Fires in Diverse Places…Tip # 9…What Would You Grab if You Were Evacuating?
Tuesday night on READY OR NOT we talked a little about fires and the fact that they can happen to any of us at any time. This week we have seen proof.
Firefighters were called to the blaze in Great Kills Park, in Staten Island, where two brush fires erupted yesterday. Today’s fire went to four alarms but no major injuries or damage to property was reported. No evacuations were necessary, according to the fire department.
In Boulder Colorado, residents evacuated from the Boulder Heights, Pine Brook Hills and Carriage Hills neighborhoods were being let back into their homes. But at 12:30 p.m., the Sheriff’s Office reinstated the mandatory evacuation order after an updated weather forecast predicted wind gusts of up to 50 mph.
Tuesday’s fires in Detroit swept though several neighborhoods, including some that were well-tended and others filled with deteriorating vacant houses and weed-filled lots. Detroit Fire Commissioner James Mack said it was the worst spate of fires since the 1980s, when firefighters regularly battled hundreds of arsons on the night before Halloween. No injuries were reported, but people in some charred areas complained that firefighters took as much as 90 minutes to respond. funding has been cut for firefighters and the effects were evident. Eight five structures were lost.
Fire can and do happen everywhere. If you were forced to evacuate your home what would you take? I have thought about this quite a bit and of course the usual come to mind, photos, journals, and 72 hour kits so I would have my important docs and a few other vital supplies. But what else? My grandma’s engagement ring and one of a kind family photos on the wall.
I was speaking with a reader yesterday and she said she would take her recipes. It reminded me of another friend whose home burned three years ago. When I called to lend my support one of the first things she said was, I lost all my recipes. Friends got together and made a recipe book but we had no idea what she had in her’s. We could only share our favorites.
If you had to evacuate quickly have you thought about what you would take? Please share with us what that would be.
Tip # 9 Since we are talking about fire today let’s take a step in preparing for a fire, just in case. Today take digital pictures of everything in your kitchen, everything. Open every door, every drawer, the oven, anywhere you have anything stored. Be sure to take a shot of each wall so you get anything hung on the wall. In the event of a fire or any other disaster which damages or destroys your home, the insurance company will ask for proof of the items you are claiming and wanting replaced.
Review…Tips
For more specifics about each tip please visit the former posts.
#1: Find an out of area contact.
#2: Gather maps. Get several different colors of highlighters and mark at least three different routes out of the city and ending at the home of your out of area contact.
#3: Collect all your flashlights. Check to make sure they are all working properly. Make note of any batteries you need to purchase.
#4 Post important phone numbers and your own address by each phone.
#5 Place a pair of good shoes under each bed where they can be reached in the middle of the night.
#6 Place a glow stick next to each bed.
# 7: Listen to READY OR NOT. If you can’t listen tonight the show will be available for download at the same link as the live show. Hope to hear from you tonight!
# 8: Stash some cash, about $100.00, for each adult kit.
To Listen to READY OR NOT visit:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/doctorprepper/2010/09/08/ready-or-not–carolyn-nicolaysen
Back tomorrow with numbers 10- through 12!
Subscribe to our Newsletter: http://blog.totallyready.com/announcing-the-totally-ready-newsletter/
Join Our Yahoo Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TotallyReady/
Back issues: Totally Ready Newsletters July 2009- June 2010
September Newsletter:
Let’s Play…a look at things to do during a power outage to keep sane.
Food Safety…keeping foods safe during a power outage.
Frozen Food During a Power Outage, when to save and when to throw away.
Dutch Oven Cooking…How to Control the Temperature
Haybox Cooking…one more way to cook when the grid goes down.
Recipes: This month all the recipes are from 1850. They are fun and easy to make and perfect during power emergencies, after all our great grandparents didn’t have electricity!
hey, nice blog…really like it and added to bookmarks. keep up with good work
I just recieved these responses in the yahoo group and wanted to share them here also:
From seedplanter:
I have enough arthritis in my neck that whenever I travel, even to Europe, I
always take my pillow with me. Otherwise, I can’t sleep well enough in any bed.
I would also take my medicine with me–I have a bunch. When my children were
younger I knew that one of the littlest needed a special blanket. We made a
list of the “one thing” our children would want us to grab if there were “time”.
Our four year old wanted his Sunday suit! At present I know that one grandchild
needs a pacifier and another has a special dinosaur. If the “one thing” will
make a difference in whether the person can sleep or not–especially if that
person is a baby, toddler, or younger child, I feel it would be important to get
it. A disaster would be so much worse if neither you nor your child could sleep
for days on end. Also, do you take medication that is hard for your pharmacy to
get for you? Is there a favorite food that a young child can be comforted with?
Will a child only eat with a special dish and spoon? Is there medication in
the fridge for which you need a cooler? (Insulin comes to mind and some
antibiotics)Would your daughter need a recently made wedding dress?
From Cyndi
Well for sure the 72 hr kit!! Change of clothes, family records/photos that hopefully are all on a CDrom so you can just grab that, house insurance information. Pillows and blankets…many times shelters run out of these/I know I worked with Red Cross in a few disasters!!
Hope this helps….thanks for all you do Carolyn!!
I actually made an evacuation list and put it in my household notebook (“control journal” as Flylady calls it) and prioritized what I would grab 1st, 2nd, etc, b/c different evacs have different time limits.
I read a story about a woman whose family was evacuated due to fires in CA a couple years ago. In the middle of the night b/c she had her list complete with where each item was, she could go around the house and collect things, set them in the living room, and her husband would take them to the car like an assembly line. Talk about peace in troubled times!!
After the obvious kits and pets, I would get my grandmother’s handpainted china plates, my external hard drive that has our computers backed up on them, a pillow and sheet/blanket for each person, and the portable dvd player with movies for the 22 month old. It sounds silly, but when we are stuck where she can’t run around or in a car, it can really really really help her settle down!
I keep a bag of supplies for my 22 month old in the car always: toys, books, pacifier, security blanket, diapers, wipes, extra sippy cup, little bottle of apple juice, bottle of water, snacks, umbrella stroller. That way I have them when I forget the diaper bag or in case of emergency when there isn’t much time to pack it all up.