130 patients evacuated from Kaiser hospital in Santa Rosa

Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa Medical Center was evacuated early Monday due to massive wildfires. Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa Medical Center was evacuated early Monday due to massive wildfires. Photo: Twitter Screen Capture Photo: Twitter Screen Capture Image 1 of / 87 Caption Close 130 patients evacuated from Kaiser hospital in Santa Rosa 1 / 87 Back to Gallery

This story was updated on Oct. 9 at 4 p.m.

Some 130 patients were evacuated from the Kaiser Medical Center in Santa Rosa early Monday morning as a raging fire threatened the facility.

"Patients were transferred to Kaiser Permanente in San Rafael and other local hospitals and evacuation sites, a statement from Kaiser reads. "Patients requiring medical support were transported to other facilities by ambulance. Non-critically ill patients were transported via private buses."

Kaiser employees evacuated patients in their personal cars as a raging fire threatened a hospital in Santa Rosa early Monday.

Several media outlets reported that some Kaiser employees evacuated patients in their personal cars, but Kaiser could not confirm this information.

The evacuation began early in the morning as anout-of-control inferno called the Tubbs Fire ripped through northern Santa Rosa and toward the Kaiser Medical Center; the evacuation was complete by 6 a.m. and all patients are safe

Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital was also evacuated. Sutter couldn't comment on how many patients were transported and how. A statement from the hospital says everyone is safe.

Both Kaiser and Sutter will remain closed today and all scheduled appointments and surgeries have been cancelled, according to statements from the hospitals. It's unknown when they will reopen.

Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital remains open, though the City of Santa Rosa issued a statement on Twitter Monday morning advising people to only go to the hospital if urgent medical care is needed.

Sutter on Mark Springs Road was evacuated first and then Kaiser on Bicentennial Avenue when a mobile home park behind the hospital was swallowed up by flames around 4 a.m.

"It was getting smoky inside the hospital," Renina Ndegwa, a Kaiser patient care technician, told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

As of 3 p.m. Monday, both Kaiser and Sutter confirmed that neither of their Santa Rosa hospitals were on fire.