An Eaton Fire First Responder recalls patients fleeing the fast-growing blaze

An Eaton Fire First Responder recalls patients fleeing the fast-growing blaze 
Direct Relief; by Talya Meyers; 1/15/25 
Eaton Fire evacuees, fleeing their homes for the safety of the Pasadena Convention Center, were arriving in numbers. For Fernando Fierro, vice president of nursing services at the community health center AltaMed, and the first of his response team to arrive, it was “chaotic.” “There wasn’t any infrastructure in place,” he recalled. More than 550 people sheltering at the convention center, in five event halls converted to dormitories, needed medical assessments. People had fled too urgently to bring their medications, or they needed canes and walkers, or they needed more intensive care than AltaMed’s response team could provide in a shelter setting. Complicating the situation were the close quarters and the presence of animals: People had brought their dogs, cats, and birds. Fierro, a U.S. Army combat veteran with extensive disaster response experience, knew the crowded shelter and animals would increase the likelihood of infectious diseases like norovirus and avian flu.