Ambulances back at LICH after water leak repaired

Water main break also hits Maimonides

January 9, 2014 By Raanan Geberer Brooklyn Daily Eagle

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Ambulance service to Long Island College Hospital in Cobble Hill was restored by midday on Thursday after it had been in the recovery room from the effects of an internal water leak on Wednesday around 7 p.m., according to a Fire Department spokesperson.

“There was a water leak inside LICH [Wednesday] night. FDNY ambulances were placed on diversion from approx 7 p.m. last night until 10 a.m. this morning,” Frank Dwyer of the FDNY Press Office said on Thursday afternoon.

Ron Najman, spokesperson for LICH’s parent body, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, added that the break affected laboratory services as well as forcing the temporary diversion of ambulances to other hospitals. Throughout the night, maintenance crews were on the site assessing the situation and conducting repair work so that the hospital could again begin receiving ambulances.

Ted Timbers of the city Department of Environmental Protection said that the water break was inside the hospital itself and didn’t involve a city water main. It basically was contained to one area, and the LICH emergency room was still accepting walk-in patients during that time.

In an unrelated incident, said Dwyer, a water leak also diverted ambulances from Maimonides Medical Center from around 7 p.m. to midnight on Wednesday night. In both cases, ambulances were sent to neighboring hospitals in the borough. Temperatures were in the teens that night, and freezing cold weather has been known to cause breaks in water pipes.