The investigations \u2014 which were triggered partly by reporting from The Times \u2014 have raised further questions about how officials prepared for and responded to the deadly firestorm, particularly with respect to elderly and disabled evacuees<\/a>. <\/p>\n Rosalia Espino, whose Altadena home was destroyed by the Eaton fire, attends to a fire victim memorial in July.<\/p>\n (Allen J. Schaben\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Laura Mosqueda, a professor of family medicine and geriatrics at USC\u2019s Keck School of Medicine, said the state\u2019s findings \u201cdemonstrate many of the problems\u201d that senior care advocates have long called on officials to address.<\/p>\n \u201cAbsolutely it was chaotic because of the fires, and absolutely [assisted-living facilities] have a responsibility to have emergency plans and competent leadership who can follow through,\u201d Mosqueda said. \u201cTo evacuate and not have a complete list and know you\u2019ve gotten everybody out \u2026 is not OK.\u201d<\/p>\n Nineteen people died in the Eaton fire, 18 of them in west Altadena, where county officials failed to issue prompt alerts about the growing threat. <\/a>None, however, were residents of a senior care facility. <\/p>\n At the MonteCedro assisted living facility \u2014 located in a section of west Altadena where county officials sent out the latest evacuation alerts<\/a> \u2014 the majority of staff members working the night of the fire had never been trained in emergency procedures, according to the state\u2019s recently published report<\/a>. <\/p>\n Even as the winds worsened and flames spread west, \u201cmost administrative personnel and management left the facility and went home,\u201d even though they were the only group that had received emergency training, the report said. <\/p>\n The facility\u2019s executive director, who \u201cwas responsible for putting the emergency procedures into action,\u201d did not inform any on-site staff of the relevant procedures before leaving around 10:30 p.m., the state found. <\/p>\n \u201cThe individuals that had specific assigned emergency duties were not present in the facility and did not return to the facility until after 5 a.m. on the following day,\u201d the report said. \u201cNo additional instructions were given and no arrangements were made to bring additional qualified staff who had knowledge of the facility evacuation procedures.\u201d<\/p>\n The facility\u2019s disaster protocols instruct the executive director to call up additional staff to help with evacuations using an \u201cemergency recall list,\u201d but investigators were told that no such list existed, according to the report. <\/p>\n Still, staff began evacuations around 5 a.m. on Jan. 8, with the support of the Sheriff\u2019s Department. Almost 200 residents were taken by bus to the Pasadena Convention Center over the following two hours. After conducting a roll call at the evacuation center, facility staff realized that two residents were unaccounted for and alerted the Sheriff\u2019s Department, the report said.<\/p>\n But it would be another two hours before deputies returned to search the building, where they found the two elderly women<\/a>. One of them, who was 100, was on the third floor and roaming the dark, empty hallways with a walker when she was discovered. At the time, flames were visible out the windows. <\/p>\n A resident at an Altadena senior center is evacuated as the Eaton fire approaches.<\/p>\n (Ethan Swope\/AP)<\/p>\n \u201cThe two residents were left behind due to the facility\u2019s failure to follow facility emergency evacuation procedures,\u201d the report found. <\/p>\n James Rothrock, chief executive of Episcopal Communities & Services, which runs MonteCedro, didn\u2019t dispute that the women were left behind, but he did question several of the findings in the report. In a prepared statement, Rothrock asserted that all the staff at MonteCedro were trained in emergency procedures and said the evacuation process was \u201cled and controlled by the L.A. County Fire and Sheriff\u2019s Department.\u201d<\/p>\n MonteCedro has appealed the state\u2019s findings, which remain under review. <\/p>\n Rothrock said facility staff have since taken \u201cimmediate steps to reinforce and strengthen our emergency-preparedness protocols,\u201d including enhanced training, and that they \u201ctake all regulatory findings seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n The other facility that state officials probed was The Terraces at Park Marino, a Pasadena assisted-living facility near the Eaton fire\u2019s origin. The home was forced to quickly evacuate the evening of Jan. 7, amid raining embers and approaching flames. Harrowing footage<\/a> captured seniors fleeing in nightgowns, as others were pushed down the street in wheelchairs and hospital beds.<\/p>\n DSS officials, who license and oversee senior-care facilities, also issued The Terraces a citation<\/a> after finding \u201cthat at least one resident was left in the room and had to be evacuated by the Fire Department,\u201d posing \u201can immediate risk to the persons in care.\u201d<\/p>\n The DSS report cited no other procedural missteps by The Terraces staff but said a resident on the third floor was evacuated only after the resident\u2019s \u201cresponsible party\u201d called police, who relayed the woman\u2019s location to fire officials on site. <\/p>\n Pasadena Fire Capt. Trey Sorensen, who oversaw evacuations from The Terraces and other nearby senior homes, described in a podcast interview<\/a> the life-and-death circumstances<\/a> they faced during that evacuation. <\/p>\n While he emphasized that The Terraces staff did a great job that night, he explained in the interview that it was after staff reported everyone was out that he got a call about a wheelchair-user still in room 326. <\/p>\n \u201cThat person had called a family member, the family member called dispatch, dispatch let the command post know,\u201d Sorensen said on the podcast.<\/p>\n He said he sent his fire crews up to rescue her, even as the building was catching fire, and they only narrowly escaped. <\/p>\n The senior facility was destroyed in the blaze. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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