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Evacuated seniors, families sheltered at Pasadena convention center; witness describes 'harrowing' scene
Summary
A witness described about 1,200 people, including an evacuated nursing home, sheltering at a convention center in Pasadena and praised first responders and volunteer groups assisting on site.
A witness described crowded, smoke-affected conditions at a convention center in Pasadena that has been converted into a shelter for evacuees, saying about 1,200 people were staying there, including an entire evacuated nursing home.
"It was, it was harrowing," Resident (Witness) said, describing families "struggling and choking from the smoke" and a young boy distributing food with ash on his face. The witness said pets were present and that first responders and volunteers were providing aid.
The witness said members of the California Service Corps and the Red Cross were helping to run the shelter alongside first responders. "People are stepping up to support their neighbors," the witness said.
Why it matters: The account underscores the scale of local sheltering after an evacuation and the involvement of volunteer and relief organizations in day-to-day operations. Officials did not provide a separate count of nursing home residents or a formal incident briefing in the transcript provided.
Details from the witness's account include an estimated total of about 1,200 people at the shelter and at least one entire nursing home evacuated to the site; the number of nursing-home residents was not specified. The witness described visible ash and smoke-related breathing distress among evacuees and noted volunteers distributing food.
No formal actions or policy decisions were recorded in the provided transcript excerpt. The remarks occurred during a public-comment-style exchange (a question followed by the witness's account). The shelter operations cited — staffed by first responders, California Service Corps members, and the Red Cross — were described by the witness as ongoing at the time of the remarks.
The witness's account provides on-the-ground detail but does not include official tallies, timelines for shelter closure, or statements from governmental incident commanders in the provided record. The transcript does not specify the name of the convention center or the exact number of evacuated nursing-home residents.
