Over 100 patients evacuated as fire fighters battle huge blaze at Wexford General Hospital

The fire appears to have taken hold in the old part of the hospital to the rear and sent huge plumes of smoke out over Wexford town.

Wexford Fire Service were summoned to the scene at around 4 p.m. as bemused patients and staff members gathered in the hospital car park and watched on.

Patients were evacuated from all of the hospital’s wards into the car park. One hospital porter was heard to remark “we're evacuating them to any place we can”.

Although flames were not initially visible, loud bangs and pops were audible from the hospital grounds before huge flames could eventually be seen shooting from the top of the building.

Early indications from staff at the scene were that the fire may have started in the hospital’s plant room or boiler room and it is not yet clear just how far the blaze had spread into the hospital building. Regardless, it’s likely to have caused significant damage to the hospital building.

At least nine units from Wexford Fire Service are in attendance at the scene and fire fighters loaded with breathing apparatus have entered the building in a bid to quench the blaze.

The fire service are also using a cherrypicker in a bid to dampen things down from above, but they were struggling to access the heart of the blaze to the rear of the building.

More to follow.