A fire at a Culver City hospital prompted the partial evacuation of the medical facility Thursday afternoon, with patients moved to a parking lot.
The fire broke out at Brotman Medical Center, according a spokesman for the Culver City Police Department. The facility, at 3828 Delmas Terrace (map), is now called Southern California Hospital.
The blaze may have been caused by roofers using a torch to do repairs, according to Culver City Fire Department Capt. Rob Kohlhepp. Smoke from the rooftop fire got sucked into the air system and redistributed into the hospital’s “pavilion” building, he said.
It was not clear exactly what caught on fire.
Seven floors were evacuated, with about 120 patients and 220 staff members affected, Kohlhepp said. The patients were being returned to the hospital floor by floor as air quality improved.
Firefighters were on scene as multiple floors filled with smoke, the city firefighters’ union’s Facebook page stated about 1 p.m.
Culver City and Los Angeles firefighters were removing smoke and using monitoring equipment to check for hazardous conditions, another union Facebook post stated about 2:30 p.m.
Aerial video from Sky5 showed patients in hospital gowns and medical staff in the hospital’s parking lot, near the emergency entrance. All patients were back inside by 6 p.m.
Firefighters appeared to have broken into a wall surrounding a room on the roof of the hospital.
The Santa Monica Fire Department was handling calls for Culver City while the incident continued.
Fire at California Hospital. Traffic in the area is affected. Consider alternate routes.
— Culver City PD (@Culver_cityPD) January 29, 2015
KTLA’s Crystal Garcia contributed to this article.
