PATIENTS and staff were evacuated from a Royal Bolton Hospital Ward after a fire yesterday.

Twelve patients and eight staff members were relocated from the Clinical Decisions Unit to the B2 ward after an electrical fire broke out in the ward’s wiring system.

No one was injured in the blaze, which burned out the system’s electrical casing and also damaged a partition wall.

The CDU ward has since been shut and it is not known when it will reopen.

The 14-bed unit, which cost £1.5 million, opened in 2012, and is designed to reduce the pressure on the busy Accident and Emergency unit, especially over the winter, when there is usually a peak in the number of people going to casualty.

The fire started at around noon, and three engines from Farnworth and Bolton Central fire services attended the scene for around three hours, extinguishing the flames with fire powder.

A fire service spokesman praised hospital staff for their quick reactions and for following the hospital’s fire procedures effectively.

He said: “This was an accidental fire and these things do happen, but fortunately procedures were in place to stop anything from happening.

“The hospital put their fire procedures into practice well and they called the fire service early. They made quick decisions and people were evacuated.”