Man Sets Fire Inside Philly Hospital ER
The hospital fire has been declared an arson.
Philadelphia — The emergency room at Temple University Hospital’s Episcopal Campus was closed on Saturday afternoon due to a patient lighting a fire inside a room there.
Authorities said the 30- to 40-year-old male patient was searched by hospital security officers at about 2:40 p.m. before he was placed in a room, reports WJAC. He was admitted to the hospital for drug detoxification.
According to police, after being admitted, the man barricaded himself inside his room, turned on the oxygen tanks and lit his bed sheets on fire, reports NBC Philadelphia.
A maintenance worker then broke a window and the patient climbed out. He then fought with security before law enforcement officers arrived and arrested the man.
Other emergency room patients were evacuated to Temple University Hospital’s Main Campus, and no one was injured during the incident.
The building’s sprinkler system extinguished the blaze, and the fire was declared an arson by the fire marshal.
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About the Author
Robin Hattersley, Editor-in-Chief
Robin has been covering the security and campus law enforcement industries since 1998 and is a specialist in school, university and hospital security, public safety and emergency management, as well as emerging technologies and systems integration. She joined CS in 2005 and has authored award-winning editorial on campus law enforcement and security funding, officer recruitment and retention, access control, IP video, network integration, event management, crime trends, the Clery Act, Title IX compliance, sexual assault, dating abuse, emergency communications, incident management software and more. Robin has been featured on national and local media outlets and was formerly associate editor for the trade publication Security Sales & Integration. She obtained her undergraduate degree in history from California State University, Long Beach.
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