LIVE OAK, Fla. — One Suwannee County and two Lafayette County facilities were named as some of 1,250 assisted living facilities that had not responded to new requirements for emergency power.

However, according to Rising Oaks Assisted Living Administrator April Millard, the Live Oak facility was already compliant before it was required by the state.

“We were actually one of the first groups that had generators in place prior to the storm,” Millard said.

“We have all of the seniors that are here and they require a little special care,” Millard added about why Rising Oaks had emergency power ahead of Hurricane Irma. “You have to be prepared and make sure they have what they are going to need so we made sure to have it way ahead of time.”

In Lafayette County, officials at both Oakridge Assisted Living Facility and Homewood Lodge Assisted Living Facility said they were also in compliance with the new requirements.

By Oct. 31, all assisted living facilities were required to submit a detailed emergency power plan to the Department of Elder Affairs or apply for a waiver.

Noncompliant facilities face fines of $1,000 a day or license revocation that began Wednesday if they failed to come into compliance.

“We are working very hard to update our information about nonresponsive facilities,” DOEA Secretary Jeffrey Bragg said in a release. “We did hear from some ALFs who should not have been on the list, and we immediately went to work to verify the information and correct our list where appropriate. In doing so, however, we have found that the number of nonresponsive facilities actually increased, and we continue to work with facilities to help them follow the guidelines laid out in the rule.”