California regulators have moved to revoke the licenses of two Santa Rosa senior housing facilities after staff allegedly abandoned residents during Tubbs Fire, according to an article on the San Francisco Chronicle website.
The employees are believed to have abandoned dozens of elderly and disabled residents during a confused and frantic evacuation last year.
Investigators with the California Department of Social Services concluded that the staffers were untrained and ill-equipped to handle evacuations, and that supervisors in both facilities left residents alone at the peak of the crisis.
Two dozen residents of one of the facilities would have died in the fire if not for the actions of family members and emergency personnel to get them out before the building went up in flames, according to a complaint filed by the department.