Latest Headlines
- Cantonment Man Charged With Sexual Battery, Molestation Of 5-Year-Old
- Two Newly Elected Escambia School Members Installed
- Matt Gaetz Withdraws From Attorney General Consideration
- Molino Dollar General Assistant Manager And Her Boyfriend Charged With Theft
- Century Town Hall Closed For Portions Of Next Two Business Days
- Troopers Say Semi Driver Fell Asleep Causing Crash That Block I-10 For Hours
- Free Dental, Vision and Medical Care Available At Weekend Clinic
- Farm Share Food Distributions Friday In Walnut Hill, Saturday In Cantonment
- ECUA Elects Board Officers, Appoints Advisory Committee
- One Injured In Highway 29 Crash
No Injuries As Early Morning Fire Prompts Evacuation At Century Care Center
November 28, 2010
An early Sunday morning fire prompted an evacuation at Century Care Center, but caused little damage.
The nursing facility reported smoke and flames from a clothes dryer just after 1 a.m. The fire was extinguished a short time later.
The fire was limited to the gas clothes dryer in the laundry room, while smoke from the fire was contained to the center wing of the building.
Residents of the facility were evacuated to the parking lot as temperatures hovered in the upper 30’s. The patients were moved back indoors to the smoke-free north and south wings of the building by 1:40 a.m.
There were no injuries; all residents were reported to be in good condition.
The Century, McDavid and Molino stations of Escambia Fire Rescue and the Flomaton Fire Department responded to the blaze.
Comments
24 Responses to “No Injuries As Early Morning Fire Prompts Evacuation At Century Care Center”
Thank heaven for no injuries of residents or fire fighters..
William it sure would be wonderful for some of us to see more pictures of
our firefighter hero’s who risk their lives for ppl all the time……
i know I say a lot on here when a policeman or firefighter does the wrong thing,
but I know that most of them are wonderful hard working men who would
risk their live and DO on many occasions and I would just like to see their
faces………
Well said Another staff member at CCC!!
GOOD JOB CCC. YOUR TRAINING IN CASES LIKE THIS PAID OFF WITH THE QUICKNESS. THANK GOD ALL OUR RESIDENTS WERE FINE AND WELL TAKEN CARE OF. HATS OFF TO YA!
YES, there are contingency plans and IF the time had been prolonged, the residents would have been settled into the Ag building. It wouldn’t have shortened the time that they were exposed to the elements though-it probably would have been longer! Unlike students that can get onto a school bus by walking up the steps for transport, our residents would require a specialized bus for the disabled if we transported them on a bus.How many of those are immediately available at 1:00 in the morning when we need them? The school children are also taught to go outside if there is a fire. What if it is raining or cold when they are evacuated? Do you want your child to stay in the building when there is a fire as opposed to getting wet and cold? The other option would be to push the wheelchairs and beds through the parking lot, up the incline, onto Highway C4, through the rocky parking lot and into the building. Had it been necessary, it would have happened, but fortuntely, it wasn’t! The building IS fully sprinkled with fire walls and fire doors in place-and functioning. The dryer fire was controlled as expected-it just produced alot of heavy smoke. We have plenty of blankets and the residents were well protected from the elements. It is very easy for some of you to question and judge the actions and decisions of the staff-but, you weren’t there.
Jay resident,
For your information, I do volunteer work, three times a week and some weekends and have done so ever since my mother’s passing last year. Not at CCC or any other nursing home, but working with developmentally challenged children. There is a contingency plan in place at the nursing home where my mother resided before her demise.. where the residents are shuttled to a nearby hospital (for those requiring skilled medical attention) or for those who are ambulatory and not requiring IV’s, etc., to the local municipal auditorium. For your information, regretfully I had to admit my mother to a nursing home because I could no longer PHYSICALLY care for her on my own and work at the same time…not because I “could not deal with it”…I dealt with it for four years before I had no other choice in the matter since her health was rapidly failing. I feel my question was valid, since it was a very cold night the night of the fire and I was simply curious as to whether or not they would have been moved to some sort of shelter, had the fire not been contained as quickly as it was.
to just asking and proudarmyparent when you have an emergency you do everything that is possible to get everyone out of the worse possible danger.In this case was the FIRE!!!Had they had to be out for a long time I know they would have taken further action to get them in another building.Luckily it was contained quickly with little damage and no injures to residents or staff.They were very aware of what they were doing and did a damn good job getting that many people out quickly bed bound and all!They are all caring for elderly people that have been brought there because they’re families can no longer deal with taking care of them so try giving more credit where it’s due and they made sure all those residents were kept wrapped up.Which would you perfer mama being whisked out to safety or burned to death?Since you seem to be so helpful maybe you should give your numbers to the nursing home so you can be called to help out next time anything like this ever happens.GOOD JOB CCC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Common Sense,
No one ever said the staff wasn’t dedicated..yes kudos to them for following their training to the T. All nursing homes have rehearsed fire drills quite often where they evacuate the residents from the facility, do a head count, recheck rooms and beds, etc. I simply wanted to know..had that fire been worse than what it was ..is there a contingency plan in place so that the residents (disabled and ill) are not exposed to the elements, especially if it were raining or freezing rain, etc. It was darned cold that night…I don’t think I would have wanted my elderly, weak, and disabled loved one exposed to the elements for more than 20-30 minutes. So what if they have to be pushed, rolled, or even dragged…you do what is necessary to ensure their safety and to prevent further complications of their illness! Is that too much to ask? Thank God this incident was minor, but what about the next one? My mother was a resident at a nursing home where the contingency plan for a hurricane was to load the patients onto buses and transport them all the way to Valdosta, GA (another one of their privately owned facilities). I informed the administrator that my mother was not to be put on that bus, that I would be there to pick her up.
Glad they were all ok
Common sense person, you aren’t really thinking with common sense if you think an elderly person is better off sitting in the cold. Like I said a contingency plan for any and every possible emergency needs to be in place and a method to carry out that plan is all part of it! I never said it would be easy, but for the benefit of the elderly they need to be taken out of the weather should anything like this ever happen again.
Its wasn’t the lint trap
So glad to hear that no one was hurt…
To Proud Army parent- can you imagine trying to push 86 residents to the AG building in the middle of the night? These aren’t folks that can walk. They are in wheelchairs and beds!
OK folks. Things catch on fire and they are so blessed that no one was hurt. Att-a-boys to the staff that got all of the residents out of the building in a very short time. Very dedicated staff. I’m sure that there is a plan in place but when there is a fire, you just get the residents out of the building and try to protect them. What you do if it happened at your home during the night? You would grab a blanket and go outside-despite the weather! Maybe not the most comfortable solution, but necessary
Every building like a Care Center should have a contingency plan for any and every possible emergency. Byrneville Elementary’s is to take the children to the Community Center. That was set up years ago. Since the Ag. Building is so close to the Century Care Center that would be the most logical solution.
Just thinking out loud!
yes, they should plan their fires more thoughtfully
My question is why were the elderly evacuated to the parking lot when temperatures were so low? Why were they not taken to the Ag. building where they could be out of the wind and weather?
It’s not always lint,I had a problem thought mine was on fire the fire dept. came and checked everything and unpluged the unit and i called the service people out to check it,the next day i was outside and some birds had built a nest in the vent,,,
Poor little old popsicles. What a mess!
Is there not a backup plan in place where these poor souls can be swiftly transported to another close-by facility in the case of an emergency such as this? What if it had been pouring down raining or freezing rain (sleet).
Who is in charge of cleaning the lint filter? That’s probably the issue. This was a good lesson.
Glad everyone is ok….it can be so devastating when it comes to fire…I know personal about losing, we lost everything 5yrs ago due to a clothes dryer everyone said it was probable lint build up but wrong it was due to a faulty switch that was off by ear but was still ticking until it starting burning 4hrs later,,,I feel for anyone that has to go thru what we went thru but just becareful with them,,,I dont even own one know just scares me evening knowing it proable wont happen again just the thought of it…so glad everyone got out safe and sound and not much damage.
Best to everyone
fromer Century resident
Thank goodness no one was hurt.
I am glad it was no serious and no one was hurt. I drove by there on my way home from work about 1:30 and saw all of the fire trucks. I was amazed to see coverage on northescambia when I checked at 2 a.m. Thanks!
Thank goodness there was no injuries and the fire was contained and put out quickly. Wonder if was the lint in the lint filter. I’ll be watching for an update on the cause.