Hospital probes power failure in wildfire

subscribe

Authorities are investigating why an emergency generator failed at a local hospital after a wildfire had burned through powerlines to the facility.

Patients were plunged into darkness for several hours when the fire tore through two dozen office bungalows and trailers on the outskirts of the Olive View-UCLA Medical Center campus early November 15 and chewed through power lines that supplied electricity to the 337-bed hospital in the foothill community of Sylmar.

The hospital, which housed 200 patients at the time, lost power. The lights briefly went back on after the backup generator kicked in, but the facility fell into darkness again when the emergency generator failed.

"All of our systems failed," hospital spokeswoman Carla Nino said. "Staff stepped up and did a miraculous job. There was no compromise to our patients."

During the 3 1/2-hour outage, nurses tried to calm scared patients, security guards patrolled the pitch-black halls with flashlights and emergency room staffers used hand-cranked ventilators to keep critical patients breathing.

About two dozen patients on ventilators, including 10 newborns, were transferred by ambulance to neighboring hospitals. The hospital did not suffer damage and did not evacuate.

Olive View and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works are leading the investigation into the generator failure. The hospital also plans to hire a consultant to conduct an independent probe.

At the fire command center over the weekend, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger raised concerns about Olive View outage.

"We need to make sure we have good backup generators at our local hospitals," he said.

Related News

India Electricity Prices are Spiking

NEW DELHI - Electricity prices in India bolted to a record high of 10.6 cents/kWh (INR5.1/kWh) in Q3.

A jolt in Indian spot electricity prices could save Sembcorp Industries' Indian business from further losses, UOB Kay Hian said.

The firm said spot electricity prices in India bolted to a record high of 10.6 cents/kWh (INR5.1/kWh) in Q3 and even hit a 15-minute peak of 20.7 cents/kWh (9.9/kWh). The spike was due to a power supply crunch on higher electricity demand from power distribution companies.

As an effect, Sembcorp Industries' Sembcorp Gayatri Power Limited's (SGPL) losses of $26m in Q1 and $29m in Q2…

READ MORE
powerlines

Court reinstates constitutional challenge to Ontario's hefty ‘global adjustment’ electricity charge

READ MORE

florida power line crews

Crews have restored power to more than 32,000 Gulf Power customers

READ MORE

muskrat falls

Planning for our electricity future should be led by an independent body

READ MORE

Chief Patrick Michell

Independent power project announced by B.C. Hydro now in limbo

READ MORE