



Fire evacuates hospital neonatal ward

A fire in the postnatal ward at Blacktown Hospital has caused the evacuation of 29 people.

Crews from Seven Hills and Blacktown fire stations were called just after 6.30am to the hospital, where they found a fire that had cracked seven glass panels, the Fire Brigade Employees Union said.

The union said the fire was in a neonatal ward, but a hospital spokeswoman later confirmed it was on a veranda outside the postnatal ward.

The fire union said the fire was an example of the risks posed by a state government plan to shut down local fire stations temporarily, so that firefighters could fill gaps at other stations to cut overtime cost blow-outs.

Last week, the NSW Industrial Relations Commission ordered that the NSW government delay its plans for eight Sydney stations to be shut down temporarily so firefighters could fill shortages elsewhere.

The fire union's state secretary, Jim Casey, said the plan to shut the fire stations could have a "devastating" effect on community safety.

"I hate to think what might have happened to that ward of newborns and their mothers if either Seven Hills or Blacktown stations had been offline when the alarm came in," he said.

He said the crew from Seven Hills arrived at the station within five minutes, while the crew from Blacktown arrived within 10 minutes.

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