No One Hurt In Nursing Home Fire Scare

Emergency personnel move a fan in place to disperse smoke in the area.

Darren Doyle, story and photos:
It was a scary morning for many residents at Genesis Healthcare, Edmonson Center in Brownsville today as firefighters responded to a fire at the facility in Brownsville.

Around 8AM on Sunday, May 30th, all Edmonson County fire departments were paged to the nursing home to multiple reports of a fire at the facility.

Firefighters located an HVAC unit in one of the resident's rooms that had caught fire which was quickly extinguished by a staff member, according to Genesis Health spokesperson Lori Mayer.

Firefighters help move smoke out of the resident's room containing the damaged HVAC unit.

Residents were evacuated quickly and efficiently and a quick response from firefighters had residents going back inside in only about 20 minutes. Most firefighters were clear of the scene within a half hour of the call.

"Staff members were able to immediately extinguish the fire and contacted the fire department," said Mayer in a statement. "The fire was isolated to that one room of the building.  No one was harmed as a result of the fire; all of our residents and staff members are safe. We are currently in the process of notifying all residents and families of the incident."

Firefighters further assess the situation at Edmonson Center.

"We want to thank the staff who acted so quickly when the fire arose, and the fire departments and emergency management personnel who responded promptly," said Mayer.