No fire as black smoke pours from Overlake Hospital

Published 4:09 pm Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Black smoke came billowing from an exhaust pipe at Overlake Hospital around noon Wednesday, prompting several witnesses to call the Bellevue Fire Department.

There was no fire. The thick smoke resulted from a switch the hospital made to a backup heating system that uses a diesel-powered steam boiler.

“Apparently there were some fine-tuning adjustments that needed to be made when we switched over,” said Overlake spokeswoman Karen Johnson.

The hospital switched to its backup heating system following a disruption in natural-gas service from Puget Sound Energy. Service was still not restored at 2:46 p.m., Johnson said.

Overlake uses natural gas for heating, hot water, and sterilization, according to Johnson.

PSE warned Overlake of the disruption before it could affect the hospital, so there was no lapse in heating for the facility.

The Bellevue Fire Department sent one unit to the hospital after several reports of smoke were called in.

“It was very visible for a time being,” said Bellevue Fire Deparment spokesman Eric Keenan. “We were right on top of it, but we didn’t have to do a thing. There was no fire.”