A Trial by Fire on My First Night Shift
On January 17, 1994, at 4:31 in the morning, I was taking a quiet break before starting my early-morning clinical duties. It was my very first full shift as a charge nurse, and my first night shift after completing hospital orientation. As a recent immigrant to the United States, I was already learning a lot and trying to find my footing in my first American nursing job, and my first nursing job since graduation from nursing school.
Then, without warning, everything started shaking.
The magnitude 6.7 Northridge earthquake had struck.1
I grew up in Asia’s earthquake belt, the so-called “Ring of Fire2”, so I was no stranger to earthquakes. But this was different. The shaking was violent, and within seconds, the quiet of the early morning turned into confusion and fear.
Our facility was a 50-plus-bed long-term care hospital in Mid-Wilshire area of Los Angeles, and we were at full capacity that night. There was one experienced RN, six nursing assistants, and me. That was our entire team.
Managing the Chaos
For a few moments, everyone was simply stunned. Patients were frightened and screaming, and some of my coworkers froze because they didn’t know what to do first.
I knew we had to get organized.
I gathered the staff and first made sure everyone working that night was safe. Then we divided up the team and started checking every room, one patient at a time.
The other charge nurse stayed on the phone, trying to handle the flood of calls from worried family members. That left me to coordinate things on the floor.
Thankfully, our first assessment brought some good news. All of our patients were accounted for, and none had been injured. The building had no major structural damage, although some items had fallen beside the beds. At least in those first few minutes, things seemed to be under control.
We thought the worst was over.
We were wrong.
The Emergency Aftershock
About 30 minutes later, the power went out throughout the neighborhood.
Fortunately, our backup diesel generator came on immediately. It wasn’t much, but it gave us enough light to keep working.
We had barely started getting back into our normal morning routine when the fire alarm suddenly began blaring.
We checked the floors and looked everywhere we could, but there was no sign of smoke or fire. We called the fire department, but they were overwhelmed with emergencies all over the area. They told us they couldn’t come unless we actually saw flames.
That didn’t sit well with me. The blaring alarm added anxiety to the already frightened residents.
I decided to investigate the situation myself. I walked around the outside of the building and eventually went down into the dark basement. That’s when I found it, a thick cloud of smoke and a strong smell of diesel fumes.
The generator was running, and its exhaust had filled the basement garage. That was what had triggered the fire alarm.
I managed to reach our physical plant manager by phone. He talked me through what to do, and I got to work.
He told me to open doors and windows to get some fresh air moving through the basement. Then I found some industrial-type fans at a nearby workshop and brought them in to push the smoke toward a ventilation shaft. Finally, I reset the main fire alarm panel to stop the sirens.
It wasn’t exactly how I had imagined spending my first night as a charge nurse.
Delivering Care Against the Odds
By about 6:30 AM, the morning-shift staff started arriving. Having more people on the floor was a huge relief.
Only then did I finally have a chance to sit down and do what I had originally planned to do that morning, check blood sugars and pass medications.
My shift was supposed to end at 7:30 AM, but I stayed few more hours to make sure the handoff went smoothly and the unit was settled before I left.
When I finally got home, I was exhausted. More than anything, I was relieved to see that my wife and our two children were safe. They understood why I had stayed late and never questioned it.
Looking back, that morning taught me something I have never forgotten. As nurses, we prepare for emergencies, but sometimes the real test comes when there is no time to think, no perfect plan, and very few people to help.
You simply have to step up and do what needs to be done.
I was grateful that our patients and staff made it through that morning safely. I also knew how fortunate we were, especially knowing that more than 9,000 people in the Los Angeles area were injured or killed in the disaster.
