Event
Fire in Room
Updated:
A treatment room ignites — drains sanity passively while the fire burns and knocks patients into fainted state.
- Trigger
- Random hazard event that ignites a treatment room, sometimes mid-treatment, sometimes between patients.
- Time limit
- Until extinguished
- How to handle
- Apply Fire Extinguisher to the burning room. Don't bring patients in or out until it's clear — moving through fire applies the patient-on-fire chain.
- Failure consequence
- Letting the fire burn drains sanity continuously and fells any patient in the room. Cascading: a fainted patient in a burning room is a worse problem than either alone.
The cascading hazard
Fire-in-Room is documented (per Techwiser) as a continuous-damage event with no fixed timer. The mechanics:
- 1 sanity per second drained while you're in proximity to the burning room.
- Patients in the room faint if they're inside when it ignites.
- The fire persists until extinguished — there's no "burn out" timer.
This makes Fire-in-Room one of the most consequential events to ignore. Other emergencies have a single failure-state at timer-zero; this one bleeds sanity for as long as you let it burn.
The fastest counter
Per the Techwiser events guide, you can either use a Fire Extinguisher OR hold E (manual extinguishing) to put it out. Fire Extinguisher is instant; manual takes longer. If you have one in inventory, always use it.
A note on tool stocking: Fire Extinguisher and Taser both become available at Shift 3 (the same shift emergencies start firing) and both recharge when returned to their mounted locations. The wall case isn't just storage — it's the refill station.
The two-step cascade
The "patients in the room faint when fire enters" mechanic creates a documented cascade:
- Room ignites → 1 sanity/sec proximity drain begins.
- Patient in the room faints → 60-second Patient Fainted timer starts.
- If you handle the fainted patient first instead of the fire, the fire keeps burning, sanity keeps draining, and a second patient may enter and faint too.
The correct sequence is fire first, then fainted patient. Counter-intuitive when the patient timer feels more urgent, but the continuous drain compounds faster than the carry-emergency.
A reminder on disguised patients
Per Techwiser: "burning and fainting patients may actually be anomalies in disguise". After resolving the fire, run the standard intake checks on the patient before continuing treatment.
Sources: Techwiser events guide, Pro Game Guides emergencies.