Firefighters equipped with a decontamination unit were called to Rhode Island Hospital on Saturday afternoon and stayed well into the evening as doctors and nurses dealt with an incident of suspected mercury exposure, authorities said.
Providence firefighters went to the hospital at 4:15 p.m., where a man was being treated in intensive care, and where they were joined by hazardous materials specialists from the North Providence Fire Department and the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, said Providence fire’s acting deputy assistant chief, William Kenyon.
The man, he said, had come from the scene of an incident in Fall River. A 17-year-old girl had also come to the hospital after being decontaminated by Fall River firefighters, Kenyon said.