LOGAN, W.Va. — Patients were being treated in the emergency room at Logan Regional Medical Center as usual Thursday, less than 24 hours after a patient who was described as “irate” allegedly pulled down part of the hospital’s sprinkler system starting a flood.
Justin Turner, assistant administrator and director of marketing at Logan Regional Medical Center, said seven of the ER’s 22 patient rooms saw damage from water which was four inches at its deepest.
“We are fully functional even without those rooms,” Turner told MetroNews on Thursday morning.
The patient who was allegedly responsible, Timothy Shain Baker, 30, of Big Ugly, was arrested and booked Wednesday night at the Southwestern Regional Jail, according to deputies with the Logan County Sheriff’s Department.
The charges against him included destruction of property, tampering with a fire protection device, causing false alrm for fire and falsely reporting an emergency incident.
Hospital officials told deputies Baker stood on hospital equipment to reach the ceiling fire sprinkler system.
As for the water mess, “The cleanup process was pretty quick,” Turner said. “We had Service Pro come in (Wednesday night). We’ve got dehumidifiers out in those locations.”
Because of the dehumidifying process, it could be three to five days before the seven water-damaged rooms are fully reopened to patients.
Turner said that damage would have been much worse without the quick response of firefighters and other first responders who helped hospital officials locate the shutoff point for the water.
“The water ran for about 15 minutes before we could find the correct shutoff valve,” Turner said.
Logan County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Mike Mayes told MetroNews affiliate WJLS the damage to the emergency room from the flooding totals around $50,000.