EAST LIVERPOOL, Ohio -- Flames broke out inside of East Liverpool City Hospital on Thursday night in the middle of a worker-appreciation picnic for the employees.

Firefighters rushed to ELCH, after smoke started filling up the kitchen inside the hospital.

"There was a lot of smoke,” said John Dawson, a nurse in the ICU.

"Breathtaking, and you didn't know what to do,” said Summer Bailey, a nutrition attendant in the kitchen.

Kitchen workers immediately called for help.

"We have a direct connection to the fire department," said Mel Creeley, CEO of the hospital. “When they went down to check, the smoke billowed into a fire in the duct work.”

As firefighters fought the flames, the hospital sprung into action.

Creeley, who was already at the staff picnic, helped get people out of the kitchen.

"We had two people who went back down into the fire area, to make sure all of our employees were out of the kitchen area, and they got some smoke inhalation," said Creeley.

As for the patients, the kitchen is in a separate wing, and they were not at risk.

Once the fire was out, the grill was back on, and crews finished their picnic.

“It wasn't what we expected to finish off hospital week," said Creeley.

Creeley told NEWS9 the two people who suffered from smoke inhalation are doing OK.

No one else was hurt.

Creeley said the kitchen would be back up and running on Friday morning.