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Hazmat team responds to HCA Florida JFK Hospital after haze fills intensive care unit

Firefighters forced to break windows to ventilate rooms, Greenacres Fire Rescue says
A West Palm Beach Fire Department hazmat truck responds to HCA Florida JFK Hospital in Atlantis on Dec. 1, 2023.jpg
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ATLANTIS, Fla. — A hazmat team responded to HCA Florida JFK Hospital in Atlantis on Friday after fire officials said a haze filled part of the intensive care unit.

Greenacres Fire Rescue said a construction crew using acetylene torches — which are typically used to cut metal — were at the hospital, located at 5301 South Congress Avenue, when the haze appeared in the ICU.

According to a spokesperson for HCA Florida JFK Hospital, the workers ignited a small fire while working on a sink and quickly put it out using a fire extinguisher.

"Due to the smoke, about 11 patients were moved to different areas of the hospital," a hospital spokesperson said in a written statement to WPTV. "The fire department has given the all-clear, and the hospital is operating normally."

Firefighters had to open windows and even break some windows that they couldn't open in order to ventilate the hospital, Greenacres Fire Rescue said.

Aerial video from WPTV Chopper 5 showed a West Palm Beach Fire Department hazmat truck near the emergency ward entrance, along with a ladder truck extending its ladder to a second story roof.

The West Palm Beach Fire Department responds to HCA Florida JFK Hospital in Atlantis on Dec. 1, 2023.jpg
The West Palm Beach Fire Department responds to HCA Florida JFK Hospital in Atlantis on Dec. 1, 2023.

A spokesperson for Greenacres Fire Rescue said no one was hurt.