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Electrical problem clears 10 residents from nursing home

Morning Journal/Deanne Johnson East Palestine and New Waterford firefighters and EMS lined up in front of Covington Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation on Friday afternoon after an electrical problem led to some evacuations.

EAST PALESTINE — An electrical problem at Covington Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation led to the evacuation of a handful of people living in the facility on Friday afternoon.

East Palestine Fire Chief Josh Brown said the fire department was initially called in for a burning electrical smell and believed the problem was found in one of the light ballasts in a residential room. The light ballast was malfunctioning and the wiring melted inside.

However, after investigating the situation further, firefighters from East Palestine and New Waterford began finding the same problem in multiple rooms. Brown said every room has two of those light ballasts and everyone of them checked was malfunctioning. The melting wiring was causing an odor.

“I didn’t want to take the chance,” Brown said, emphasizing no residents were in immediate danger but they did not know what was causing problems. The staff and East Palestine and New Waterford EMS began the evacuation protocol.

At first the plan was to evacuate everyone. A woman needing medical equipment due to her health condition was taken to Salem Regional Medical Center by ambulance just in case she were to need immediate medical assistance. Nine others were taken to another facility related to Covington.

By that time an electrical contractor had come to the facility and determined the problem could be fixed, at least temporarily, by removing all the ballasts and capping off the wiring. Additional electricians were called to the facility to assist with removing the ballasts in a more time efficient manner and the evacuation was put on hold.

Aside from East Palestine and New Waterford firefighters and EMS, Brown said they had put other nearby departments on notice in case additional assistance was needed either at Covington or nearby while they were there. The fire department stayed until after 5:30 p.m.

djohnson@mojonews.com

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