Police: ER closed at Philly hospital after man sets fire with oxygen tanks

A man barricaded himself in a room at Episcopal Hospital and then lit bedroom sheets on fire, police say.

Associated Press
NBC10 staff

May 24, 2020

Temple Health – Episcopal Campus (Courtesy of Temple Health)

This article originally appeared on NBC10.

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The emergency room at a Kensington hospital was closed Saturday after a man set a fire inside one of the rooms, police said.

A man at Temple University Hospital’s Episcopal Campus barricaded himself in a room in the emergency department and set fire to bedsheets, but no one was injured.

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Police said hospital security searched the 30- to 40-year-old man at about 2:40 p.m. Saturday and placed him in a room. The man was there to receive drug treatment. Police said he barricaded himself inside and turned on oxygen tanks, then lit the bedsheets on fire.

Police said a maintenance man broke a window and the man climbed out and fought with security, but police arrived and arrested him. The emergency room was evacuated with no injuries. The blaze was extinguished and the fire marshal declared it an arson.

A spokeswoman for Temple Health said the building’s sprinkler system extinguished the fire. Patients in the ER were transported to Temple University Hospital’s Main Campus, she added. The hospital will continue sending ER patients there until the Episcopal ER can reopen.

Police said the emergency room will remain closed until repairs are completed.

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