UPDATE: Tacoma General campus still on generator power following electrical vault fire
Tacoma General’s hospital campus continued overnight to repair damage initially caused by a water-system cooling leak that damaged an electrical switch.
An attempt to bring the hospital campus back online Thursday evening was set back with a small fire contained in an electrical vault, according to Scott Thompson, media representative for MultiCare health system.
Thompson said via email late Thursday that as a result, Tacoma General and Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital remained on generator power.
“Around 7:15 p.m. the hospitals were back on normal power and about an hour later a main switch in an electrical vault failed and caught fire,” Thompson wrote. “The fire was contained in the vault.”
He added, “The hospital did experience smoke from the fire, but no staff or patients were injured.”
The hospitals are diverting trauma cases and surgeries, he wrote.
The original incident occurred Wednesday at Tacoma General Hospital, 315 MLK Jr. Way, when a CT machine water-cooling system leak short-circuited an electrical switch feeding Phillips Pavilion at the hospital.
While the incident “did damage electrical equipment,” according to Thompson, “We do have functioning MRI and CT machines. So we are using those for patients.”
At that time, he noted that some surgeries have been transferred and elective procedures canceled.
He noted that an inspection revealed “significant damage to the feeder of one of the transformers serving the pavilion.”
The incident put the hospital on full generator power starting at 2:45 p.m. Wednesday. Thursday afternoon he described the timeline for recovery as “an evolving situation.”
Story updated Friday, Feb. 21, with new details from overnight Thursday.
This story was originally published February 20, 2025 at 4:29 PM.
