Hospitals Evacuate as California Wildfires Advance

Three general acute care hospitals, three skilled nursing facilities and six intermediate care facilities are among those evacuated as massive wildfires continue across California.

More than 300 patients have been evacuated, the California Department of Public Health said.

The Camp Fire that swept through the town of Paradise, Calif., forced a hurried evacuation from Adventist Health Feather River Hospital Nov. 8. The lower level of the hospital and several buildings on the campus are damaged, spokeswoman Jill Kinney told Bloomberg Law. Some buildings survived, and the damages are still being assessed.

That fire, about 100 miles north of Sacramento, is the deadliest and most destructive in state history. It has burned 138,000 acres and killed 56 people since Nov. 8, with more than 100 people missing, according to the Butte County Sheriff.

The California Office of State Health Planning and Development must inspect the damaged buildings before Adventist can consider reopening, Kinney said.

Hospital staff relocated 55 patients from Feather River to Enloe Hospital, in nearby Chico, and Oroville Hospital, in Oroville. Adventist has learned that a majority of its own staff at the hospital has lost their own homes.

Nursing Homes Lost

All three skilled nursing facilities in Paradise were destroyed, according to the Department of Public Health and the California Association of Health Facilities.

“Thanks to the efforts of nursing home staff who remained on the job while their own homes burned to the ground, all residents were safely evacuated,” CAHF spokeswoman Deborah Pacyna told Bloomberg Law. Most of the 175 patients were relocated to facilities nearby.

At least three people have died in the Woolsey Fire in Los Angeles County that started in the Santa Monica Mountains and swept through Malibu to reach the ocean. That blaze also started Nov. 8, and it has burned 98,362 acres. None of the deaths from the fires have been linked to patient evacuations or damage to the facilities. Neither fire is contained.

In Los Angeles, two hospitals owned by HCA Healthcare Inc. were fully or partially evacuated but may not have been damaged. More than 50 patients were moved to nearby hospitals.

As of Nov. 14, Los Robles Hospital Medical Center in Westlake Village and West Hills Hospital and Medical Center in West Hills were not receiving patients, according to the public health department.

Four intermediate care facilities in Paradise and two in Los Angeles were also evacuated.