A nursing home in Larimer has been placed on a provisional license and slapped with a $22,000 fine by the state, which accused it of permitting unsafe smoking by patients around oxygen equipment.

The 134-bed Forbes Road Nursing and Rehabilitation Center is appealing the penalties, disputing an account by state inspectors that smoking they saw outside the building on May 20-21 posed an unusual risk.

The Department of Health imposed an "immediate jeopardy" citation on the facility May 21. The designation prevented any new admissions from taking place until two days later, when officials were satisfied that procedures were in place to ensure no smoking would take place in the presence of flammable oxygen equipment.

A six-month provisional license remains in effect through November, based on allegations that a patient was smoking outside with a nasal cannula in place, and that the facility failed to assess properly whether residents who smoke required supervision.