PINE BLUFF, Ark. — After a fire broke out at Jefferson Regional Medical Center on Tuesday night, crews continue to work on repairing the damage. That fire caused damage that affected systems related to the grid connecting the hospital to Entergy.
A statement from Jefferson Regional released on Facebook explained that the fire was put out quickly.
The statement went on to say: "Outpatient surgeries, procedures and testing scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday have been canceled. Inpatients are being transferred to hospitals around the state or discharged, based on their condition. The Jefferson Regional Emergency Room is operational, but ambulances are on diversion to other facilities.
Power crews have been on campus and working to fix the issues since our crews arrived on Wednesday morning.
A spokesperson for Entergy said, "The current estimated restoration time is 10:00 p.m. tonight. We are investigating the cause of the outage," They said. "Our top priority is the safety and wellbeing of the hospital's patients, and we are working quickly to safely restore their power."
That safety has also been the top priority for Josh Bishop, CEO of Emergency Ambulance Services, Inc. He and his team were busy on Tuesday night and all day Wednesday, transporting patients who couldn't stay at Jefferson Regional due to the fire.
"I've been doing it 12 years, and we've never had anything like this," Bishop said. "There was really no starting the day because it never ended yesterday. I knew that there was a possibility they would have to evacuate the remaining patients, and this morning, they confirmed that."
Pictures shared by someone who drove by on Tuesday night show burned spots on the side of the equipment.
"We worked last night to help them get all of their ICU and ED patients transferred out to whatever accepting hospitals they could go to within the state," Bishop described.
Bishop said there were 13 patients who were transferred out and moved to hospitals around the state.
"We had to bring in extra staff and everybody did what they had to do to get the goals accomplished and get the best patient care they could for our patients," he said.
Entergy Arkansas stated that as of Wednesday evening, power to the hospital was completely restored.
The Jefferson County Judge has verbally declared an emergency, so the hospital can get state aid if needed.
This is a developing story. When more information is released, we will keep you informed.