BMC Brighton ICU patients evacuated after fire

Patients had to be evacuated from the intensive care unit at the Brighton branch of Boston Medical Center early Wednesday morning following a fire. 

It happened overnight at the facility on Cambridge Street that was previously known as St. Elizabeth's.

According to a spokesperson for BMC, there was a fire in an electrical room at the hospital but it has since been contained.

The hospital said that all patients and staff are safe.

Power was unavailable in some parts of the hospital after the fire, but the facility since reported that it has stable generator power. 

Boston EMS helped bring 10 patients on ventilators out of the facility and to the main campus of Boston Medical Center. More patients were brought to other hospitals in the area.

"These were all pretty sick patients that needed advanced care life support," Boston EMS Deputy Superintendent Sharon Efstathiou said.

The ICU is on the fifth floor, and patients had to be brought down to the third floor to exit the building. Firefighters called it a slow and labor intensive process.  

Firefighters were not using the elevator because they did not want to risk the hospital losing power again while running on the generator. Instead, they put the patients on gurneys and carried them down the stairs. 

According to the hospital, all planned elective procedures and outpatient appointments will be rescheduled.

No ambulance patients are being accepted at BMC Brighton at this time.