KEYSER, W.Va. — Residents of a Keyser nursing home have all been placed in temporary quarters after a fire caused more than 100 to be evacuated over the weekend. Those patients were removed when the fire was reported at the Keyser Healthcare Center. It started with a Saturday night fire alarm, which initially was believed to be a false alarm since there was no indication of a fire.
However, Mineral County Commissioner Dutch Staggs said the alarm wouldn’t stop and eventually smoke started to emit from the ceiling area. The smoke turned up the intensity of the response.
“We evacuated over 100 patients from that facility within about 10 minutes. I believe three were taken to a nearby hospital for smoke inhalation,” said Staggs in an appearance on MetroNews Talkline Monday.
Staggs commended the emergency responders, almost all of whom were volunteers.
“Definitely training had a lot to do with it. I commend our fire departments and EMS in the area and even Allegheny County (Md.) contributed to getting oxygen in there,” he said.
The patients were temporarily housed in a nearby fire station which was transformed into a makeshift shelter with cots. A number of nurses and other medical personnel were on hand to help with the care until they could find each patient a more permanent place to land.
“I thinks some went to UPMC. Others are scattered around to other nursing homes in the area,” said Staggs. “Right now they’re shut down and I don’t know the extent of damage.”
MetroNews Attempted to contact managers of the facility, but calls were not returned.
The condition of the patients, particularly those hospitalized, is unclear. The extent of damage is being very carefully evaluated.