Changing room fire at Dundee hospital

Following a blaze which began in a changing room at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, hundreds of people had to be evacuated from the building on Thursday morning.

It was thought that a discarded cigarette may have been to blame for the fire which was one of the worst in the hospital’s 36 years of operation.

However, a spokesperson for NHS Tayside said, “The cause of the blaze is not known at this stage and investigations are ongoing.”

Tayside Fire and Rescue Service were on the scene at around 11:40am when a person reported that they had seen smoke. The fire began in the nurses changing room on the fifth level of the building.

The blaze was brought under control by firefighters and it has been confirmed that nobody was injured.

The site manager at the hospital, Brian Main, said:

“Firefighters attended the fire and quickly extinguished the blaze. The damage has been extensive and the changing room gutted, but thankfully no-one was injured.”

People were evacuated from the building once the alarm was set off and staff and patients had to wait for two hours before being told it was safe to return inside the hospital.

An investigation has now been launched into the fire to determine the exact cause.