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the royal marsden hosital is on fire and has been virtually destroyed - patients being evacuated, 75 fire engines on scene, some patients are laid on mattresses on the ground.

this is terrible

2 patients are being operated on and have not left the building.

Thats terrible! Do they know how the fire started? How did it get so out of control? Do hospitals (can hospitals ) have sprinkler systems?

they now say all patients are safe, although on the ground in the cold streets.They are trying to take them to other hospitals.

no word on how it started or spread.

building looks to be destryed, certainly the roof and first ploor is completely gone.

Apparently it started about 2 hours ago. There are 15 fire engines there and 75 fire fighters. They say they have successfully evacuated everybody now and the fire is under control.

At least half the hospital appears to have been destroyed. The Royal Marsden is a major centre for treatment of and research into cancer. There are still other cancer treatment centres in London, but a lot of research from here may have been lost, according to latest news reports. The cause will not be known for some time.

thanks rapunzel, yes 75 firemen not fire engines, my mistake, though im sure that what sky said initailly.

A radiologist believes it started in a plant room where new building work was taking place and where the air conditioning plant was situated. However, that area is right next to the old Victorian part of the building, so if there are old wooden joists and floorboards it will have gone up like a tinderbox!

There is a lot of water damage now, as well as fire damage.

Its unique in that The Royal Marsden was the first ever hospital dedicated to the treatment of cancer, in the world. It's also the only major cancer research hospital in Europe. They hope records were backed up but all recent biopsy samples were lost - worrying for anyone recently tested and anxiously awaiting results!

lemon_and_mint;752313 wrote: thanks rapunzel, yes 75 firemen not fire engines, my mistake, though im sure that what sky said initailly.


They probably did L&M! The reports are changing minute-by-minute as the news changes!

those poor patients and people awaiting results.

now they are saying if the patients records havent gone to the new hospitals they might not get the right treatment.

dont know if they have sprinkler systems, pheasy, but as rapunzel says it is an extremely old flammable building so any fire would spread quickly

http://news.sky.com/skynews/home

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,, ... 30,00.html

These are the latest images of the fire sweeping through the Royal Marsden Hospital in West London.



The flames tore across the roof of the world famous cancer hospital in Fulham Road.





London Fire Brigade described the blaze as "very serious".

just as an aside, ive been noticing strange "universe games" recently, and think this may be one.

There is snow forecast for london tomorrow so presumably a fire couldnt take hold in snow on the roof.so if the fire was one day later it wouldnt be so bad?

Some patients were taken to nearby hospitals the Royal Brompton and the Chelsea and Westminster.



15 fire engines and 75 firefighters went to the scene.

125 firefighters are now tackling this blaze in West London.

that doesnt help if you are frail, being picked up like that.

lemon_and_mint;752330 wrote: that doesnt help if you are frail, being picked up like that.


No, it doesn't. There are a lot of intensive care patients and they are being removed in ambulances which are specially designed to take intensive care patients. So the removal is smooth. But intensive care beds are limited in all hospitals, so what will the other hospitals do if they cannot take all these patients?

i dont know what they will do if there are no wards that can take them- presumably they will travel to kent or essex or other counties as well.

i wasnt critisising the policemna who picked that lady up by the way, probaby there were no wheelchairs and she had to be moved somehow, just that it didnt seem very comfortable for her, poor lady.

lemon_and_mint;752330 wrote: that doesnt help if you are frail, being picked up like that.


Do you mean that photo of the officer holding the that old lady in his arms? How strange, because my thought was 'there's 2008s first hero'

Edit: sorry, missed the followup post:-6

now they are saying 25 fire engines and 120 fire men.

Thats a great pity, the hospital is an important cancer care centre and I am sure its full of important equipment, labs, facilities, files, etc etc, but at least it doesn't seem like their was any loss of life, thats the main thing.

grh;752336 wrote: Do you mean that photo of the officer holding the that old lady in his arms? How strange, because my thought was 'there's 2008s first hero'

Edit: sorry, missed the followup post:-6


i'm sure that wasn't the only patient he carried to safety this afternoon, either.