Home 
Power generators should always be housed in a structure away from the building that it feeds electric power, fire officials said after assessing the damage to the South General Hospital in Naga City, southern Cebu.
Fire officials will meet hospital administrators about this to avoid a repeat of last Thursday?s fire.
?We will discuss standard procedures in putting up a generator set,? said FO1 Nelson Daculan, Naga City fire investigator.
He said the cause of the fire was traced to the generator located in the hospital?s basement, which sparked as it automatically switched on during a brownout.
The spark caused a small explosion in the generator room. This also caused 3,000 liters of crude oil in the hospital?s engineering department to spill over and add fuel to the fire.
Daculan advised establishments to setup generator sets several meters away from the main building as a precaution.
Thursday?s fire destroyed over P2 million of hospital property, he said.
The hospital has been closed for repairs after the blaze and is expected to be without electric power for three days, said engineer Oscar Tuazon, hospital administrator.
The fire was limited to the engineering department but was enough to severely impair the hospital?s electrical systems.
Tuazon said the generator has to be replaced and the hospital?s electrical system has to be inspected for hidden damage.
The Department of Health (DOH) lauded the hospital staff?s swift evacuation of patients when the fire struck.
Dr. Expedito Medalla, DOH?s Health Emergency Management Staff coordinator, said South General patients who needed confinement were swiftly brought to the Cebu City Medical Center, St. Vincent Hospital and Cebu Doctors? Hospital, all in Cebu City.
?The Cebu Doctors? Hospital management (which runs South General) was able to control the crowd and with the emergency they showed they have a program in place for disaster preparedness,? he said.
He noted that proper maintenance of the power generator should also be part of the preparedness program.
He said there was no official statement from the hospital on whether it was proper to install the generator set so close to the hospital?s intensive care unit.
?We will be asking physicists, because they are the experts on these things,? Medalla said.
