Fire at Soetomo Hospital Suspected to be Caused by Short Circuit in Pharmacy Refrigerator
The Surabaya City Fire and Rescue Department (DPKP) identified the origin of the fire at the Integrated Heart Center (PPJT) building of Soetomo Hospital, Surabaya, East Java, on Friday (May 15) morning.
The Head of the DPKP Surabaya Firefighting Division, M Rokhim, stated that the fire originated in the pharmacy on the fifth floor of the PPJT building.
“The fire was found on the fifth floor, in the pharmacy,” said M Rokhim in a statement.
Rokhim said that the area affected by the fire was 4 x 3 meters. The suspected cause is a short circuit or electrical malfunction in the refrigerator cable in the pharmacy.
“The area affected is approximately 4 m x 3 m on the fifth floor. The cause is suspected to be an electrical short circuit in the pharmacy refrigerator cable,” he said.
Although the fire originated in the pharmacy, the smoke spread throughout the entire floor and rooms in the PPJT building, where patients were being treated.
“The DPKP evacuated patients/ICU patients on the sixth floor. Officers broke several windows and also used blowers to remove the smoke,” he said.
Rokhim said that at least 18 fire trucks were deployed to the location. Including a Bronto Skylift unit to reach the height of the floor.
“13 firefighting units + 5 rescue units. The Bronto ladder unit was also used to reach the sixth floor, handling from the outside,” he said.
In the incident, a total of 37 patients had to be evacuated from the PPJT building to the resuscitation room. However, one patient on the sixth floor was declared dead, even though he had been successfully evacuated.
“One patient from the sixth floor was declared dead by the Emergency Medical Team of Soetomo Hospital, named Sutaji (46), from Kapuan Village, Cepu District, Blora, Central Java,” he said.
The Head of the PPJT Installation at Soetomo Hospital, Dr. Rerdin Julario, confirmed this. He said that the fire originated in the pharmacy on the fifth floor.
Shortly before the fire grew and the smoke spread, patients with heart problems who were being treated in a room near the pharmacy had been successfully evacuated.
“The fire on the fifth floor was in the pharmacy. At that time, in the room near the pharmacy, there had been an emergency procedure, the evacuation of one patient who was fitted with a heart pacemaker,” said Rerdin.
However, the Director of Soetomo Hospital, Prof. Dr. Cita Rosita Sigit Prakoeswa, chose to wait for further investigation and did not want to speculate about the cause of the fire.
“We are not yet willing to speculate. It may not be [the pharmacy], it is possible that the location is there because the smoke was first detected there,” said Cita.
Furthermore, Cita also emphasized that the patient’s death in the incident was purely due to the disease he suffered, not due to the impact of the fire or smoke exposure.
Cita said that the patient was in critical condition before the fire occurred. During the incident, the patient was receiving assistance through medical equipment because he was experiencing failure of several major organs.
“He died of illness. Because, as our colleagues explained, his condition was already being supported by three organs, namely the lungs, heart, and kidneys. And dialysis was underway, and we still carried out the evacuation, and of course, it was not due to the smoke because everything was supported by machines,” said Cita.