What the LA Wildfires Revealed About Hospital Preparedness for Burn

The authors compared Nevada Watch Board data from the 2025 Los Angeles County wildfires to fire incidents between 1980 and 2025 to better understand the health care impact of four types of fires (structure fires, urban-interface wildfires, explosions, and aviation incidents with fire). They describe different patterns of patient surge, injuries, and effects of fire on health care facilities, noting the following emergency planning considerations: understand how regional burn coordination works, coordinate before an incident, exercise for specific incidents, plan for workforce displacement and hospital evacuation, and understand that "no surge" does not mean "no impact."