MERRITT, BRITISH COLUMBIA – Authorities say a hospital in British Columbia’s Interior was briefly closed Friday after air sensor alarms were triggered by gas coming out of a sewage drain of a bathroom.
A statement from the Nicola Valley Hospital in Merritt says the gas in a blocked pipe reacted with drain cleaning fluid, setting off the alarm.
It says 10 patients were temporarily transferred to other locations to ensure their safety.
The hospital and emergency department remained closed from around 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. while authorities checked out the cause of the smell.
It says there were no injuries and the building has been ventilated with both the Merritt Fire Department and Fortis BC confirming the air is free of any “gases of concern.”
The Nicola Valley Hospital is the only health care centre in Merritt, which is about 270 kilometres northeast of Vancouver.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 17, 2022.
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Smell of gas reacting with cleaning fluid in blocked pipe briefly shut B.C. hospital
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