Hospital blaze 'started in solar panels'

A blaze that forced the evacuation of pregnant women and babies from a maternity hospital began in solar panels on the roof, firefighters have confirmed.

Emergency services rushed to Bristol's St Michael's Hospital shortly before 16:30 BST on Thursday, with flames and large plumes of smoke visible across the city.

Despite the dramatic appearance of the fire, no injuries were reported and the hospital was able to reopen by 19:00.

Hospital officials confirmed that while most services at St Michael's were operating on Friday, some appointments had to be rescheduled.

An investigation into the cause of the blaze was opened on Thursday.

Avon Fire and Rescue Service confirmed on Friday the cause of the fire was "accidental due to a fault in the solar panels".

"Firefighters safely extinguished the fire on the roof and no other part of the hospital was affected by the fire," a spokesperson for the service said.

Prof Stuart Walker, the hospital's managing director, said that following the fire a "very small number of planned appointments" had been rescheduled.

"Those affected by this have been contacted directly. If you have an appointment, please attend it unless you hear from us," he said.

"The hospital remains open to those who need access to our services, including the delivery suite.

"Thank you to our amazing colleagues, emergency services and local partners for their efforts yesterday to help keep our patients and their loved ones safe."

During the incident, mothers-to-be and babies were moved outside of the building, supported by midwives who brought out milk and fruit. The fire was extinguished within an hour and the hospital reopened by 19:00 BST.

Jess Hutchinson, 22, whose waters had broken, told the BBC at the time it was "scary" hearing the fire on the roof.

Zainab Badaki, who is 32-weeks pregnant, added: "It was very frightening, because everywhere was dark, the smoke was just all over the place. It was quite scary really."

Some of the women were taken to the Bristol University Life Sciences building before being allowed to return to the hospital later.

Prof Jeremy Tavaré, pro vice-chancellor for the University of Bristol's faculty of health and life sciences, said he was "immensely proud" of the staff response, adding that they acted "swiftly to welcome patients and hospital staff... while emergency services tackled the fire".

"Our campus, school and faculty teams immediately got to work to provide a safe and welcoming space, alongside basic supplies like blankets, food and water, during what must have been an incredibly stressful and worrying time for all involved," he added.

"While the NHS and emergency services are the real heroes, I witnessed first-hand the amazing care and compassion shown by our staff and cannot thank them enough."

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