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Are you ready for a Wildfire Evacuation?

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If you own a home in a rural area you should be asking yourself, “What plans do I have if there is a wildfire?”

My home is in a rural area…and as I’m writing this the Santa Ana winds are blowing like crazy…happens every year…and it never bothered me in the past…until we had the fires in 2007 and we had to evacuate…what a lesson that was!

We thought we were prepared…had most of the important things ready to pack when we went to bed the night before…but when the phone rang at 4:15 am with the reverse-911 call…and I looked out my front door and the air was full of smoke, falling ashes, and burning embers all of that “planning” seemed pretty weak!

That phone call touched off 15 minutes of running around…and the tension was as thick as the smoke…most of the important things made it into the cars…but we learned a lot during that evacuation and during the next week when we couldn’t get back home because of the evacuation orders.

You can’t even begin to describe how frustrating it is to need something and not be able to get to it because you can’t get back to your home (best case) or because it was destroyed… so I’d like you to think about four really important lessons we learned:

• Where are the animals?  Our pets are family…when they smell smoke and see people panic they go into panic mode.  Our friends lost two dogs that just ran off into the night…and were killed in the fire. 
• Lesson #1…go out now and buy crates for the cats and dogs…if you can…keep them indoors when you are under a fire evacuation warning…and keep them on a leash at all times when outside…they panic and run off…and you can’t chase them with a fire at your door.
• Where are your valuable/non-replaceable photos and paperwork?  What about checkbooks, bills that are due, passports, birth certificates, DD214’s, tax records?
• Lesson #2…now… in a non-panic time…make a list of your most important papers and buy a box (or two) for that stuff…when you are concerned pack it up and immediately put it in the trunk…two minutes saved now is an eternity in an evacuation.  Think about computers too!
• What are you going to wear when you’re out of your home?  Where are your toiletries?  Medicines? Glasses/Contacts?
• Lesson #3…pack for a week…or even two…if you have to run out unexpectedly do what a friend did…take the laundry basket(it’s always full at my house) which is always close to the bathroom…throw everything from the bathroom sink into the basket and go…those are all the clothes you like to wear…it’s easy to find a place to wash the clothes and it takes no time to plan.
• Where are you going to stay?  What will the kids do all day?
• Lesson #4…the minute you are safe and sound start calling the better local hotels/motels…especially if you have pets!!..the best ones fill up almost instantly…and no-one wants to stay in a creepy place.  After the excitement wears off kids get bored fast…and trust me…you don’t want them watching Maury Povich…perhaps this is a good time to go to Disneyland…you have to stay in a hotel anyway…make it fun!

OK…I hope this helps…my favorite quote is, “Chance favors the prepared mind”…hope this helps you prepare!