Nursing home evacuations

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San Diego County:

As of 4 p.m. Tuesday, state public health officials said they were aware of at least 11 nursing homes that had evacuated as a result of the wildfires in San Diego County. Residents have since returned to three of those homes; the remaining eight homes account for 578 displaced residents.

Several other healthcare facilities also have evacuated.

‘The primary focus of the last 24 hours is to make sure patients are placed at the correct level of care and that we respond very, very quickly,’ said Kathleen Billingsley, deputy director for the Center for Healthcare Quality at the California Department of Public Health.

‘There are a significant number of people, of patients, of elderly that have been impacted by this series of fires throughout southern California. Basically these people have been displaced.’

A spokeswoman at the California Assn. of Health Facilities said that if the fires headed toward Fallbrook, another eight to 10 homes may have to evacuate.

--Charlie Ornstein