Fire erupts at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Dickson City (Pa.), forces patient evacuations

A raging fire destroyed the orthopedics wing of Lehigh Valley Hospital-Dickson City (Pa.) Wednesday night, forcing the evacuation of 77 patients, including six in ICU, according to local PBS/NPR affiliate WVIA. The station reports that, thankfully, there were no injuries to patients, staff or firefighters.

Dickson City Fire Chief Rich Chowanec said all four floors of the hospital, plus the emergency room, were evacuated. Staff calmed shocked patients, some of whom had been asleep when the emergency occurred, at a prosthetics center next door to the hospital, according to WVIA, which reports that numerous ambulances from across the region shuttled patients to hospitals as far away as Allentown.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

The fire chief said flames were shooting through the roof of the office area of the hospital’s Orthopedic Institute. After firefighters sprayed water on the flames for more than an hour, the chief told media at midnight that the fire was almost extinguished save for some hot spots. He reported “no fire impingement to the hospital itself” but that there was some smoke damage on the third and fourth floors, along with some smoke and water damage on the first floor, reports WVIA.

The fire chief said electricity was shut off, and that a three-hour firewall between the orthopedics center and the main hospital saved the main hospital from extensive damage.

Pa. State Rep. Bridget Kosierowski, a licensed registered nurse, was on the scene chatting with affected patients. She praised the “all-hands-on-deck” response by hospital and emergency officials. “I think these patients are in shock,” she told WVIA. “They just got bolted out of a hospital that is on fire … But there's a calm here ... The patients feel safe. There’s no chaos. It's very professional and very calm.

WVIA reports that snowplow trucks blocked an exit on Interstate 81 to limit traffic in the area, while county officials called in two public transit buses to keep patients’ family members warm. Gov. Josh Shapiro said on social media that state police, the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency and the state Department of Health were on scene to help evacuate patients and secure the area.

The 100,000-square-foot hospital opened in 2022 and “has a surgical specialty focus,” according to WVIA, with seven ORs, two procedure rooms, 24 private inpatient rooms, a 19-bay emergency room and a helipad. The connected Orthopedic Institute featured a walk-in clinic.

WVIA reported on Wednesday night that it’s unclear how long the main hospital will remain closed. Read the station’s full report here.