Quick action by employees of Woodlands Hospital averted a major catastrophe at the facility on Wednesday.
The Hospital’s staff reacted in a timely manner when an alarm was raised after a generator overheated and though the Fire Service was informed, the staff managed to gain control of the situation before their arrival, preventing what could have been a full-blown fire.
When Guyana Times arrived at the scene, fire trucks were present and eyewitnesses revealed that the fire reportedly began at the rear of the building among the generators.
One of the fire trucks at the Woodlands Hospital
“The whole back start smoke and we hear people start holler fire. The hospital staff went in and they deal with it. The firefighters came and gone in, but we ain’t hear nothing back yet,” said one eyewitness who evacuated the Hospital’s premises upon the fire alarm being raised.
However, when questioned, the Safety and Health Officer, Roger Hastwood relayed that the commotion was created simply because of a fire drill.
“You are witnesses of our first, in a long time, fire drill,” was Hastwood’s response to the claims of a fire on the hospital’s premises.
Members of the Fire Service would not confirm that the incident was indeed a fire drill, and refused to comment on the matter.
