Royal Cornwall Hospital fire: Crews tackle blaze in ward

Fire crews found smoke "coming from a room" after an alarm was set off

Firefighters have tackled a blaze in a ward side room at Cornwall's main hospital.

Crews were called to the Royal Cornwall Hospital, on the outskirts of Truro, at about 09:30 GMT.

Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service said hospital staff "followed their procedures and performed an evacuation" and everyone was accounted for.

The Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust (RCHT) said the cause was being investigated.

The fire service said four appliances were sent after an automatic fire alarm was activated in the tower block of the hospital.

They found smoke "coming from a room in the building" and put out the blaze with CO2 extinguishers.

'Small fire'

Crews have remained at the scene because of other alarms going off, although they were "believed to be activated due to smoke from this incident".

The RCHT said the "small fire" was in a side room of a ground floor ward in the hospital's main tower block.

"Our staff responded quickly and calmly to the incident and patients from the ward were safely moved to other parts of the hospital whilst firefighters attended, put out the fire and thoroughly checked the building," a spokeswoman said.

"The cause of the fire is being investigated and we are working to get the ward back into use once all safety checks and cleaning have been completed."