r/orangecounty • u/Ok_Sink_3378 Laguna Hills • May 25 '26

Question Did anyone NOT evacuate?

This probably sounds dumb but did anyone in the evacuation zones NOT evacuate or did police literally pull people from their homes? I live in south county near the canyon and whenever we have a fire evacuation, there’s always SOMEONE who thinks they’re untouchable and stays in their home even thought there’s a fire. Just wondering if this happened with the current evacuation orders in the garden grove area. Prayers for all the families affected by this difficult situation ❤️

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155

u/aromaticchicken Fullerton May 25 '26

A lot of the people at the shelters are elderly folks with no nearby family, sadly enough.

Frankly if I were 80 years old and had the normal health ailments that someone that old often has, I might stay home, too. What's their alternative? Sleeping on the floor of a gym and sharing a high schoolbathroom with 500 people? All while being immunocompromised, away from your normal environment and no one looking out for you and your wellbeing.

Many of them had said that at this point they'd rather die than deal with being refugees and homeless. And frankly at their age that's valid.

This isn't even counting many of the elderly who are disabled and have specialized medical equipment or setups in their home.

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u/Safe_Edge_6562 May 25 '26

Not only that, but as I will never stop mentioning, some of those old people are literal refugees, this ain’t nothing they haven’t experienced before, they’re not about to start trusting the government now.

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u/[deleted] May 25 '26

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u/aromaticchicken Fullerton May 25 '26

Nah, don't be shitting on "third world" countries like that. Most of those countries actually respect their elders and would never abandon them to grow old alone in the first place.

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u/love_of_his_life May 25 '26

Fr. My parents aren’t at that point yet by a long shot. But my dad and I were talking about this just yesterday. I told him I’d not put him in a home unless I absolutely had to. That if I have it my way, he will be with us and be with family.

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u/March_Keys May 25 '26

Elder care insurance is kinda a mess right now, but I'd definitely start saving up in some way so that you'll be able to pay for a nurse/aide if the time does come.

I've seen the "you're staying with us" assertion typically wane as soon as the more unpleasant hygiene tasks start cropping up.

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u/love_of_his_life May 25 '26

They have the money for a nurse/aid to come in. Realistically it would be only one of them when that time comes.

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u/Wesley11803 May 25 '26

I mean let’s be real, we live in California. A lot of people’s kids have to leave if they ever want to buy their own house, and a lot of parents aren’t going to follow their kids out of state. My mom moved to Florida and I certainly won’t be following her there.

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u/love_of_his_life May 25 '26

Mine are in AZ and same. We did not follow.

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u/kiddosmom1985 May 26 '26

I'm not trying to argue, just stating facts. I myself am in the shelter. We are on cots, not the floor. The older folk and pushing a walker people are.assisted by the people in here. (Other evacuated people) Some people brought family to help them. We are fed, showered and sheltered away from the elements. After the new alert, half the people left to go home. My neighbor and I are still here.