Overview
- The blaze broke out around 4 a.m. in a single room of the Hyères public hospital’s emergency unit and was contained by a security agent and a caregiver using extinguishers before firefighters arrived.
- A septuagenarian patient, admitted on January 2, died in the affected room, according to officials including the Var prefect and the Toulon prosecutor.
- Thirty-two people were evacuated horizontally, including transfers within the hospital, and about sixty firefighters were mobilized for the response.
- Several staff and outside personnel who inhaled smoke were taken in for observation, with authorities reporting no particular concern for their condition at this stage.
- A judicial inquiry is underway to determine the cause, with a plausible oxygen-leak scenario reported earlier and a serious cigarette-ignition line of inquiry noted by the prosecutor; the ER remains closed pending a favorable safety commission opinion while other hospital services continue to operate.