UPDATE: Nursing Home Residents Okay After Early Morning Fire

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Residents of a Macon nursing home woke up to smoke inside one of the wings of the building early Monday morning.

Macon-Bibb Fire Chief Marvin Riggins says the initial call in from Rosewood Nursing Center, located at 2795 Finney Circle, at 2:39 a.m.

A second alarm was called in after first responders arrived, as firefighters and nursing home staff worked to evacuate the facility’s 90 residents.

Riggins says there were no serious injuries, however seven residents and four staff members were taken to local hospitals as a precaution.  Most of those suffered from smoke inhalation, and at least one person was checked for stress.

In a press conference Monday afternoon, Riggins praised his department and the nursing home staff for getting everyone out safely and in a timely manner.

“It took us probably a half hour or so to actually get the fire under control,” says Riggins.  “But naturally, some of the patients there have complications which disallows quick removal from the property.  We had to take time–and some were bedridden, so it takes a lot of time and people power to evacuate that many people.”

He says it looks like the fire started in a mechanical room on the property, and smoke from the blaze quickly filled one wing of the facility.

That wing suffered smoke and water damage. Riggins says the building’s sprinkler system worked effectively.

He says four residents suffered damage to their rooms and were temporarily relocated to other facilities.

The facility’s director, Larry Haynes, tells us those displaced residents are now back at Rosewood.