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Nursing Home Fire Leaves 10 Dead
Aired February 26, 2003 - 13:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And we are going to begin right here at home with another tragic fire. It erupted overnight at a nursing home in Hartford, Connecticut. Today, 10 people are dead, and a person described as a resident is being questioned by police.
CNN's Jason Carroll is standing by live to tell us the latest -- Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, another tragic fire in the northeast, and again more questions about exactly what happened. Let me tell you exactly where we're standing. Right on the other side here of this fence is the Greenwood Health Care facility. That is where the fire happened, early morning. As you see right there, it was restricted to the southeastern portion of the building.
Fire broke out at about 2:30 in the morning. Some 148 patients were actually inside the residence there. Ten are reported dead, nine have been identified, 23 of them are hospitalized, 10 are in critical condition. Many of the patients were mobily (ph) impaired, so it was extremely difficult to get some of the residents out of the facility. Just a short while ago, we spoke to a representative from the chief State's Attorney's Office. He talked about the fact that because of what happened here, because of the fact that there were no sprinklers in this particular facility -- sprinklers not required -- he says because of what happened here, laws are likely to be changed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS MORANO, CONNECTICUT STATE ATTORNEY: Yesterday, I appeared at the state capital and met with lawmakers to talk about nightclub fires and venues of that type, and what we could do with our laws to make them tougher and to be preventative. And we spoke a lot yesterday about being preventative. Today, we're back to being reactive. But we will probably find some things as a result of this incident that will make us want to look at some codes in the area of sprinklers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: At this point, everyone who was inside the facility has been accounted for. Also, an individual is in custody and is being questioned at this point. That individual described as a female patient here at the facility. The chief inspector here telling me that they've obtained some sort of a search warrant. What they are going to be doing is going through the facility, trying to secure any evidence for their case. This is a criminal investigation at this point. At this point, investigators are going to try and determine whether or not this was some sort of an accident or whether or not this fire was intentional -- Anderson.
COOPER: So, Jason, is the facility shut down at this point? And if so, where are all the residents now?
CARROLL: No, the facility, in fact, is not shut down. Because the fire was restricted to the southeastern wing, if you will, of this particular facility, the other portions of the facility are open. So there are patients that are here in the part of the facility that was not affected by the fire. That portion of the facility does remain open -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Jason Carroll, thanks very much. Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired February 26, 2003 - 13:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And we are going to begin right here at home with another tragic fire. It erupted overnight at a nursing home in Hartford, Connecticut. Today, 10 people are dead, and a person described as a resident is being questioned by police.
CNN's Jason Carroll is standing by live to tell us the latest -- Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, another tragic fire in the northeast, and again more questions about exactly what happened. Let me tell you exactly where we're standing. Right on the other side here of this fence is the Greenwood Health Care facility. That is where the fire happened, early morning. As you see right there, it was restricted to the southeastern portion of the building.
Fire broke out at about 2:30 in the morning. Some 148 patients were actually inside the residence there. Ten are reported dead, nine have been identified, 23 of them are hospitalized, 10 are in critical condition. Many of the patients were mobily (ph) impaired, so it was extremely difficult to get some of the residents out of the facility. Just a short while ago, we spoke to a representative from the chief State's Attorney's Office. He talked about the fact that because of what happened here, because of the fact that there were no sprinklers in this particular facility -- sprinklers not required -- he says because of what happened here, laws are likely to be changed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS MORANO, CONNECTICUT STATE ATTORNEY: Yesterday, I appeared at the state capital and met with lawmakers to talk about nightclub fires and venues of that type, and what we could do with our laws to make them tougher and to be preventative. And we spoke a lot yesterday about being preventative. Today, we're back to being reactive. But we will probably find some things as a result of this incident that will make us want to look at some codes in the area of sprinklers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: At this point, everyone who was inside the facility has been accounted for. Also, an individual is in custody and is being questioned at this point. That individual described as a female patient here at the facility. The chief inspector here telling me that they've obtained some sort of a search warrant. What they are going to be doing is going through the facility, trying to secure any evidence for their case. This is a criminal investigation at this point. At this point, investigators are going to try and determine whether or not this was some sort of an accident or whether or not this fire was intentional -- Anderson.
COOPER: So, Jason, is the facility shut down at this point? And if so, where are all the residents now?
CARROLL: No, the facility, in fact, is not shut down. Because the fire was restricted to the southeastern wing, if you will, of this particular facility, the other portions of the facility are open. So there are patients that are here in the part of the facility that was not affected by the fire. That portion of the facility does remain open -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Jason Carroll, thanks very much. Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
