Emergency Preparedness Blog

September 13, 2011

Given the recent wildfires that are burning in central Texas, I have come to realize how prepared, or rather unprepared, my husband and I are for an evacuation. So I am sharing our thoughts and plans that resulted from our near-evacuation experience.

So the first question is: how do you know there is an emergency? If it is the middle of the night, how will you know fires are burning near your house? (My husband’s entire family once slept through a fire that burned their (unattached) garage to the ground. The firemen had to ring the doorbell for five minutes before somebody heard and answered the door, by which time the garage was a large glowing ember). To be notified in case of emergencies, you can register your home or cell phone with local and state emergency offices. Registering your phones ensures that you can receive notification in case of an evacuation or other emergency, even if you are not at home.

So now that you are aware of the emergency, do you have an evacuation plan that you could act on if necessary? We had talked about what we would do, be we did not have anything written down. If you don’t have a checklist, you will likely have pandemonium. What do you take with you? My husband and I sat down and wrote down all the things that we would like to take with us if we had to evacuate our house. Specifically, we brainstormed the things we would like to bring with us, and then we categorized them based on importance. We defined the absolute minimum that we would need (pets, purse/wallet, a couple days’ clothes, important documents, etc.). It is also useful to list other personal items that you could quickly grab and pack in the cars, if there is time. We ended up with several lists of personal items, depending on the amount of time we would have and the amount of space available in the cars. We now keep this list near our door, where we will be able to grab it and check items off when we are not as calm.

Another question: where is all of the stuff on your lists? This brings up an organizational issue: we quickly realized that most of the items on our list were spread around the house, and would require significant gathering, if not searching, to locate. Although it is not always possible, having critical items (those listed as “must-have” on the list) should be in a known, accessible place, stored in containers or boxes that can be easily transported, and not blocked by other items. Completely random example: the firebox with your birth certificate and last will and testament should probably not be buried under a mountain of document boxes from the early ‘90s. Don’t forget to take the keys for the firebox with you. Don’t keep them in the firebox itself.

Remember that your life and those of your family are far more important than your wedding photos. If the fire truck is outside your house, it’s time to get out. Insurance will take care of all the things you have to leave behind (have you updated your insurance policy with realistic riders for your stamp collection and jewelry?). Our neighbor pointed out that photographing or videotaping the contents of our house can be immensely helpful for insurance purposes. If your house burns down, the insurance company needs proof of what you had, and there is no better way than a video of your entire house, including opening drawers and closets and recording the entire contents of your house.

One good thing that we have is a firebox for our most important documents. Ours happens to be big enough for full size documents, but not so big we can’t take it with us. This is the perfect place to keep your

The other good thing about keeping these items in a firebox is that if the fire hits when you’re not home, there’s still a good chance that the firebox and its contents will survive the fire. Finally, keep in touch with your neighbors, friends and family. If you don’t already have one, create an email and/or phone tree for your neighborhood so you can communicate quickly and efficiently with your neighbors. Our neighbors were the greatest source of information and support throughout the ordeal.

Good luck with your emergency planning!