NORWICH – Fifty residents at the former Gilmour Nursing Facility were evacuated Saturday afternoon after a malfunctioning fire sprinkler caused water and electrical damage throughout the facility.
The home officially changed its name on Jan. 1 from the Pearl and Everett Gilmour Nursing Facility to the Norwich Rehabilitation and Nursing Center after coming under new ownership.
City of Norwich Emergency Management Director A. Wesley Jones said the fire department was alerted to an alarm after an automatic system at the center detected a fire sprinkler head above the third floor nursing station had burst at around 11 a.m. Saturday.
Jones said the facility’s staff had only moments before notified building maintenance that the sprinkler head was leaking.
Norwich Fire Chief Tracy Chawgo said firemen arrived on the scene and stopped the malfunctioning sprinkler. Jones estimated that “hundreds of gallons” of water escaped the sprinkler head “in about 10 minutes.”
“Water had gone all over the nursing station, all their electronics and computers at the station were covered in water and water traveled through to the second floor ceiling and destroyed the second floor’s nursing station and its electronics,” he said.
Chawgo said water also traveled through an electrical conduit on the third floor to the second, and disabled the home’s electrical and heating systems. Electricians would later have to replace all the second and third floor electrical breakers, reported Jones.
Jones said residents on the third floor were evacuated into the hallways for about two hours before staff moved all the home’s 78 residents into the building’s second and third floor dining areas, he said.
Norwich Rehabilitation and Nursing Center Director of Activities and Volunteers Danielle Giordano said resident care and safety was the most important factor in handling the incident. She added that at no time were residents evacuated outside.
Officials said heat and partial electricity was restored to the facility at around 1 p.m., but much of the building was still deemed unsafe for residents.
Chawgo said Gilmour administrators, Department of Health representatives, city emergency management officials and firemen met with the building’s electricians at 2:30 p.m. and were told restoring power could take at least four more hours.
“Up against weather factors, knowing it would take several hours to evacuate, at a time when electricians could not ensure the safety of building, there was a decision made to begin relocation procedures,” said Jones. He added that Saturday night’s weather forecast called for single-digit temperatures.
Emergency crews coordinating with Chenango County and First Transit Inc. moved 50 of the 78 residents to other area nursing homes, including the Chenango Memorial Hospital Skilled Nursing Center and Valley View Manor, both in Norwich, the Chase Memorial Nursing Home in New Berlin, the New York State Veterans’ Home in Oxford and Preston Manor, explained Jones. He also estimated between five and six residents from Gilmour were housed by area family members.
Jones said the last of the evacuated residents were dropped off at their hosting facility by 6 p.m. Saturday.
Chawgo said the Department of Health determined Gilmour safe to house the 28 remaining residents on the building’s second floor. The home’s third floor remained closed the rest of Saturday.
No injuries were reported. Officials said all residents were transported by First Transit buses except for a one resident with a highly sensitive medical condition who was taken to Chenango Memorial Hospital’s Emergency Room.
“This was not an injury due to the incident. This resident had a previous medical condition that required special medical attention,” said Chawgo.
Chawgo said the Department of Health returned control of the facility back to the center’s staff at about 7 p.m. and emergency officials left the scene. The Oxford and Sherburne Ambulance services also responded.
At around 11 a.m. Sunday, the Department of Health reopened the entire facility, reported Giordano. She said nearly all of the home’s residents were returned by the center’s staff with aid from Chase Memorial and the Veterans’ Home by 5:30 p.m. Sunday.
The cause of the incident is being attributed to a malfunction in the sprinkler head, said Chawgo. Giordano said the home is now restored to 100 percent capacity and damage assessors are looking into the incident.