A contractor accidentally drilled into a buried high-pressure oxygen line at Kaiser Permanente's San Rafael Medical Center on Tuesday morning, Oct. 27, according to the San Rafael Fire Department. The hospital's emergency department went on divert and ambulances were sent to other hospitals while crews worked on the line.
What happened
Firefighters were dispatched at 9:06 a.m. to the hospital campus at 99 Montecillo Road. The ruptured line ran between the hospital and its operations and maintenance building, Patch reported, and it carried oxygen from a large storage tank that supplies the hospital.
The Marin County Hazardous Materials Response team joined San Rafael firefighters to fix the line and remove the risk of an oxygen-fed fire, Bay City News reported. The response included San Rafael fire engines, a ladder truck, ambulance units, police and a drone, plus crews from other regional agencies.
Patients kept on oxygen
Hospital officials prepared to evacuate critically ill patients who need continuous oxygen. Crews brought in portable oxygen tanks instead, and hospital administrators decided the portable supply had stabilized things and an evacuation wasn't needed.
A second leak
After about 90 minutes, the hazmat team found and secured the damaged oxygen line. Responders still saw vapor escaping. They traced it to an adjacent high-pressure steam pipe, not the oxygen line, and secured that pipe too, which ended the emergency.
No injuries were reported. The fire department didn't give a damage estimate or name the contractor.
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