Rock Rapids, Iowa — Some tense moments in the early morning hours on Wednesday, October 14th, 2015; but there was no fire and there were no injuries.
The Rock Rapids Fire Department was called out to a fire call about 3:50 Wednesday morning at the Sanford Rock Rapids Hospital. Fire Chief Ed Reck says that there was smoke in the hallways.
Although there was no fire, Reck says protocol must be followed, which states that all patients must be evacuated during a fire alarm. He says luckily the patients were able to fit in two ambulances provided by Lyon County Ambulance Service.
Reck says it took some searching, but they were able to find the cause of the smoke. He says a motor for an air handler had malfunctioned, which caused the smoke and tripped a breaker.
He says no injuries were reported. The damage amount is unknown at this time, says Reck.
He says that patients were only out of their rooms for about a half hour.
Chief Reck says fire crews were on scene for about 45 minutes.
