A fire broke out Sunday in a room at the Le Mans Hospital Centre in western France, leaving a 59-year-old patient in critical condition with his life in serious danger and prompting the hospital to activate its emergency plan.
The patient, who was being treated in the pneumology and infectious diseases ward, was in absolute emergency with a severely compromised vital prognosis. Ten other people — two patients and eight healthcare workers — were treated for smoke inhalation and classified as relative emergencies.
The blaze lasted only a few minutes thanks to a rapid response by the hospital's fire safety team and firefighters. The hospital activated its white plan — a mass-casualty protocol — that afternoon. A judicial investigation has been opened to determine the cause of the fire. The facility employs 4,800 staff and operates 1,500 beds.