Two people were rushed to hospital following a fire that broke out in a building in San Michele in Verona.
The alarm went off just before 11.30pm on Monday, due to the flames breaking out in an apartment located on the first floor of the building in via Fedeli 69, which has eight levels. Three vehicles from the Verona fire brigade and one from Caldiero headed to the scene and began searching for the residents inside the house which was completely invaded by smoke and combustion products. Two people were identified, lying on the floor and unconsciousimmediately transported outside and entrusted to the care of healthcare personnel. Furthermore, the firefighters took care of evacuate the other 40 residents in the buildingstuck in the house due to the smoke that had invaded the stairwell of the condominium. The teams prepared the evacuation by using special rescue masks, which allow good visibility and allow the rescuer to breathe the air.
The firefighters put out the fire and entrusted two intoxicated people to the 118 staff, who arrived with ambulances and medical vehicles, who took them under code red to the city hospitals, together with another person who was taken away under code green.
State police and local police also intervened on the scene. The fire could have been caused by a person who fell asleep with a lit cigarette.
The apartment where the fire occurred was found to be unusable due to smoke and heat damage, while all the other tenants were able to return to their respective homes after approximately 3 hours.
The operations were coordinated by the fire brigade officer on duty.
The conditions of the wounded
The Verona Integrated University Hospital has informed that the two most seriously injured are now hospitalized in general intensive care and neurosurgical intensive care with a reserved prognosis for smoke intoxication. They are a man and a woman, both in their 50sinvolved in the fire that broke out in the San Michele building and taken under code red to the Trauma center, Borgo Trento emergency room.
A third patient, a man in his 70she was instead treated at the Borgo Roma emergency room under code green again for milder smoke inhalation.
Another 31 people living in the building were assessed and discharged on site without requiring hospital treatment.
The vehicles and health workers of Suem 118 intervened at 11.40pm on Monday night with 2 medical vehicles, 2 nursed ambulances, 3 basic ambulances and a coordination centre. Given the high number of apartments, the Suem operations center activated the pre-alert state, calling the director Adriano Valerio and the coordinator Marco Manzini into service as well as the on-call staff (a doctor, a nurse and a driver). In this way there was no pressure on the emergency departments of the two hospitals through on-site healthcare management.
