Fire forces senior home evacuations

Two senior living facilities iAgoura Hills and Calabasas werforced to evacuate as last week’fire approached the area. A seniohome in Simi Valley was placed on tandby.

By the ime a manda

ory evacuaion went into effect Thursday at 3:30 a.m. in Agoura Hills, the nursing staff of the Agoura Hills Senior Retreat had been contacting families for two hours to pick up residents.

Brenda Hans, executive director, said by 6 a.m. nearly all of the 135 residents had been picked up and arrangements made for the rest, about 25, to stay at the Senior Concerns building in Thousand Oaks.

“They opened up their whole center for us,” said Hans of the facility that provides daytime programs for the elderly.

Other agencies stepped forward to help evacuate the seniors. The director of the FairWinds-West Hills retirement community sent over two buses and the Agoura Hills Dial-A-Ride sent over three. When the latter showed up, Hans sent back the West Hills buses because the fire was threatening FairWinds and the buses were needed there to evacuate residents.

By noontime on Friday, the Agoura residents were back at the facility. None of the residents were injured and the fire hadn’t caused any damage, Hans said.

Silverado Senior ServicesCalabasas had to evacuate its 88 residents because of the fire. A Silverado social worker said that by Thursday evening, all of the residents were on their way to sister housing units in Orange CountySan Diego and the Azusa area. The residents returned unharmed to Calabasas by 4 p.m. Friday, she said.

The Topanga fire also scorched parts of southeastern Simi ValleyHeather Frankle, executive director of Clarion Commons in Simi Valley, said they could see 50-foothigh flames a good distance away e s from the facility. And although they considered evacuating at one point, the move wasn’t necessary.

“With a dependent population . . . we need to be prepared,” Frankle said.

Arrangements had been made with two local hotels to house residents, and the staff had a disaster kit ready with contact information on residents’ families and doctors to take along with them should they need to abandon the facility.

Residents and staff were ready for an emergency, Frankle said. They conduct regular disaster drills throughout the year, and just last month a disaster preparedness consultant gave a seminar to residents, instructing them what to have packed and ready to go in case of an evacuation.

The Topanga fire comes just weeks after the nation’s worst natural disaster, Hurricane Katrina, caused the death of more than 1,000 people, including over three dozen seniors who weren’t evacuated from a New Orleans-area nursing home. The owners face 34 counts of negligent homicide for not evacuating the residents, and the state attorney general’s office is investigating 13 other nursing homes for failing to evacuate their residents.

Shirley Washington, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Social Services, said all senior living facilities must have a disaster mass casualty plan and conduct annual fire and evacuation drills. They also have to keep emergency contact information up-todate and have on hand a seven-day supply of nonperishable and a twoday supply of perishable food items.