Philadelphia — The emergency room at Temple University Hospital’s Episcopal Campus was closed on Saturday afternoon due to a patient lighting a fire inside a room there.
Authorities said the 30- to 40-year-old male patient was searched by hospital security officers at about 2:40 p.m. before he was placed in a room, reports WJAC. He was admitted to the hospital for drug detoxification.
According to police, after being admitted, the man barricaded himself inside his room, turned on the oxygen tanks and lit his bed sheets on fire, reports NBC Philadelphia.
A maintenance worker then broke a window and the patient climbed out. He then fought with security before law enforcement officers arrived and arrested the man.
Other emergency room patients were evacuated to Temple University Hospital’s Main Campus, and no one was injured during the incident.
The building’s sprinkler system extinguished the blaze, and the fire was declared an arson by the fire marshal.
