BARDSTOWN, Ky. (WDRB) -- A fire at a Nelson County nursing home early Tuesday morning sent more than a dozen residents to the hospital and displaced dozens of others. 

Crews from the Bardstown Fire Department responded to the fire at Landmark of Bardstown in the Life Care Center just after 6:30 a.m., according to a post on the Bardstown Fire Department's Facebook page. 

Landmark is a rehabilitation center located at 120 Life Care Way. 

Firefighters "arrived on scene to find fire venting out a window," according to the post. Police and staff from the home had already started evacuating residents by the time crews arrived. Firefighters conducted a search of the building while attacking the flames. 

When units arrived on scene, fire and smoke was visible from the south end of the building’s west wing. The wing's 49 residents were evacuated from the building, according to a written statement from Milt Spalding, the public information officer for Nelson County Emergency Management. Spalding said 13 residents, three staff and one Bardstown Police officer were taken to Baptist Health Hardin, U of L South and Flaget Memorial Hospital for treatment of what are believed to be non-life threatening injuries.

We're told many of those taken to the hospital have already been treated and released. 

Another 21 residents were taken to Landmark's sister facility in Louisville on Nelson County School buses.

"We appreciate the hard work of the staff getting everybody evacuated, said Bardstown Fire Chief Todd Spalding. "It took a lot of stress off the firefighters, knowing that all the occupants had been evacuated prior to our arrival."

Nelson County EMS supervised transporting the affected residents. Nelson County Fire and Rescue also assisted, along with EMS agencies from Bullitt, Washington, and Spencer Counties.

Officials said they believe the fire was "due to an electrical failure within the HVAC unit" and started in a closet. 

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