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Currituck Firefighters respond to Nursing Home Fire

84 Sentara Residents evacuated by Staff

( Barco ) - An early morning fire at Sentara Nursing Home in Barco resulted in the evacuation of 84 residents. According to Currituck County Public Information Officer, Randall Edwards, fire alarms went off at approximately 12:20 am this morning (Wednesday). Edwards related that the 911 emergency dispatch center was notified, with response from county law enforcement, units from Crawford Volunteer Fire Department in Sligo, Moyock Volunteer Fire Department, and Lower Currituck Volunteer Fire Department in Grandy and Currituck Emergency Medical Services.

The fire was isolated in the ceiling of one room - possibly electrical in origin. According to Edwards, there were 84 residents and 15 staff members in the building at the time of the alarm. Staff had begun evacuating residents, and were proceeding when Fire and EMS crews arrived.

Two Sentara staff members were subsequently transported to Albemarle Hospital in stable condition, where they were treated for smoke inhalation and later released.

After the fire was extinguished Currituck County Building Inspector and Currituck County Fire Marshall inspected the building and attic to determine whether it was safe for residents to re-enter the building.

Currituck County Fire & Emergency Medical Services Chief, Michael Carter, confirmed that the fire call was dispatched at 12:25 am, with units arriving on the scene at 12:32 am. According to Carter the fire originated in the ballast at the end of a lighthing fixture in one room.

Carter commended all responding units for working well together in a coordinated fashion. “Our interdepartmental and mass care situation training paid off,” said Carter. Carter also stated that while the event was unfortunate in nature, the departments had a good turnout of personnel, and it was a good day for Currituck Fire and Emergency Services.

According to Carter, the fire scene was cleared shortly before 3 a.m. with residents allowed to re-enter the building.

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