Preparing Your Life for a Fire– in Advance

We’ve lived in high fire areas for the last 24 years.

My area in Northern California has seen catastrophic fires for the last five years.

Our local paper once singled out our community as being a high fire area. We’re only six houses from a steep hill covered in dry grass and trees.

Fire prevention was the discussion topic among my neighbors for weeks.

Good thing. We’ve had to evacuate twice because of fire.

Last year, fire licked the back fences six houses away.

As a result, I’ve got five tips on how to prepare in case a fire heads your way and your life and possessions are in peril.

It should go without saying, get yourself out immediately if your life or that of your family, is in danger.

But, if you’ve got a little time–half an hour say–you can prepare for what to do now and improve your chances of salvaging something of your life.

Here are five tips you can do, or start to do, now.

1. Make a list of what you would want to save and then put the items in order of importance.

I’ve had a list like that for years. I’ve also noted where to find the items so I can get them quickly.

My list looks something like this:

1. Family members, especially small children

2. Lockbox–which houses our important documents that would be hard to replace: passports, deeds, birth certificates, marriage certificate, shot records, that type of thing

3. Medications

4. Jewelry

5. Non scanned photos

6. Small, portable family momentoes

7. Laptops, chargers, sleeping bags, clothing, baby pictures, etc. if there’s lots of time.

(Don’t forget your pets –including food and a leash! I put the cat in her cage into the car first thing. I don’t want to have to search for her if she gets spooked and runs off.)

2. Establish with your local family members, a contact place out of the area and a potential meeting location nearby.

The largest number of my relatives live locally at the present time. We need to establish where we would gather to meet in case of a catastrophe.

Many of our relatives live in Southern California, with a scattering around the country–including Idaho.

We need to figure out who we will call, in an emergency to relocate each other if we can’t make it to the local meeting spot.

3. Ensure your computers are backed up off-site.

We use Carbonite and I have no worries about losing my digital photos, my writing, our taxes, and other items that have become part of our life.

You don’t have to use Carbonite, but find something that backs up your data AWAY FROM YOUR AREA. I’m not worried about not getting to my hard drives in a fire because I know everything is available again through Carbonite.

ICloud works, too., of course.

In this day and age in the United States, many papers you might need are computerized and available through pertinent sources. It will be easier if you have your own copies, but not catastrophic if you don’t.

4. Start scanning important documents and photos. Methodically take photos of every room in your house.

Scanners and cameras can be the keys to your peace of mind.

Start scanning important documents (health records, credit card information, diplomas, passports, shot cards, anything like that) and put them on your computer.

I send myself a copy of my passport and keep it in my email account.

You might consider scanning valuations on jewelry or other possession to prove how much you paid for them. (Expensive cameras, extraordinary media systems, anything worth a lot of money. We don’t need a file like this . . . )

Scan all your old photos, particularly unreplaceable ones. (I’ve hired kids to do this as a summer job).

Take pictures of every room in your house, slowly turning in a circle to document everything. Open the closet and cupboard doors, and drawers.

If your house burns (or, if movers lose your shipment), you can prove what you owned for insurance purposes.

If you still have negatives,  send them to a family member who doesn’t live near you. I asked my brother to store ours in a dry spot in his garage. I hope he’s still got them!

If you’re a genealogist like am, you should have been scanning original documents to share all along.

5. If you own a house, cut back shrubbery and make other modifications per your local fire requirements.

When we lived at the end of an isolated road in a very high fire district, I asked the local fire marshall to examine our property and tell me what to do in case of fire.

He made a number of recommendations.

I spent weeks outdoors lopping lower branches off pine trees. We cut down a eucalyptus tree too close to the house.

When he returned for a reinspection, he congratulated us and pointed to our neighbor across the street. “If we had to make a stand, we’d save yours and let that one burn. You’ve obviously done the work needed to give us a chance of saving your home.”

I was happy for us but felt guilty about my neighbor.

No fire has come through that area yet, thanks be to God.

Bonus–

Give serious thought to what truly is important in your life.

Is it family or possessions?

Pets or possessions?

Your life or possessions?

Possessions come and go. Save those you love.

Anyone else got ideas of things I missed?

Tweetables

5 things to do to prepare for a catastrophic fire. Click to Tweet

5 Things to do before a fire strikes. Click to Tweet

Making life easier for after, by preparing for a fire before. Click to Tweet