Gas leak scare at Virginia Baptist Hospital

From Dave Thompson, Lynchburg News & Advance:

What was initially thought a hazardous chemical leak at Virginia Baptist Hospital turned out to be just a scare, Lynchburg Fire Department officials said Saturday.

Capt. Russell Ayscue, logistics officer for the fire department’s hazardous materials team, said the call came in as a gas leak on the second floor of the hospital’s Carter building at about 10:30 a.m.

During the fire department’s initial response, Ayscue said the response was upgraded to a hazardous materials response because the hospital believed ethylene oxide, a flammable poisonous gas, had leaked.

What actually happened, Ayscue said, was an exhaust fan belt had broken, setting off an alarm, causing hospital employees to worry that there was a chemical leak.

Ayscue said a number of hospital employees and physicians were taken to Lynchburg General Hospital to be evaluated before the fire department and the hospital’s own team realized there had been no leak.

He said no more than a dozen people were in the immediate vicinity of the affected area, none of them patients.

From WSLS:

In a statement released from the Centra Vice President, an exhaust fan belt broke in a gas sterilizer room.

The gas is used to sterilize surgical instruments.

An alarm sounded and the Lynchburg Fire Deparment responded.

Eight Centra employees who discovered the alarm went to Lynchburg General Hospital as a precaution, and were released.

Centra says a recording device proves there was no gas exposure.

The fan has now been repaired.