Burning beds in Whitehorse Correctional Centre and Whitehorse General Hospital kept firefighters busy this weekend.
An inmate in prison and a psychiatric patient in the hospital both lit their mattresses on fire within a nine-hour span.
It started around 9:20 p.m. Friday, when an inmate, held in segregation, lit his mattress and blanket on fire.
Prison workers put the fire out before firemen arrived. Firefighters cleared the building of smoke with big fans.
Inmates held in nearby cells were moved elsewhere in the prison.
Three prison workers were sent to hospital with the inmate. All suffered from smoke inhalation, and one worker had wounds from a bite, said Justice spokesperson Chris Ross.
The inmate possessed matches and lighters, said Ross.
“We don’t know how he got the contraband,” he said.
The inmate and prison employees were released from hospital that evening. The inmate remains in segregation.
A similar fire was set in the hospital’s seclusion room nine hours later, around 6 a.m. Saturday.
“That prisoner in there, again, had matches, and he set his mattress on fire,” said John Ross, the platoon chief who responded to both fires.
Sprinklers extinguished the fire, leaving firemen with water and smoke to clean up.
Seven patients in seven nearby hospital rooms were moved to another ward.
There are no reported injuries, said a hospital news release.
“It’s unusual to have two calls like that, almost the same,” said John Ross.