24 Hospitalized After Fire At Coventry Rehab Center

COVENTRY, RI — A fire broke out at a Coventry nursing facility Thursday night, sending several residents to the hospital. Two dozen residents of the Genesis Respiratory and Rehabilitation Center were treated for smoke inhalation.

The fire alarm was triggered from the third floor of the Woodland Drive facility around 8:45 p.m., Central Coventry Fire Chief Frank Brown said. When firefighters arrived, they opened a fire door to find eight residents on the floor of a small solarium, coughing and drying for help. Smoke had already descended within three feet of the floor, Brown said.

The fire itself. contained to a single room, was small, Brown said, and was extinguished when the sprinklers were triggered. There was one resident inside the room, who was treated for smoke inhalation.

"In the end, it was a small fire, it just produced a lot of smoke," Brown told Patch, saying it was "a well-coordinated" effort.

The event was declared a level four mass casualty incident, Brown said, which meant there were at least 20 ambulances at the scene. In total, 24 residents were hospitalized for smoke inhalation, and no firefighters were injured.

"While all of our patients, residents and staff are safe, numerous residents were taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation," a spokesperson for Genesis said in a statement. "We want to thank the staff who acted so quickly when the fire arose and the fire department for their assistance."