Santa Rosa hospitals, care facilities evacuated in fire’s path

In the face of onrushing flames, medical personnel evacuated patients from two Santa Rosa hospitals early Monday, while other health care facilities moved residents out of harm’s way.

Patients were evacuated from the Kaiser Permanente hospital on Bicentennial Avenue as the adjacent Journey’s End Mobile Home Park became a raging inferno.

“It was getting smoky inside the hospital,” said Renina Ndegwa, a Kaiser patient care technician.

Officials said the evacuation of about 130 patients was completed by 6 a.m.

Patients in need of medical support were relocated by ambulance, while those who were not critically ill were transported in private buses, said Joe Fragola, a San Francisco-based Kaiser spokesman said in a statement.

The majority of patients was taken to Kaiser Permanente in San Rafael, while others were sent to Kaiser facilities in San Francisco and Oakland and local community hospitals, he said.

Kaiser’s Santa Rosa hospital was not damaged in the blaze that devastated business and residential areas in northern Santa Rosa, but the hospital was closed and scheduled surgeries and appointments were canceled.

Routine scheduled procedures and appointments for Tuesday at Kaiser’s Santa Rosa Medical Center, Rohnert Park and Mercury Way medical offices were canceled, Fragola said.

Walk-up urgent care will be available at Kaiser’s Rohnert Park facility on State Farm Drive, he said.

Kaiser pharmacies in Santa Rosa and Napa are closed, and members who need a prescription filled may go to the pharmacies in Petaluma, Novato and San Rafael.

Families seeking information on patients transferred from Santa Rosa may call 855-599-0033.

Sutter Hospital on Mark West Springs Road also evacuated patients Monday, but a hospital official Monday night could not provide further details about the evacuation.

Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, the region’s trauma center, remained open and sustained no structural damage Monday.

The Emergency Department treated about 90 people as a result of the fires, including 12 who sustained burns, said Vanessa deGier, a hospital spokeswoman.

Five were treated and released, three were hospitalized at Memorial and four were transferred to burn centers, she said.

Most of the other injuries were related to smoke inhalation.

Petaluma Valley Hospital and Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa also treated people with fire-related injuries.

At Spring Lake Village on Montgomery Drive, the medically fragile population was sheltered in place, accompanied by staffers.

Patients able to move with ease were evacuated as a precautionary measure, either staying with friends or family or at the Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Building.

All skilled nursing facilities and assisted care facilities in the Fountaingrove area were evacuated and patients were sent to Finley Center in Santa Rosa, a county official said.

With a 300-acre fire burning through the Sonoma Valley, authorities evacuated the Sonoma Developmental Center, a facility for the mentally ill and developmentally disabled on a wooded Arnold Drive campus, Sonoma County Supervisor Susan Gorin said.

Apart from a few medically fragile patients who remained on site, most of the 240 residents were sheltered at the Sonoma Veterans Memorial Building on First Street West, Gorin said.

Residents were evacuated from four Brookdale Senior Living facilities, including Brookdale Paulin Creek, Brookdale Chanate and Brookdale Fountaingrove in Santa Rosa, and Brookdale Rohnert Park.

Even as the hospital was evacuated, a few residents of the nearby mobile home park stood on the third floor of Kaiser’s parking garage and watched as their homes went up in flames.

“I just moved in and I lost everything,” said Alex Cranston, whose friend’s mobile home burned down. He had moved in there two weeks earlier.

From the safety of the parking garage, Cranston watched as the fire consumed the mobile home park.

“I just watched it jump from one trailer to the next to the next,” he said.

Staff Writer Robert Digitale contributed to this report. You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 707-521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com.