Experts raise UHL fire safety fears

Evacuating staff & patients quickly is "very difficult"

- BY DAN DANAHER

IT may be difficult to evacuate people out of University Hospital Limerick’s chronically overcrowded Emergency Department in the event of a fire, internal files have revealed.

Fire officers have raised questions about the potential difficulty of evacuating patients and staff safely in a short period of time from the Emergency Department.

The possible fire risk posed to patients and staff during periods of chronic congestion have been revealed for the first time in internal files, which have been released against the wishes of a local authority.