Firefighters evacuated the Rehabilitation Hospital of Rhode Island in North Smithfield Thursday evening after nine patients and staff members on the same floor began reporting lightheadedness, dizziness, nausea and vomiting, and investigators still had not pinned down a cause by Friday. Hazmat crews swept the building for carbon monoxide and gas leaks but came up empty, leaving officials to consider other explanations, including a possible mechanical issue inside the facility.
Crews responded to the hospital at 116 Eddie Dowling Highway around 7:30 p.m. Thursday after a call reporting multiple sick people, according to North Smithfield Deputy Fire Chief Jeff Houle, as reported by The Boston Globe. Firefighters checked for carbon monoxide and gas leaks but found nothing out of the ordinary. “We found nothing on any of our meters with the hazmat team,” Houle said. The cause remained undetermined at that time. Hazmat crews monitored and tested the entire building with no findings, according to Valley Breeze.
Of the nine people affected, five were patients and four were staff members, and Houle said no additional people were inside the hospital at the time. The affected patients and staff were on the third floor and were the only ones inside the building, according to WPRI. The nine were transported to Landmark Medical Center in Woonsocket and Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, with Landmark coordinating their present and future care.
Symptoms Began Thursday Evening
Perhaps the strangest wrinkle in the case: the nine people began experiencing symptoms around Thursday evening, the night of the evacuation. “It’s a very odd situation,” Houle said, describing the timeline investigators are now trying to untangle.
As of Friday morning, the fire department had not received a status update on the condition of the patients who were transported, the same Valley Breeze report notes. The building was closed once the nine people were taken to area hospitals, and the investigation has since been turned over to the state fire marshal’s office, which will continue to investigate, according to WPRI. State Fire Marshal Timothy McLaughlin wrote in an email that his office was notified of the incident but was not involved in the investigation.
Heat and Renovation Work Raise New Questions
North Smithfield Town Administrator Scott Gibbs said the cause could be a mechanical issue rather than an environmental one, the Valley Breeze reported. The facility’s interior temperature was reported to be 90 degrees, with the area containing the heating plant described as extremely hot, according to the same outlet. The hospital is also partially under renovation and has a lot of unused space, according to the Globe’s reporting.
The Rehabilitation Hospital of Rhode Island is an inpatient acute rehabilitation facility. The facility is expected to remain closed for further inspections and testing, with officials saying the goal is to ensure a safe environment for all before it reopens.
