18 Hayward nursing home residents evacuated after fire breaks out in laundry room
More than a dozen elderly residents at a nursing home in Hayward were evacuated after a fire broke out Tuesday afternoon.
Around 2:30 p.m., the Alameda County Fire Department was called to the Driftwood Healthcare Center on Hesparian Boulevard. Eighteen out of 88 residents at the home were evacuated into the parking lot, some in beds and wheelchairs.
John, who did not give his last name, was among those evacuated.
"They were very professional about it. got all the people out that were in the gurneys and stuff like that, that were permanently in bed and can't get up or nothing like that. They moved them out real fast," he told CBS News Bay Area.
Division Chief Paige Bowie of the Alameda County Fire Department said the fire started down below in the laundry room.
"So basically, the fire was downstairs, up the vent shaft, and up into the roof. We do know the fire was in the vent shaft itself. it might've been lint or something in the dryer bin, but that's speculation. We don't know exactly what happened," Bowie said.
Firefighters cleared the roof of hotspots, but this was nothing like a typical response. Assisted-living facilities are considered a 'target hazard', which presents higher risks of losses of life or property.
"So immediately, we're connecting with county EMS and our local agencies, in terms of preparing to evacuate a large number of people who are going to need a lot of assistance," Bowie told CBS News Bay Area. "We're just happy everybody's safe."
No injuries were reported, but high temperatures and strong winds Tuesday were yet another reminder that fire season is here.
"The weather is what it is. And so, we can expect more extreme fire behavior, fire to spark farther ahead and that's in wildland fires, but also structure fires. With the wind blowing, it will spread that fire much faster further than it would otherwise," Bowie said.
For John, who's in his 70s, he knows what this time of the year brings.
"It's going to be very dry. There's going to be a lot of grass fires up in the mountains," he said.
Investigators are still working to figure out what exactly caused the fire.
