Upper Chesapeake Fire Caused $700K in Damage: Fire Marshal

Special equipment was damaged and nobody was injured in a small utility room fire at Upper Chesapeake Medical Center in Bel Air Sunday afternoon, according to the Office of the State Fire Marshal.

At 1:07 p.m., a fire alarm activated at the medical complex in the 500 block of Upper Chesapeake Drive, the fire marshal reported.

Related: Fire at Upper Chesapeake Involved Equipment

Staff told emergency dispatchers there was a fire in the cardiac catheterization lab, located on the first floor of the four-story building, the report said. A cardiac catheterization lab is where medical practitioners user special equipment to diagnose heart conditions.

Approximately 20 firefighters responded—from Bel Air, Abingdon and Fallston—and found that a sprinkler had put out a small fire in lab’s utility room before crews arrived, the fire marshal reported.

While there was no structural damage at the facility and no procedures were taking place in the lab at the time of the incident, the fire marshal reported that there was approximately $700,000 worth of damage to the equipment.

The fire marshal ruled the cause of the blaze accidental, tracing its origin to an electrical failure in the power supply of the cath lab table, according to the report.

The Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company reported after 2 p.m. that crews remained at the scene to help ventilate the space.

Photo Credits: Mark Ensor and Capt. Nick McGowan of Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company.