Fire reported in basement of HUP

No one was injured as a result of a fire that broke out at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania at around noon on Friday. HUP also continued to see patients while the situation was ongoing.

The fire began at around 12 p.m. in the basement of the Founders Building, when construction workers were removing medical equipment from one of the rooms. When the fire broke out, the fire sprinklers were able to quickly put it out, Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush said. The fire was under control at 12:47 p.m.

After the fire was extinguished, Rush said, there was a lot of smoke in the area that needed to be dealt with before letting people return to the evacuated areas. That was partly why the Division of Public Safety issued a UPennAlert at 12:50 p.m.

“A UPennAlert was sent in order to alert people to avoid the area for their convenience but also to ensure that the Fire Department’s efforts [to resolve the situation] were not being hampered by extra traffic in the area,” Rush said.

At the time the first alert was issued, Spruce Street was blocked off from the hospital to 36th Street, and 34th Street was closed from Spruce to Walnut streets, as fire engines were on the scene.

An all-clear alert was sent at 2:25 p.m.

The basement room in the Founders Building where the fire originated suffered “minimal damages,” according to Rush.

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