A 100-year-old assisted living facility resident, Jean Bruce Poole, and her neighbor were inadvertently left to their fates by MonteCedro, a non-profit retirement community run by Episcopal Communities & Services, as the Eaton, California wildfires raged nearby. The organization running the facility is associated with the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.
Local news media reports that staff hurriedly evacuated other residents in the middle of the night as the flames approached the facility, cutting power to the facility and leaving it filled with smoke. Reports suggest the evacuation was chaotic and exacerbated by poor communication from local officials, who delayed ordering evacuations even though the fire had already destroyed much of the surrounding community.
Poole, who had gotten up and made breakfast that morning, was found by local sheriff’s deputies as she struggled to find the way through the building with her walker. Officials found another resident and her dog on the third floor of the property.
MonteCedro officials acknowledge their mistake and have contracted with a life safety services firm to understand how they overlooked the residents during the evacuation.
Family members and healthcare industry professionals were deeply critical of the situation, saying that the facility should have prepared sooner for evacuation and had protocols in place to ensure that all patients would be located and evacuated in an emergency.
The facility is undergoing air quality testing and remediation to address soot and contamination from the fires.
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