VERNAL — An electrical problem with a transformer at Ashley Regional Medical Center prompted the brief evacuation Monday of a nearby medical clinic, firefighters said.
Hospital workers reported the odor of a possible electrical fire just before 3 p.m., said Jeremy Raymond, Uintah Fire District executive director.
Firefighters, all of them volunteers, arrived within five minutes of the first call out, Raymond said. Hospital staff directed firefighters to a smoldering transformer in the building's basement, he said.
"The transformer actually had an automatic shutdown on it," Raymond said. "We just confirmed that the power was shut off to the transformer."
The transformer will have to be replaced, but there was no other damage to the hospital.
Firefighters briefly evacuated a clinic attached to Ashley Regional while they cleared light smoke from that part of the building. None of the staff or patients in the hospital itself were forced outside, according to hospital spokeswoman Debbie Spafford.
— Geoff Liesik