The hospital is quite smoky. I ask that if the evacuation is necessary, we at BCAS would prefer to do it before conditions deteriorate. At 2100 hours, the decision to evacuate is made because of the impending fire. BC Ambulance must first evacuate 69 stretcher patients from the acute care hospital. Later, we will also have to evacuate 80 stretcher patients from two long term care facilities, as well as assisting 105 elderly patients onto buses.
Dispatch is advised.
Under the direction of the ever-professional dispatcher Hardeep Dhaliwal, the first ambulance arrives at 2109 hours. Nine ambulances are used in the evacuation, some units carrying three stretcher patients, if their condition allows. By 0230 hours the last patients are on their way. During the evacuation two Salmon Arm units cover the needs of the town, one Vernon unit covers at the south end of the fire, and one Chase unit comes in to cover the north end of the fire. It's a little before midnight and the winds have died down.