11 thoughts on “Fire!”

  1. Photos and other sentimental items. All the rest can burn. Oh, and the pets… and, yeah, I guess we should take the kids…

    😉

  3. NewMexiKen has extended family evacuated for one of the fires. They report their house is fine but four on the next street over were destroyed. They forwarded a pdf file listing homes destroyed in that one area. It lists streets and addresses only and it’s 10 pages long.

  4. Been there, done that. The Hayman Fire at its closest was 12 miles to the west of us and there was nothing between us and it but tinder dry pine forest with the wind blowing from the west.

    We did do a partial evacuation. I took the horses to my trainer’s and boarded them there. I also took my rubber stamps, journals, photos, important legal documents, a videotape of the place, and a few family heirlooms. We slept here at night, but took the dogs and cat to my trainer’s every morning before going to work, and picked them up on the way home.

    It was quite unnerving to see the local fire departments scouting our roads. I suppose they were trying to determine which areas were defensible. I though our place had a chance because we have meadows and not forests around our house.

    Since we were always smelling smoke we were constantly checking the horizon to make sure that another local fire hadn’t started nearby. When the wind shifted to the east I almost cried in relief.

  5. My family isn’t too extended to begin with, as my direct relations that are still alive are just myself and my father. (It’s very odd to type that when you haven’t even crossed into the mid-30’s yet.)

    My dad lives in Ramona, smack dab in the middle of the Witch Creek Fire’s mandatory evacuation area. He’s currently banging his ear at the Mira Loma High School gymnasium. And because they are making it a point to tell people about the public buildings that are still standing, he knows that his house is not in immediate danger because the high school down the street is not in immediate danger.

    Remind me to ask him exactly why he moved away from Pacific Beach… Because between the Cedar fire and the Witch Creek fire, I hope he’s not going to say that it’s safer.

  6. What I would take would depend entirely on how long I had to gather and pack what I wanted, and how much space I had to fill (i.e. my little Honda Civic or our Chevy Silverado with a camper shell). I would want to grab my computer tower, but the rest of the system could stay behind. I’d try to grab some photos and a few sentimental pieces of jewelry. I’d take the spider plant that is a direct descendant of the one our deceased mother grew in the early 1970’s. Time allowing, I’d grab the one file folder that has our most important papers in it and some extra clothes and shoes. Most everything else is expendable. However, if I had an hour or two, I would certainly take various other select items, especially some of the knick knacks I’ve collected in my world travels, and certain books–mainly the autographed ones.

  7. Byron and I had a discussion about this the other night, and decided that we could get an awful lot of stuff into the car in 15 minutes, if we had to.

    But it would be a huge mess to deal with later (throwing things into garbage bags, throwing files into boxes, etc.).

    I think maybe some people don’t take that much when they leave for this very reason – they don’t really think the fire is going to get to them, and they don’t want to tear their homes apart just as a “precaution.”

  9. I live deep in a city, away from a flood plain, outside tornado, earthquake and hurricane territory, in part, so that I don’t have to evacuate from something that was likely to destroy my home.

    The most likely menace I face is a blizzard, for which the proper response is to stay home, do nothing and drink up.

  10. Everyone, even ohwilleke who lives in safe ole Wash Park, Denver, should have all of their important documents in one place, one folder or envelope perhaps — passports, credit cards and checkbooks (the ones not in a wallet or purse), certificates of deposit, birth certificates, car and house titles, insurance policies, backups of your important electronic files.

    In an emergency evacuation — and anyone’s house can catch fire — take that folder/envelope with you first.

    Then as Aidan told me last year, “If there’s a fire, get out of house.” He also advised not to go back in for any toys.

  11. But, you better have that envelope in a secure place like a safe deposit box in the bank, or a super heavy safe at home. If not, you risk loosing those most important items to theft.

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