The other day we had a pretty alarming fire scare near our house. As it turns out, a near by power station caught on fire and burned a good chunk of the hill it was on. Well, we live at the base of the hill so the threat of our house burning down was very real. I left work early and went home to let Diane know we were evacuating the house now before it was too late. This event caused me to think (and make split second decisions) of what was important enough to save and what could be lost. In the end, we packed up the van with our pets, some baby stuff and a few personal items and took off.
The end of the story isn’t bad, the house didn’t burn down, the firefighters saved the day and we returned home after 5 hours or so. But now that the panic has worn off, the question is, how did I do? Is what I grabbed really that important? Did I miss something? Here is the list of things I grabbed followed by the things I should have brought and we’ll see how I did.
Things I grabbed
- Our laptops: We grabbed these because they have a lot of our information on them. We both do online banking, take digital photos and have plenty of electronic documents. In a pinch, we can go to the library to send out e-mails letting friends & family know we’re ok. Plus, they double for entertainment devices by playing DVD’s and games as well as providing reading material.
- My Drawing Book: I’m talking about the one that I’m currently using to make Plus One. I’m an artist, so I felt that grabbing only one of my sketch books and a handful of pens/pencils was a good compromise.
- Small Items: Things such as my cellphone charger, a digital watch, a change of clothes for Diane and I. Toothbrush, contacts/glasses and deodorant.
- Baby stuff: Diaper bag times 20. We ended up stuffing the diaper bag full of extra diapers, formula mix, bottles, some onsies/sleepers.
- Water: Both for us to drink and to make formula if needed
So I thought I did pretty good. Wouldn’t you agree? Well, turns out I missed some critical things. (These ideas came from Squidoo.com)
- Important Documents: Massive fail on my part! Social security cards, deeds to vehicles, Amelia’s medical information. Squidoo makes a great suggestion of keeping photocopies of these things with you (or keep in an emergency bag at all times). Genius!
- First Aid Kit: So, we were running from a raging fire that was sweeping our neighborhood. Didn’t even think what we’d do if someone got hurt while we were making our escape.
- Emergency Cash: Now, this is a good idea in theory, but in our case, not really needed. Since the rest of the city was up and running, ATM’s and credit cards were still easy to get to/use. In a real world emergency (the ones involving zombies and mass chaos), my cards would be useless.
- A Good Book: Since we have a kid and would most likely need to put stuff down quickly if needed, a good book is perfect.
- Non-Electronic Fun: As you may have noticed, I packed a good chunk of electric gear. It’s the sign of the times my friend. Unfortunately, we were high and dry if we ran out of power or wanted to do something with each other.
So how did I do? Well, I’ll let you be the judge but I’d say pretty good. I mean, I got a lot of good stuff that we needed but I also missed one with those important documents. If we had any emergencies involving my daughter, we probably would have been in trouble. Or better yet, our deeds to the cars! It would make things a bit difficult when we tried to trade or sell one of them. But all in all, I had the majority covered.
So now that I’ve been through this little “exercise”, we’re getting a plan together in case of emergencies. The biggest item on our list? A safe. Some place to keep all those important documents that can either survive a fire or can easily be gathered in times of crisis.
Have you been in a similar situation? Do you feel like I missed something that was vital? Please leave a comment behind with any suggestions, tips or good advice.
