LOUISVILLE, Colo. — Newly released video showed flames from the Marshall Fire burning just outside a Louisville hospital on Thursday.
The video captured plumes of smoke billowing outside Centura Health and Avista Adventist Hospital while tree-sized flames crested the hill towards the medical facility.
>> Video below: Fire viewed from Avista Adventist Hospital roof
Amazingly, the hospital escaped any direct damage from the fire, but officials said smoke damage will keep the building closed for now.
“The high winds were driving the fire straight toward our hospital on the north side, so to return hours later and find no significant damage is truly a miracle,” the hospital’s chief executive officer Isaac Sendros explained. “We are eternally grateful and thankful to the first responders who responded with urgency and have tirelessly worked since the fire first erupted in our community.”
Officials said the fire, which left hundreds of homes in the county destroyed, came within feet of hospital oxygen tanks that could have led to an explosion.
In another video, one nurse detailed the evacuation of patients from one end of the hospital to the other as the flames neared. Soot and ash could be seen across the hospital floor.
Crews are surveying the full extent of the damage to the hospital’s heating and air system in hopes of getting the building back in working order.
The hospital's air filters and other equipment are already in the process of being replaced.
The Colorado National Guard is also providing help to the hospital.
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