KGH smoke tracked down

UPDATE: Tuesday 6:20 a.m.

Firefighters tracked down a smell of smoke at Kelowna General Hospital Monday night to smoking materials outside an exterior wall.

Crews responded to a general fire alarm at KGH just before 5 p.m. and encountered a light smoke smell on the first floor.

The smoke was determined to be coming from the bottom of an exterior wall near the front of the hospital, says Platoon Capt. Scott Clarke.

The origin of the fire proved difficult to access, but was extinguished quickly with minor damage to the building. 

Clarke says the fire was not suspicious in nature, and patients and hospital staff were not impacted by the incident.

Three engines, a ladder truck, rescue unit and a command unit, with 16 personnel responded to the scene.

ORIGINAL: Monday 5:40 p.m.

Fire crews are on scene as of 5:30 p.m. Monday at Kelowna General Hospital.

Castanet's Wayne Moore is on scene and tells us there are multiple fire crews and emergency response teams working on tracking down a strong smell of smoke. The call came in when a strong smell of smoke was reported from the day surgery rooms.

Firefighters have been working on finding the source of the odour.

Five fire trucks are on scene, and a video taken by Wayne Moore indicates crews have concentrated their efforts on a vent that leads to the lower levels of the hospital.

More to come...