A female patient and two nursing staff members were injured Tuesday afternoon when a fire sparked at 203-bed Williamsport (Pa.) Regional Medical Center, part of Williamsport-based UPMC Susquehanna.
Nursing staff activated fire alarms around 3:40 p.m. Tuesday after they saw smoke coming from a patient's room on the sixth floor of the hospital, city fire officials told the Sun-Gazette.
When staff entered the room, the patient's gown and a chair she was sitting in were on fire. "Two staff members first attempted to put the fire out with sheets, and then grabbed a portable extinguisher, which was used to successfully put out the fire," Mark Killian, assistant fire chief, told the Sun-Gazette.
The patient suffered serious burns over most of her body, and two members of the nursing staff suffered minor injuries.
The patient was flown to the burn unit at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, Pa., for treatment.
On Wednesday, a fire official said a cigarette lighter caused the fire, according to PennLive.
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