Patients flee as fire ravages mental hospital

A FIRE has devastated a secure hospital unit for mentally ill criminals, causing up to £60million damage in the third major hospital fire in London this year.

Up to 70 patients and staff fled as flames swept through Chase Farm hospital in north London.

About 100 firefighters spent more than six hours tackling the blaze at the Camlet 3 unit housed in a secured compound after the fire took hold just after 6.30pm yesterday.

Health chiefs said there were no breaches of security and no one was hurt. The fire wrecked the roof of the building, which collapsed last night destroying most of the first floor and damaging up to 20 per cent of the ground floor. It is not yet known whether the fire was started deliberately.

The 60 patients spent the night in makeshift wards, many using mattresses on the floor of a gym.

Oliver Treacy, acting director of operations at Barnet, Enfield and Haringey mental health NHS Trust, said: "The least unwell people are cared for in the open environment, while those who are more vulnerable are in the wards."

The other fires this year hit the Royal Marsden in January and Great Ormond Street last month.