed for more than six hours after a power cut and fire on 3 May.

The BBC has seen a report from Avon Fire and Rescue Service (AFRS), which said the cause of the fire originated in a service duct and was caused by an electrical fault.

University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBW) is set to discuss the matter on Tuesday afternoon during its first board meeting since the incident.

'Pitch black'

AFRS said 14 fire appliances were sent to the hospital on Upper Maudlin Street in central Bristol during the incident which led to wards being evacuated at about 14:30 BST.

The alarm was raised within five minutes and no casualties were reported.

One patient told the BBC it went "pitch black" inside the hospital while another reported seeing "flickering lights".

Some operations were safely completed during the power cut but others were delayed.

The adult accident and emergency department was re-opened to urgent walk-in patients shortly after 21:00 BST, six-and-a-half hours after the incident began.

Damage was limited to the boiler room and the critical incident was stood down at 14:30 BST on 5 May.

Wards were evacuated and patients taken to safety during the incident

A spokesperson for UHBW said at the time of the incident that "the safety of patients, visitors and staff was maintained throughout".

They added: "Thanks to the efforts of our colleagues, local emergency services and system partners, we were able to step down from major incident to internal critical incident and return to business as usual within 48 hours."

The trust also thanked the emergency services for their support.