Santa Rosa hospitals evacuate as Kincade Fire rages to avoid repeat of 2017 escapes

A Santa Rosa hospital evacuated about 100 patients Saturday night out of “an abundance of caution” as the Kincade Fire continues to ravage Sonoma County, KGO reported.

Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital began evacuating at 6:30 p.m., according to the station.

Kaiser Permanente in Santa Rosa, which also had started a voluntary evacuation Saturday night, came under a mandatory evacuation order at 4:30 a.m. Sunday, KGO reported. About 110 patients are being transferred.

The Kincade Fire, which erupted Wednesday near Geyserville, has burned 30,000 acres as of Sunday morning and is 10 percent contained, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection reports.

Nearly 90,000 Sonoma County residents are under mandatory evacuation orders as a result of the wind-driven blaze, The Sacramento Bee reported.

Patients evacuated from Sutter Hospital in Santa Rosa went to Sutter Health in Novato and California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, KRON reported.

Evacuees included 13 emergency room patients, 8 neonatal patients and 10 intensive care patients, The Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported. The rest are surgical patients.

“It was deliberate and orderly and completely different from 2017 when we were literally running from the fire,” said Shaun Ralston, according to the publication. “Now we are very intentional.”

The hospital was forced to hurriedly evacuate from the Tubbs Fire in 2017 as it blazed across Santa Rosa, KRON reported.

This story was originally published October 27, 2019 at 8:23 AM with the headline "Santa Rosa hospitals evacuate as Kincade Fire rages to avoid repeat of 2017 escapes."