New video shows start of fire that closed Brockton Hospital in 2023

Amelia Stern, The Enterprise
·2 min read

BROCKTON — Officials at Signature Healthcare released a video that shows the start of the fire that forced the evacuation and closure of Brockton Hospital last February, according to WCVB.

The video released to the news outlet on Monday depicts the outside of the hospital’s main electrical room where an accidental fire broke out shortly before 8 a.m. on Feb. 7, 2023.

Watch the video here: Video shows start of fire that led to Brockton Hospital shutdown (wcvb.com)

Despite multiple investigations, Backoff said the exact cause of the accidental fire remains a mystery. One thing investigators have learned, Backoff said, was that it was not a transformer fire as widely reported.

Backoff did not immediately respond Tuesday morning regarding current plans for reopening or any update on the cause of the fire.

More than 70 ambulances, hundreds of firefighters and paramedics, 31 fire engines, seven ladder trucks, and mutual aid from as far north at Brookline and as far south as Cape Cod showed up to extinguish the blaze and evacuate the hospital's patients.

New video footage captures the start of the 10-alarm fire that shut down Brockton Hospital on Feb. 7, 2023.
New video footage captures the start of the 10-alarm fire that shut down Brockton Hospital on Feb. 7, 2023.

It was the first-ever 10-alarm response in the 200-year-history of the Brockton Fire Department, according to Mayor Robert Sullivan.

While the fire was extinguished by 9:25 a.m., evacuation efforts remained active into the afternoon. In the end, 160 hospital patients were transferred from Brockton Hospital to other medical facilities throughout Massachusetts with no injuries or deaths.

More than a year later, Brockton Hospital remains temporarily closed amid renovations.

Signature Healthcare had hoped to fully reopen the hospital by the end of 2023, but supply chain problems have pushed the reopening of inpatient and emergency services into 2024.

Patients are being evacuated at Signature Healthcare Brockton Hosptial after a transformer fire broke out in the basement of a building on the campus on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023.
Patients are being evacuated at Signature Healthcare Brockton Hosptial after a transformer fire broke out in the basement of a building on the campus on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023.

The Enterprise's coverage of the Brockton Hospital fire:

This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: Video shows start of fire at Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital