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News, Bristol
A blaze which forced the evacuation of pregnant women and babies from a maternity hospital began in solar panels on the roof, firefighters have confirmed.
Emergency services rushed to Bristol’s St Michael’s Hospital shortly before 16:30 BST on Thursday, with flames and large plumes of smoke visible across the city.
Despite the dramatic appearance of the fire, no injuries were reported and the hospital was able to reopen by 19:00.
Hospital officials confirmed that while most services at St Michael’s were operating on Friday, some appointments had to be rescheduled.
William CampbellAn investigation into the cause of the blaze was opened on Thursday, with Avon Fire and Rescue Service confirming on Friday it originated in the solar panels.
The team established the “cause of the fire to be accidental due to a fault in the solar panels”, a spokesperson for the service said.
“Firefighters safely extinguished the fire on the roof and no other part of the hospital was affected by the fire,” they added.
Marina Ribeiro KaufmannerProf Stuart Walker, the hospital’s managing director, said a “very small number of planned appointments” had been rescheduled.
“Those affected by this have been contacted directly. If you have an appointment, please attend it unless you hear from us.
“The hospital remains open to those who need access to our services, including the delivery suite,” he said.
“Thank you to our amazing colleagues, emergency services and local partners for their efforts yesterday to help keep our patients and their loved ones safe.”
Mothers-to-be and babies were moved outside of the building, supported by midwives who brought out milk and fruit. The fire was extinguished within an hour and the hospital reopened by 19:00 BST.
Jess Hutchinson, 22, whose waters had broken, told the at the time it was “scary” hearing the fire on the roof.
Zainab Badaki, who is 32-weeks pregnant, added: “It was very frightening, because everywhere was dark, the smoke was just all over the place. It was quite scary really.”
