The Guam Memorial Hospital Authority confirmed that its “Dr. Burnsite” code was activated after an electrical short in a renovation area. The code according to the hospital's employee orientation handbook, means "fire," though officials said no fire was reported.

Guam News Network received a tip, Thursday which alleged there were two Dr. Burnsite alerts in the "Care 1, old nurses station," with "visible smoke" and "bad" odor.

GMHA Spokesperson Tihu Lujan confirmed that code Dr. Burnsite was activated but did not confirm how many times.

Lujan said that a light fixture in a renovation area in the Emergency room short-circuited around 5:30 a.m. causing "some minor smoke."

Although the code means "fire," Lujan said there was no fire.

On Friday, Jesse Quenga, acting associate hospital administrator operations and personnel services administrator, explained the circumstances, describing it as a "smaller incident."

"This is a smaller incident compared to when we had one of the motor control centers burning through the pediatric wing, that caused patients to relocate," Quenga said in reference to the 2025 electrical fire at the hospital.

Quenga attributed the "Dr. Burnsite" alert to several leaking spots in the hospital's water pipes located above the Care 1 unit.

"Our teams were already aware of the leaking spots. We began to observe the droplets fall from the ceiling, so we were already responding to mitigating those leaks," Quenga said.

He said water from one section of the pipe leaked on a "ballast" located near the nurses' station, not near patient beds. He described the ballast as a "small electrical piece."

"Water and electricity don't like each other and fortunately, we were able to address that right away, because we were actively working on filling up the leaks," Quenga said stressing that they were already "actively" addressing the leaks when the incident occurred.

Quenga acknowledged the history of electrical fires at the hospital telling Guam News Network, addressing the leak above the ballaster that short-circuited was a priority.

"They went ahead and prioritized that as the first leak to resolve and to remove that ballast. Our teams were very responsive. The Dr. Burnsite was actually called as an awareness for all of the hospital but there was no major concern for any other part of the hospital," Quenga said.

Although the hospital has a high patient census and Care 1 is one of the areas in the emergency room identified to accommodate any influx of patients, Quenga said there was no need to relocate patients because the cause was identified.

Quenga said that the hospital's electrical infrastructure is "aged."

"Probably some as old as the building and we're ensuring that they've been maintained well past their usable life and we're going to continue working aggressively as we can to keep them going until such time that those parts arrive on island," Quenga said.

According to Quenga, the invitations for bid (IFB) issued out in partnership with the Guam Power Authority to address the aged electrical components are at the award stage.

"Right now, circulating them for the approvals," he said. "I anticipate that this will be announced in the near future.

There are three IFBs. Quenga said IFB 19-26, which is to replace the automated transfer switches has been approved by the Attorney General's Office.

"We informed the awarded vendor to go ahead and put up their bond and once we're in receipt of that, we'll be circulating the contract for signature and final execution leading to preconstruction meeting for that particular project," Quenga said.

The second electrical component involves the motor control centers and removal/replacement of our generators.

"Those projects are with the AG for review and once they complete the review then, they'll undergo the same process that we're pursuing right now with the earlier bid, the first bid," Quenga said.

When asked about the lengthy procurement process Quenga shared what has been done over the past year to push construction forward, involved two work objectives.

"We have to continue our preventative maintenance. So, we have a partnership with Guam Power Authority, their teams come out regularly to go ahead and inspect key electrical components parts and with our electrical team they confirmed that these areas are safe," Quenga said.

He said GMHA continually solicits for replacement of "really aged electrical part."

According to Quenga the hospital applied for a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) hazard mitigation grant to fund the renovation of the electrical components.

"If you recall the legislature had gone ahead and appropriates the sum of $5 million," Quenga said. "We understood that to be a significant deposit towards delivering and funding major part of our electrical grid, but we knew that may not be enough and so that's why we were pursuing the Hazard mitigation grant."

He said since 2025 GMHA has worked with GPA to issue the solicitation.

"It was received well with the community, with vendors. A number of them picked up packets. I think nearly a dozen, and they were all curious and interested in supporting the hospital and the power authority with delivering this particular project," Quenga said.

He said the IFB closed in June, and the evaluating committee presented their recommendations to the hospital revealing that the total costs of all three projects exceeded the grant award.

"$2 million above available fund," he said. "Hazard Mitigation grant that total award was $18 million with a 10% cost share for the hospital and 90% cost share with the federal government."

Quenga said word from FEMA in August brought more funding than expected.

"We received a significant portion. I think it was 60% of the national award for Hazard mitigation grant was going to the hospital," Quenga said.

He said now the hospital has additional funds to support addressing the electrical.

He said once necessary component arrives in Guam it may be between eight to 18 months to complete all three electrical projects.