On December 31, 1994, a New Year’s Eve fire at the Southside Regional Medical Center (SRMC) in Petersburg, Virginia, killed four patients and injured three firefighters and several nurses.1  The fire was the worst in terms of number of lives lost in a single incident in Petersburg in recent memory.

The fire originated in a patient room on the fourth floor of the hospital shortly after 9 p.m.  Local investigators believe that smoking materials were involved in the ignition and that the fire resulted from the patient’s actions.  They could not determine if the actions which caused the fire were accidental or intentional.  The fire grew rapidly due partly to the fuel load in the fire room.  A nurse discovered the fire but was unable to extinguish it.

The fire was contained to the room of origin with slight extension into the adjacent corridor.  There was heavy smoke and heat damage to the corridor, and heavy smoke infiltrated adjacent patient rooms.  Hospital staff and nurses rescued several patients before firefighters arrived.  Three patients in rooms adjacent to the fire room died from smoke inhalation, and one patient in the fire room died from a combination of smoke inhalation and burns.  Three firefighters were treated for minor smoke inhalation after their breathing apparatus ran out of air during rescue operations.  Several nurses and patients also suffered minor injuries from smoke inhalation.

The section of the hospital that was involved in this incident had smoke detectors in the corridors and manually activated fire alarm stations.  Other parts of the hospital complex were protected by automatic sprinklers.  Firefighters extinguished the fire with one 1-3/4-inch handline stretched from a standpipe.