Mechanical failure triggers alarms at EIRMC

Smoke alarms went off at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center on Thursday morning.

Several fire engines arrived at the hospital around 8:30.

The incident was centered in the elevator motor room, where a worn out belt started smoking. Operators triggered a hospital-wide code red

The elevator stopped with one staff member inside. Firefighters rescued the housekeeper, who was not hurt.

The motor room is designed to contain smoke, and it worked well in this situation, hospital staff said.

“In that room is an automatic trigger to the fire department, so the smoke detector goes off and it automatically alerts the fire department of an issue,” said Coleen Niemann, director of marketing. “Additionally we have fire doors throughout the building that automatically close under that circumstance, so that would be a containment area if that were necessary.”

Fire Chief Dave Hanneman said an incident like this isn’t unheard of.

“That’s a common occurrence to elevators, where motors sometimes go out and belts sometimes go out as well,” he said. “This was kind of confined to that. So we really didn’t have any fire – it was more of a mechanical issue with the belt from the elevator. “

There were no patients in the area, but laboratory staff evacuated.

Hospital operations were continuing as normal, and crews were working on clearing out any lingering smoke Thursday.