Kitchen fire forces Waco hospital evacuation

A kitchen fire at Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center’s Herring Avenue campus prompted the evacuation of the hospital’s 22 patients Tuesday afternoon and sent a security guard to a local hospital for smoke inhalation. Waco Assistant Fire Chief Don Yeager said the grease fire started on a flattop grill in the hospital’s first-floor kitchen. Firefighters received word of the fire at 2:44 p.m.

Because none of the hospital’s windows was open, firefighters had to use electric fans placed in the stairwell to push smoke up five flights of stairs so it could escape through a roof exit.

“It’s a very slow process, very labor-intensive,” Yeager said.

The Hillcrest branch at 3000 Herring Ave. houses post-acute patients, such as those who need physical therapy, said Adam Price, spokesman for Hillcrest. The patients and hospital workers were brought to the main lobby for several hours Tuesday afternoon.

Yeager said most of the facility’s damage was contained to the kitchen.
By Anita Pere in The Waco Tribune-Herald