The fire system at the largest hospital in the Azores, HDES, functioned as intended during an incident on May 4, 2024, according to Luís Mourato, the General Director of Building Technologies at Siemens Portugal. Mourato made these remarks while addressing the parliamentary inquiry into the fire at HDES.
Mourato informed the deputies that despite the system’s functionality, it should be replaced with a more modern alternative as the current system is obsolete. “All reports pointed out the need to replace the system, which had been discontinued,” he emphasized.
Siemens Portugal officially proposed this replacement to HDES in September of the previous year but has yet to receive a response. The proposal, submitted to José Ponte, head of Installations and Equipment Services at HDES, suggests a phased replacement to ensure the hospital remains operational during the upgrade.
Nádia Santos, an attorney at Siemens Portugal, also present at the inquiry, clarified that “there were no anomalies” in the HDES system and asserted that “the fire was an accident.” She highlighted, “The system was not the cause of the fire.”
Santos noted that even if HDES had implemented the suggested system, “it cannot be known if the outcomes would have been different,” reiterating, “the system indeed worked.” She mentioned that a modern system could offer “remote access with more information.”
The Siemens team assured that inspections conducted did not reveal any faults in the alarm signals of the HDES fire system. Mourato pointed out that with a more advanced control unit, “there might be a recording of all events,” though it “is not guaranteed that the entire history would be available.”
Mourato expressed confidence that there have been “occasional interventions” in HDES’s fire system due to collaboration between Siemens’s technical teams and the hospital, confirming during the last visit in 2023 that “the system was operational.”
He also mentioned that Siemens no longer produces the type of equipment currently installed at HDES, yet assured the replacement of components as required.
On May 4, 2024, HDES experienced a fire that necessitated transferring patients to other health facilities in the Azores, Madeira, and mainland Portugal. The Regional Government decided to establish a modular hospital to provide healthcare until the public hospital is refurbished.
