Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Fire at Tauranga Hospital

By by Sam Boyer
Bay of Plenty Times·
4 Mar, 2012 08:17 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

About 30 emergency patients - some of them wheeled out on hospital beds - had to be treated on the ambulance pad outside the entrance to Tauranga Hospital yesterday as firefighters dealt with a basement blaze.

Just before 3pm the hospital's internal fire alarms were set off and and continued to sound for about 30 minutes.

Outside, witnesses said black smoke billowed from a basement ventilation grate and there was a strong smell like melting metal in the air.

By 3.30pm there were six fire engines outside the hospital and traffic was being diverted away from the hospital frontage down 18th Ave and 19th Ave. Water was being pumped across Cameron Rd and into the basement by fire crews.

Hospital emergency department head Derek Sage said the fire had started in the basement.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"What happened is there was an electrical fire in a circuit switchboard. That triggered the fire alarm and the sprinkler system," Dr Sage said.

The hospital's emergency department and the acute planning unit were evacuated.

"What most people would have noticed ... was the smell of the smoke. That wasn't pleasant. It [the fire] was put out; smoke was the issue. Electrical [fire] smells are pretty, sort of, acidic. It's not a comfortable smell," he said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The ED was evacuated to the ambulance bay and patients still requiring attention were treated in the open.

"The emergency department has 28 bed spaces and it was busy at the time, so there would have been over 20 or maybe 30 [patients]. About 60 people would have left that part of the hospital.

"Luckily we weren't involved in any resuscitation. None of their treatment was jeopardised. I know it sounds silly but it was business as usual, but outdoors," he said.

Patients requiring more serious treatment or needing privacy were treated in parked ambulances.

Other patients lay in the sun with sheets above to provide shelter and ice blocks were handed out.

St John brought their mass casualty trailer which includes a mobile hospital - a tent which could have been erected if required.

The fire had disrupted power to certain parts of the hospital. The emergency department had to be moved to the medical day-stay unit and downsized - by about 33 per cent - until the hospital returned to full operation.

Tauranga station Chief Fire Officer Nigel Liddicoat said firecrews had initially had trouble finding the source of the fire as smoke circulated through the hospital's air-conditioning, setting off a number of alarms.

A Greerton fire unit passing the hospital was alerted to black smoke coming from a basement air-conditioning grate, which helped fire crews target the origin of the blaze.

A combination of hospital sprinkler systems and firefighters extinguished the fire.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Jenny Turner told the Bay of Plenty Times she had just arrived at the hospital complex to visit a patient when she smelled the fire.

"You can smell like an electrical burning smell. I thought it was the car [at first]. It was quite strong," she said.

Amer Basham, 11, had been riding her bike through the hospital grounds.

"We saw heaps and heaps of smoke and people assembling at the front of the hospital. There was lots of black smoke coming out of there," she said, pointing at a caged door to the basement.

Jules Rielly, also visiting at the hospital, said there had been smoke coming from the building when she arrived, but praised the calmness of the evacuation. "I saw a bit of smoke coming out. But I would say it all looks pretty calm and under control," she said.

ED relocate back to the Emergency Department at 6am today.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Sport

Sam Ruthe breaks NZ records in LA

Bay of Plenty Times

Tauranga's Sam Ruthe breaks two NZ records in LA

13 Jul 04:58 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

Donations save school from brink of closure

13 Jul 12:01 AM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Sam Ruthe breaks NZ records in LA

Sam Ruthe breaks NZ records in LA

The 16-year-old Tauranga runner lowered his own national U17 and U18 1500m records at the Sound Running Sunset Tour in Los Angeles. Video / Athletics NZ

Tauranga's Sam Ruthe breaks two NZ records in LA

Tauranga's Sam Ruthe breaks two NZ records in LA

13 Jul 04:58 AM
Donations save school from brink of closure

Donations save school from brink of closure

13 Jul 12:01 AM
'Palpable grief': Motorcyclist who killed two people had 11 previous driving convictions

'Palpable grief': Motorcyclist who killed two people had 11 previous driving convictions

12 Jul 11:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP