The City of Tshwane’s Emergency Services said they responded to a call in the early hours of Saturday morning, around 00:45, about a fire at the Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria.

Management and staff of the hospital said upon noticing smoke, they activated emergency protocols and ensured the safety of patients (cardiac and paediatrics intensive care unit cases) were moved out of the affected ICUs to the alternative ones which were not affected.

The EMS crew extinguished the fire and expelled the smoke.

The cause of the fire is suspected to have originated from the hospital’s lithium batteries back up system, which had a leak and as a result, caught fire.

Evacuated patients are expected to be moved back to their wards after the air sampling is finalized.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *