DOI: 10.69554/rqhm9737 ISSN: 1749-9224

Case study: Huntington Hospital and the Eaton Canyon fire

Jennifer Waldron, Ryan Speicher
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This paper describes how Huntington Hospital, a Level II Trauma Center in Los Angeles County, responded to the Eaton Canyon fire in early January 2025. Best practices will be presented that detail how the emergency department managed an unannounced surge, how alternative care sites were quickly activated to provide care for a large number of skilled nursing facility (SNF) residents, and strategies for ensuring adequate staffing when a sizable percentage of employees were affected by evacuation mandates and school closures. The paper offers considerations for effective communication, rapid deployment of plans and resources to support affected staff, placement of displaced SNF residents, and ensuring safe air quality inside the hospital. Impacts on hospitals related to past wildfire incidents are examined and applied to the actions taken by Huntington Hospital’s leadership team during this event. This article is also included in The Business & Management Collection which can be accessed at https://hstalks.com/business/.

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