‘Hero’ nurse put out fire at Wesley’s ER that was started by a patient, hospital says

A nurse at a Wichita hospital put his experience as a firefighter to use after a patient started a fire in an emergency room.

The incident happened at around 3:15 p.m. Thursday at Wesley Medical Center, hospital spokesman Scott Evans said in a news release. The patient set fire to one of the emergency rooms. The attending nurse, who is a former firefighter, quickly extinguished the flames

“He’s a hero who saved lives today with his quick thinking and actions,” Wesley Healthcare CEO Bill Voloch said of the nurse.

“While the flames were isolated to a single room, the smoke and smell filled the emergency department,” Evans said. “Our staff acted quickly to move current ER patients to areas that were safe and smoke free.”

The hospital set up a temporary tent outside to initially triage patients. From there, they were sent to the Children’s Hospital ER or the east wing of the emergency department. The patient who started the fire is no longer at the hospital.

By Friday morning, the South Emergency Department was full operational again, Wesley said.

This story was originally published November 12, 2020 at 11:03 PM.