More than 100 mostly homeless veterans were evacuated from temporary shelters on the sprawling grounds of the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center to protect them against the bad air and encroaching wildfires that have devastated the city.
“Ultimately, I think it was a necessary move” to escape the possibility of the fires spreading to the West LA VAMC, Jack Clark, 47, a Navy veteran who had been living in one of the “tiny homes” on the West LA campus, said of the evacuations.
“Hats off to all the people involved” in the evacuation, “but it was still a mess. It’s been quite chaotic,” Clark said of the process of moving the veterans to other temporary shelters. “The bottom line now — you’re doing good just to have a cot to sleep on.”
The Department of Veterans Affairs on Saturday began relocating veterans on the north side of the West LA campus who live in the Care Treatment and Rehabilitation Services (CTRS) program temporary shelters, or “tiny homes.” The evacuations also included elderly nursing home patients in the Community Living Center, and veterans in residential treatment and transitional housing.