Seniors evacuated
Thirty residents moved to hospital when fire breaks out at Central Carleton Nursing Home
Thirty residents of Central Carleton Nursing Home (CCNH) in Hartland were evacuated Wednesday night when fire broke out in the laundry room.
Shortly after 5 p.m., a staff member, on her way to the downstairs lunchroom, noticed smoke flowing out from under the laundry room door, stated CCNH administrator Mac Clendenning. The staff member proceeded back upstairs to notify the nurse in charge, at which time a call was made to 911.
"The two staff members looked back downstairs after calling 911 and saw more smoke coming from under the door," Clendenning told the Bugle-Observer Thursday morning. "They then started evacuating the residents."
All 30 residents of the home were moved outside to the parking lot by staff members, family and neighbours.
"It was suppertime, so there were a lot of residents in our dining-room area close to the front of the building," Clendenning added. "Because of this, we were able to get them all out quickly.
"When I arrived here at 5:30, all the residents were out in the parking lot wrapped in blankets with staff, family and neighbours close by."
Clendenning said he was delayed in arriving on scene due to the one "hiccup" in the emergency plan. The nursing home's fan-out calling system, which is used to call all staff members at home in the event of an emergency, failed.
"The fan out was activated, but the calls didn't get made to the staff," he said. "We are trying to find out what happened to that system."
He said the failure did slow down the evacuation.
"Normally, the calls are made, the staff arrive on scene and are assigned to duties," he said. "They had to get in touch with the staff members by other means.
"It didn't slow down the fire department because staff picked up the phone to call 911."
Hartland Fire Chief Mike Walton confirmed the fan-out failure had no affect on the emergency response.
"With what staff we had on hand and our volunteers, we evacuated the building quite quickly," Walton said. "Everything went well."
Clendenning said the building's sprinkler system helped suppress the fire in the laundry room, which was extinguished by the Hartland Fire Department.
"The fire was contained to the dryer drum," Walton said. "The sprinkler had done its thing and controlled the fire until we got there to extinguish it. We had the fire contained within 15 minutes."
The laundry room sustained both smoke and water damage, while smoke also affected the rest of the building.
Notified by Chief Walton that the residents would not be able to return inside the home for the night, Clendenning said an alternative location was arranged.
"Initially, we moved everyone to NBBI (in Victoria Corner)," he said. "They had a place where the residents could get settled and something to eat."
Volunteers with the Canadian Red Cross assisted in setting up the temporary shelter. A press release from Red Cross stated the college "had mattresses but not enough bed linens for the evacuees, but it was able to quickly obtain sufficient pillows, linens and blankets donated by Wal-Mart in nearby Woodstock."
While residents were being transported to NBBI via two trips of the manor's bus, seven residents in need of more intensive bed care were transported to the Upper River Valley Hospital in Waterville. The manor's most-able bodied resident, Barb Campbell, was also walked down the street to the adjoining Carleton Place residence, where she stayed the night with a staff member.
"Initially they were going to set up beds at NBBI for the night," Clendenning explained. "But the discharge nurse at the hospital notified us that they could make a wing of the hospital available to take all of the residents. We saw that as a better option, as it's a better facility with proper beds and personnel care.
"When I left the hospital at 11:30, the last of the residents were getting settled in and a lot had already settled down and were sleeping for the night."
Clendenning said staff members from the nursing home stayed at the hospital overnight, treating the residents as if they were in their own beds.
Clean up was the main concern at the nursing home Thursday, Clendenning said, as crews attempted to clean the laundry room and regular housekeeping staff cleaned the residents' rooms.
"We are going to assess at the end of the day and see when we will be able to bring the residents back," the administrator said.
There was no smoke damage to the adjoining Carleton Place, according to Clendenning, as the doors between the two buildings were kept closed.
"Staff did everything according to our disaster plan," Clendenning said. "The staff stepped up to the plate and worked well in co-ordinating things."
Walton said this was a good test of the training practices put in place for emergencies at the nursing home.
"I am quite pleased with how all of our boys performed," he said.
An insurance adjuster was expected to be on scene Friday, according to Walton, to investigate the cause of the blaze.
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