60 patients evacuated from Gateshead hospital

Smoke filled two wards used to treat stroke patients

Author: Rosanna AustinPublished 10th Mar 2018

Sixty patients had to be evacuated from a hospital in Gateshead this morning after a fire broke out inside the building.

Tyne and Wear Fire Service says crews were called to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital just after 4.30am to reports of a fire involving a heating generator.

Smoke filled two of the wards used to treat bed-ridden stroke patients, with 35 moved from one of the wards and 25 from the other.

Four appliances were sent to the building to help clear the smoke.