Patients evacuated from South Lake Tahoe hospital as Caldor Fire creeps toward city

All patients have been safely evacuated from Barton Memorial Hospital in South Lake Tahoe due to the Caldor Fire, which flared intensely over the weekend and prompted mandatory evacuations for most of the city around 10 a.m. Monday.

Barton began evacuating patients Sunday night, about 12 hours before law enforcement upgraded the evacuation from a warning to an order.

“All patients have been transferred to regional partner facilities and their families have been notified,” Barton Health said in an update to its website.

The hospital’s emergency department will move its services to the Lake Tahoe Surgery Center in Zephyr Cove, Nevada. Barton Urgent Care, in Stateline, Nevada, remains open.

Barton Memorial has 63 patient beds and a skilled nursing facility with 48 resident beds.

It wasn’t immediately clear how many were occupied. According to the state health department, Barton had seven patients positive with COVID-19 as of Sunday.

This story was originally published August 30, 2021 at 7:09 AM with the headline "Patients evacuated from South Lake Tahoe hospital as Caldor Fire creeps toward city."

Michael McGough

The Sacramento Bee

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Michael McGough is a sports and local editor for The Sacramento Bee. He previously covered breaking news and COVID-19 for The Bee, which he joined in 2016. He is a Sacramento native and graduate of Sacramento State.