THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 15, 1995 TAG: 9509150554
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: PETERSBURG LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
Fire alarms at a hospital where four people died in a New Year's Eve blaze had been deactivated for 18 months, but were put back in service within 15 hours of the fire, records show.
The documents also show that a Southside Regional Medical Center nurse had reason to believe that Dora E. Matthews, the woman who started the fire by smoking in bed, had been smoking in the hospital earlier that night.
The documents released to the Richmond Times-Dispatch by the Petersburg Bureau of Fire inspections provide new details on the blaze that has led to at least two lawsuits.
Fire investigators reported that smoke alarms functioned properly the night of the fire, but a fire alarm system monitored by the Petersburg Alarm Co. Inc. had been out of service since July 6, 1993.
The alarm system was put back into service at 12:30 p.m. Jan. 1, 1995, according to a letter from the secretary of the alarm company to the hospital and the Petersburg Fire Department.
The secretary at Petersburg Alarm Co., Mary C. Long, said Wednesday that because the alarm system was marked out of service, her company had no way of knowing about the fire. Long said the hospital still paid for the service while the system was marked out of service, but it didn't receive any of its benefits.
Owner Tom Skelton said his company didn't install the system, only monitored it. He declined to comment about the specific arrangement with Southside Regional, but said other systems automatically alert the company when a fire is detected. The company then takes further action, such as calling a fire department.
The city documents said Matthews, who was 50 when she died with three others in the blaze, had threatened to jump out a fourth-floor window shortly before the fire, according to written statements of nurses.
One of the nurses, Rosalia Ross, wrote: ``The patient from Room 418 yelling that she was going to jump out the window. She dashed into Room 411 and to the window. I ran in behind her and held on to her, yelling for help.''
Her statement continues: ``The patient was carried back to Room 418 and restrained in the bed with towels and old fashion tape to the arms, regular restraints on the legs with tape around the buckles and straps.''
The nurse wrote that ``when I went into Room 418 to assist I noticed a plastic soup bowl next to the wall opposite the bed, with cigarette butt(s) in it.'' by CNB