LEXINGTON, Mass. — Over 100 residents were evacuated from a nursing and rehabilitation center on Saturday night after an apparent electrical issue, fire officials say.
According to Lexington Fire Chief Derek Sencabaugh, fire crews were dispatched to the CareOne facility at 178 Lowell Street to reports of a “major power failure.”
Sencabaugh said that the building had been having issues “on and off again” for the past few days.
Sencabaugh added that the building’s power was tied into nearly all aspects of the building, including the sewage system. The order to de-energize the building was given.
Mutual aid from other fire departments arrived to assist in evacuating residents from the building, including a program called “MassMap.”
“It’s kind of like a mutual aid between nursing centers when they have an event like this,” Chief Sencabaugh said. “So these patients and residents that are here are not going primarily to hospitals. They’re going out to other nursing centers in town, as well as CareOne has some others throughout the state.”
The chief said that it was a synchronized process to evacuate the patients, but time-consuming. Additionally, he added that a maintenance worker was injured during the process but is expected to be ok.
No word yet as to when the building will be reopened.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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