A photo of a Saint John fire truck.
Officials are trying to figure out what caused a gas alarm activation at the Saint John Regional Hospital.
Fire crews say they got a call about an ethylene oxide alarm shortly after 3 p.m. Wednesday.
Platoon Chief Steve Voutour said it was coming from a room where staff use the gas to sanitize operating room equipment.
Voutour said employees were unable to reset the alarm and evacuated the room as per their protocols.
Firefighters worked out an action plan to get back inside through testing and air quality monitoring, which took “a bit of time,” he said.
Voutour said they determined the alarm was a false positive from the monitoring system and no one had been exposed to the gas. He noted the room in question is a negative pressure room which is designed for this gas.
Voutour said the biggest concern was the flammability of the gas, which is also “somewhat toxic.”
Fire crews were on scene for about four hours.
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