Palisades Fire - Los Angeles

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a fire storm of mass destruction and will only get worse over the night.

Iconic landmarks like the Getty Villa and Palisades HS are on fire. 0% contained.

I grew up in SoCal and this is a disaster. People had to abandon their cars in traffic and run.

30,000 people evacuated but the Getty staff say the museum is very secure. My LA friends left their home before the gridlock. I have been through three fire evacuations in the last few years in the Rocky Mountain West, and several friends lost their homes with minutes to get out. The trauma of losing everything you have is unimaginable, especially for children. I have totally changed how I arrange everything. My heart goes out to anyone who has to evacuate, and wait and wonder what is happening to their home. The wind forecast looks terrible.

If you don't mind sharing, I'd like to hear what changes you made. I live in LA and have several family and friends sheltering in hotels right now.

I am glad your friends made it out, and I hope their homes make it.

We had 15 minutes in our first evacuation, many of our friends had literally two minutes. Here is what I’ve done

-Reorganized “must have” paper and objects so that they exist in one grabbable plastic file box stored in the front closet. This means that the overall organization is disrupted. Obviously it has passports, banking, emergency cash etc., but it also has my favorite drawings from each child, original genealogical documents, love letters. This is the box that is first out. It’s what you need and what you feel like you will die without. I sharpied symbols on the box to remind me to close windows, doors, and shut off power/gas. We don’t have propane but if you do you should try to remove it. This is where you put the things that you take if you have two minutes. I also have a small box of charging equipment. This is totally an emotional crutch for me. I learned the first time that slinging chargers into random places made me feel out of control and panicky, but I really wanted to take them.

-The front closet also has flat boxes, packing tape, bubble wrap, scissors that are not used for anything else. They are there primarily for art and books.

-I have packed a box with one or two pieces of each of the multiple sets of china and crystal that are family things.

-I have a packed box of our most treasured Christmas things.

-Jewelry is stored in a box with trays and I am religious about putting it away

-Books are shelved so that high priority keepers are together. Old photo albums are there (yes they are scanned, but some photos I want if I can have them).

-Every bedroom has a box of big black trash bags. You can stuff a ton of clothing, stuffed animals, special blankets, etc. in really quickly and the bags will squish into vehicles efficiently. Kids can do this while you do something else.i will never forget holding my kid’s quavering friend who barely escaped with her family and did not have a single thing left. Not one stuffed animal, baby toy, pillowcase. Nothing.

-Scanning and photographing. Pretty much everything that can be scanned is scanned, if it can’t be scanned it’s photographed. I have thumb drives here and send copies to my mother and cousin. This serves two purposes. Whatever we can’t take out, we will have a memory of, and we will get the max for our contents insurance (start scanning receipts for things as you buy). Insurance for build cost is usually not enough, and they’re only obligated to pay a % of contents unless you can document it all.

-Priorotized lists. We know approximately what can go out in 2, 5, 10, 15, 30 minutes. We know what fits in our vehicles and what we can add if our friend comes with a trailer. This is all written in order and stored in an envelope taped to the must go box. Be sure to include a device list. No matter how prepared you are, it’s scary. It’s not a time to make decisions. You don’t want to be in the basement staring at your sorority memorabilia and your grandmother’s ice skates and wondering what to take. This also means someone else can pack if you put locations and ideally a photo on the list.

Overall, my house is no longer organized for maximum efficiency, but for maximum evacuation efficiency. It doesn’t change much or look weird. It just means some extra steps and discipline here and there. Everyone will have different priorities and choices. The key is making those decisions before the crisis and organizing so you don’t have to think or search for things when you evacuate.

This is insane. I agree about people, pets, important documents, and chargers. Laterns/batteries is a good idea too. The kids have a few favorite toys/stuffies. But I don’t care about anything else you mentioned - even if I had a week to prepare I wouldn’t bring China or Christmas decorations or kids artwork. Now if Google and Amazon photo BOTH lose all my digital storage, THEN I’d be devastated. But the stuff is just stuff.

You do you. You have no right to judge anyone else. I had to leave grabbing what I could with no planning the first time. Then we watched and waited for three days. It sucked beyond belief and yes, if I can safely prevent my family from going through what our friends have, I will do it. Now we’re prepared. My best friends lost every single thing. It’s all “just stuff” until it happens to you. Make your own decisions and don’t judge other people as long as they are obeying safety orders.

+1 I’m so sick of people coming for this woman after they ASKED HER how she organizes to get out with all her stuff.

+2

This woman answered a question and shared her process. It’s not anyone’s job to tell her that her choices for what to save are wrong.

The idea about the trash bags is especially smart.

I agree. Very helpful.

It's very helpful and I felt so sad just reading it. Praying I never have to do this.

[Anonymous]

Californian here. I think some of the posters here perhaps don’t really understand what it’s like to be in a Santa Ana wind. I saw a video on Twitter that gives a sense of what it’s like in the fires with Santa Ana winds.

[Anonymous]

I just heard about an old friend I knew had moved to Altadena, whose family had to evacuate their home in 20 minutes notice.
Staying at a hotel, then doesnt know where to go next, with no family around. Family of 4 with dogs.
This is truly heartbreaking and scary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Question from somebody who hasn't had to evacuate - when do you decide to go? My impulse would be to just leave now if I was anywhere near, but I can understand it requires a place to stay, missing work, etc. Do you wait for the order? or go sooner if you can?

I am pp who has been through it three times. We have a system that warns us to prepare to evacuate, and we all are watching location, wind speed/direction, and of course literally watching, communicating with neighbors, and paying attention to our guts. I want to be out before the order so that there is no chance of being stuck in gridlock.

Coordinating with neighbors is a must. We have some teens on the block that aren’t old enough to drive. There are plans A, B, and C for them to get out. We all have keys or codes for multiple neighbors and we know who has which pets. We have a couple of elderly neighbors that are pretty fit but we have designated people to make sure they are ok and help them if needed. We let each other know when we’re going out of town, etc.

Curious, PP: Why do you keep living in such a fire-prone area? Why not move away to a safer place?

What place is safe? People live in Tornado Alley, in hurricane zones, in tsunami risk zones, beside volcanoes, in earthquake risk zones, in flood zones, in wildfire and mudslide risk zones, in avalanche zones and in terrorism/war target/crime zones.

DMV!

DMV is probably at highest risk for catastrophic man-made attack. Just sayin’

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Question from somebody who hasn't had to evacuate - when do you decide to go? My impulse would be to just leave now if I was anywhere near, but I can understand it requires a place to stay, missing work, etc. Do you wait for the order? or go sooner if you can?

I am pp who has been through it three times. We have a system that warns us to prepare to evacuate, and we all are watching location, wind speed/direction, and of course literally watching, communicating with neighbors, and paying attention to our guts. I want to be out before the order so that there is no chance of being stuck in gridlock.

Coordinating with neighbors is a must. We have some teens on the block that aren’t old enough to drive. There are plans A, B, and C for them to get out. We all have keys or codes for multiple neighbors and we know who has which pets. We have a couple of elderly neighbors that are pretty fit but we have designated people to make sure they are ok and help them if needed. We let each other know when we’re going out of town, etc.

Curious, PP: Why do you keep living in such a fire-prone area? Why not move away to a safer place?

What place is safe? People live in Tornado Alley, in hurricane zones, in tsunami risk zones, beside volcanoes, in earthquake risk zones, in flood zones, in wildfire and mudslide risk zones, in avalanche zones and in terrorism/war target/crime zones.

DMV!

DMV is probably at highest risk for catastrophic man-made attack. Just sayin’

I'll take my chances. I'll continue to vacation to SFL, out west, etc., but I ain't moving. Anyways back to watching Anderson Cooper reporting directly infront of a burning hous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Californian here. I think some of the posters here perhaps don’t really understand what it’s like to be in a Santa Ana wind. I saw a video on Twitter that gives a sense of what it’s like in the fires with Santa Ana winds.

It looks scary. 100,000 under evacuation orders. It’s just terrible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a fire storm of mass destruction and will only get worse over the night.

Iconic landmarks like the Getty Villa and Palisades HS are on fire. 0% contained.

I grew up in SoCal and this is a disaster. People had to abandon their cars in traffic and run.

30,000 people evacuated but the Getty staff say the museum is very secure. My LA friends left their home before the gridlock. I have been through three fire evacuations in the last few years in the Rocky Mountain West, and several friends lost their homes with minutes to get out. The trauma of losing everything you have is unimaginable, especially for children. I have totally changed how I arrange everything. My heart goes out to anyone who has to evacuate, and wait and wonder what is happening to their home. The wind forecast looks terrible.

If you don't mind sharing, I'd like to hear what changes you made. I live in LA and have several family and friends sheltering in hotels right now.

I am glad your friends made it out, and I hope their homes make it.

We had 15 minutes in our first evacuation, many of our friends had literally two minutes. Here is what I’ve done

-Reorganized “must have” paper and objects so that they exist in one grabbable plastic file box stored in the front closet. This means that the overall organization is disrupted. Obviously it has passports, banking, emergency cash etc., but it also has my favorite drawings from each child, original genealogical documents, love letters. This is the box that is first out. It’s what you need and what you feel like you will die without. I sharpied symbols on the box to remind me to close windows, doors, and shut off power/gas. We don’t have propane but if you do you should try to remove it. This is where you put the things that you take if you have two minutes. I also have a small box of charging equipment. This is totally an emotional crutch for me. I learned the first time that slinging chargers into random places made me feel out of control and panicky, but I really wanted to take them.

-The front closet also has flat boxes, packing tape, bubble wrap, scissors that are not used for anything else. They are there primarily for art and books.

-I have packed a box with one or two pieces of each of the multiple sets of china and crystal that are family things.

-I have a packed box of our most treasured Christmas things.

-Jewelry is stored in a box with trays and I am religious about putting it away

-Books are shelved so that high priority keepers are together. Old photo albums are there (yes they are scanned, but some photos I want if I can have them).

-Every bedroom has a box of big black trash bags. You can stuff a ton of clothing, stuffed animals, special blankets, etc. in really quickly and the bags will squish into vehicles efficiently. Kids can do this while you do something else.i will never forget holding my kid’s quavering friend who barely escaped with her family and did not have a single thing left. Not one stuffed animal, baby toy, pillowcase. Nothing.

-Scanning and photographing. Pretty much everything that can be scanned is scanned, if it can’t be scanned it’s photographed. I have thumb drives here and send copies to my mother and cousin. This serves two purposes. Whatever we can’t take out, we will have a memory of, and we will get the max for our contents insurance (start scanning receipts for things as you buy). Insurance for build cost is usually not enough, and they’re only obligated to pay a % of contents unless you can document it all.

-Priorotized lists. We know approximately what can go out in 2, 5, 10, 15, 30 minutes. We know what fits in our vehicles and what we can add if our friend comes with a trailer. This is all written in order and stored in an envelope taped to the must go box. Be sure to include a device list. No matter how prepared you are, it’s scary. It’s not a time to make decisions. You don’t want to be in the basement staring at your sorority memorabilia and your grandmother’s ice skates and wondering what to take. This also means someone else can pack if you put locations and ideally a photo on the list.

Overall, my house is no longer organized for maximum efficiency, but for maximum evacuation efficiency. It doesn’t change much or look weird. It just means some extra steps and discipline here and there. Everyone will have different priorities and choices. The key is making those decisions before the crisis and organizing so you don’t have to think or search for things when you evacuate.

This is insane. I agree about people, pets, important documents, and chargers. Laterns/batteries is a good idea too. The kids have a few favorite toys/stuffies. But I don’t care about anything else you mentioned - even if I had a week to prepare I wouldn’t bring China or Christmas decorations or kids artwork. Now if Google and Amazon photo BOTH lose all my digital storage, THEN I’d be devastated. But the stuff is just stuff.

You do you. You have no right to judge anyone else. I had to leave grabbing what I could with no planning the first time. Then we watched and waited for three days. It sucked beyond belief and yes, if I can safely prevent my family from going through what our friends have, I will do it. Now we’re prepared. My best friends lost every single thing. It’s all “just stuff” until it happens to you. Make your own decisions and don’t judge other people as long as they are obeying safety orders.

+1 I’m so sick of people coming for this woman after they ASKED HER how she organizes to get out with all her stuff.

+2

This woman answered a question and shared her process. It’s not anyone’s job to tell her that her choices for what to save are wrong.

The idea about the trash bags is especially smart.

I agree. Very helpful.

Adding two tips I just read on Bluesky:

-- family recipes (If you're like me, you only have the paper recipe card from mom or grandmother.)
-- If you need to grab some clothes fast, take what's in your dirty laundry basket. Those are the clothes that fit, are seasonally appropriate, and you like enough to have just worn them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD is evacuating. This is such an unbelievable nightmare for so many people. May all the residents/evacuees and firefighters be safe. Thankful for the incredible firefighters hours in duty.

Hope she is safe. As a Coloradan who's been near a catastrophic wildfire, I have the utmost respect for wildland and all firefighters who risk their lives 24/7 working those lines by hand. As well as the pilots who attack the fires from the air, every single one is a hero.
Praying the weather improves so they can get some containment and the people of Cali can try to rebuild soon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Question from somebody who hasn't had to evacuate - when do you decide to go? My impulse would be to just leave now if I was anywhere near, but I can understand it requires a place to stay, missing work, etc. Do you wait for the order? or go sooner if you can?

I am pp who has been through it three times. We have a system that warns us to prepare to evacuate, and we all are watching location, wind speed/direction, and of course literally watching, communicating with neighbors, and paying attention to our guts. I want to be out before the order so that there is no chance of being stuck in gridlock.

Coordinating with neighbors is a must. We have some teens on the block that aren’t old enough to drive. There are plans A, B, and C for them to get out. We all have keys or codes for multiple neighbors and we know who has which pets. We have a couple of elderly neighbors that are pretty fit but we have designated people to make sure they are ok and help them if needed. We let each other know when we’re going out of town, etc.

Curious, PP: Why do you keep living in such a fire-prone area? Why not move away to a safer place?

What place is safe? People live in Tornado Alley, in hurricane zones, in tsunami risk zones, beside volcanoes, in earthquake risk zones, in flood zones, in wildfire and mudslide risk zones, in avalanche zones and in terrorism/war target/crime zones.

DMV!

DMV is probably at highest risk for catastrophic man-made attack. Just sayin’

I'll take my chances. I'll continue to vacation to SFL, out west, etc., but I ain't moving. Anyways back to watching Anderson Cooper reporting directly infront of a burning hous.

I heard a news report about residents of Asheville, NC who moved there based on their best analysis of being safe from climate change.

I live northern CA and every fire season want to leave. My husband and kids don’t want to and it’s hard to know where we’d go. The biggest earthquake I’ve experienced was actually when we lived in DC. My understanding is that the Midwest had massive insurance loss / insurance concerns from windstorms. With drought, blizzards, wind, hurricanes, tornados, fires, water shortages etc it’s hard to find a place that you could reasonably expect to be safe from risk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Question from somebody who hasn't had to evacuate - when do you decide to go? My impulse would be to just leave now if I was anywhere near, but I can understand it requires a place to stay, missing work, etc. Do you wait for the order? or go sooner if you can?

I am pp who has been through it three times. We have a system that warns us to prepare to evacuate, and we all are watching location, wind speed/direction, and of course literally watching, communicating with neighbors, and paying attention to our guts. I want to be out before the order so that there is no chance of being stuck in gridlock.

Coordinating with neighbors is a must. We have some teens on the block that aren’t old enough to drive. There are plans A, B, and C for them to get out. We all have keys or codes for multiple neighbors and we know who has which pets. We have a couple of elderly neighbors that are pretty fit but we have designated people to make sure they are ok and help them if needed. We let each other know when we’re going out of town, etc.

Curious, PP: Why do you keep living in such a fire-prone area? Why not move away to a safer place?

What place is safe? People live in Tornado Alley, in hurricane zones, in tsunami risk zones, beside volcanoes, in earthquake risk zones, in flood zones, in wildfire and mudslide risk zones, in avalanche zones and in terrorism/war target/crime zones.

DMV!

DMV is probably at highest risk for catastrophic man-made attack. Just sayin’

I'll take my chances. I'll continue to vacation to SFL, out west, etc., but I ain't moving. Anyways back to watching Anderson Cooper reporting directly infront of a burning hous.

I heard a news report about residents of Asheville, NC who moved there based on their best analysis of being safe from climate change.

I live northern CA and every fire season want to leave. My husband and kids don’t want to and it’s hard to know where we’d go. The biggest earthquake I’ve experienced was actually when we lived in DC. My understanding is that the Midwest had massive insurance loss / insurance concerns from windstorms. With drought, blizzards, wind, hurricanes, tornados, fires, water shortages etc it’s hard to find a place that you could reasonably expect to be safe from risk.

I have a dear personal friend who was planning to close on a house in Asheville one week after the hurricane swept through.

They were moving from Tampa to avoid the hurricanes and weather of recent years.

I think we have all been trained to focus on climate change not "global warming" because the warming confused people (ie colder weather sometimes, as extremes change etc) but that dropped the GLOBAL part from the description.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a fire storm of mass destruction and will only get worse over the night.

Iconic landmarks like the Getty Villa and Palisades HS are on fire. 0% contained.

I grew up in SoCal and this is a disaster. People had to abandon their cars in traffic and run.

30,000 people evacuated but the Getty staff say the museum is very secure. My LA friends left their home before the gridlock. I have been through three fire evacuations in the last few years in the Rocky Mountain West, and several friends lost their homes with minutes to get out. The trauma of losing everything you have is unimaginable, especially for children. I have totally changed how I arrange everything. My heart goes out to anyone who has to evacuate, and wait and wonder what is happening to their home. The wind forecast looks terrible.

If you don't mind sharing, I'd like to hear what changes you made. I live in LA and have several family and friends sheltering in hotels right now.

I am glad your friends made it out, and I hope their homes make it.

We had 15 minutes in our first evacuation, many of our friends had literally two minutes. Here is what I’ve done

-Reorganized “must have” paper and objects so that they exist in one grabbable plastic file box stored in the front closet. This means that the overall organization is disrupted. Obviously it has passports, banking, emergency cash etc., but it also has my favorite drawings from each child, original genealogical documents, love letters. This is the box that is first out. It’s what you need and what you feel like you will die without. I sharpied symbols on the box to remind me to close windows, doors, and shut off power/gas. We don’t have propane but if you do you should try to remove it. This is where you put the things that you take if you have two minutes. I also have a small box of charging equipment. This is totally an emotional crutch for me. I learned the first time that slinging chargers into random places made me feel out of control and panicky, but I really wanted to take them.

-The front closet also has flat boxes, packing tape, bubble wrap, scissors that are not used for anything else. They are there primarily for art and books.

-I have packed a box with one or two pieces of each of the multiple sets of china and crystal that are family things.

-I have a packed box of our most treasured Christmas things.

-Jewelry is stored in a box with trays and I am religious about putting it away

-Books are shelved so that high priority keepers are together. Old photo albums are there (yes they are scanned, but some photos I want if I can have them).

-Every bedroom has a box of big black trash bags. You can stuff a ton of clothing, stuffed animals, special blankets, etc. in really quickly and the bags will squish into vehicles efficiently. Kids can do this while you do something else.i will never forget holding my kid’s quavering friend who barely escaped with her family and did not have a single thing left. Not one stuffed animal, baby toy, pillowcase. Nothing.

-Scanning and photographing. Pretty much everything that can be scanned is scanned, if it can’t be scanned it’s photographed. I have thumb drives here and send copies to my mother and cousin. This serves two purposes. Whatever we can’t take out, we will have a memory of, and we will get the max for our contents insurance (start scanning receipts for things as you buy). Insurance for build cost is usually not enough, and they’re only obligated to pay a % of contents unless you can document it all.

-Priorotized lists. We know approximately what can go out in 2, 5, 10, 15, 30 minutes. We know what fits in our vehicles and what we can add if our friend comes with a trailer. This is all written in order and stored in an envelope taped to the must go box. Be sure to include a device list. No matter how prepared you are, it’s scary. It’s not a time to make decisions. You don’t want to be in the basement staring at your sorority memorabilia and your grandmother’s ice skates and wondering what to take. This also means someone else can pack if you put locations and ideally a photo on the list.

Overall, my house is no longer organized for maximum efficiency, but for maximum evacuation efficiency. It doesn’t change much or look weird. It just means some extra steps and discipline here and there. Everyone will have different priorities and choices. The key is making those decisions before the crisis and organizing so you don’t have to think or search for things when you evacuate.

This is insane. I agree about people, pets, important documents, and chargers. Laterns/batteries is a good idea too. The kids have a few favorite toys/stuffies. But I don’t care about anything else you mentioned - even if I had a week to prepare I wouldn’t bring China or Christmas decorations or kids artwork. Now if Google and Amazon photo BOTH lose all my digital storage, THEN I’d be devastated. But the stuff is just stuff.

You do you. You have no right to judge anyone else. I had to leave grabbing what I could with no planning the first time. Then we watched and waited for three days. It sucked beyond belief and yes, if I can safely prevent my family from going through what our friends have, I will do it. Now we’re prepared. My best friends lost every single thing. It’s all “just stuff” until it happens to you. Make your own decisions and don’t judge other people as long as they are obeying safety orders.

+1 I’m so sick of people coming for this woman after they ASKED HER how she organizes to get out with all her stuff.

+2

This woman answered a question and shared her process. It’s not anyone’s job to tell her that her choices for what to save are wrong.

The idea about the trash bags is especially smart.

I agree. Very helpful.

Adding two tips I just read on Bluesky:

-- family recipes (If you're like me, you only have the paper recipe card from mom or grandmother.)
-- If you need to grab some clothes fast, take what's in your dirty laundry basket. Those are the clothes that fit, are seasonally appropriate, and you like enough to have just worn them.

These are all great tips and I used a similar approach when I lived near Santa Clarita. I didn’t understand how panic overwhelms your thinking until I saw a fire line come over the ridge above my neighborhood unexpectedly when the winds shifted.

If you have pets- if you can- pack their crates or an emergency travel crate. Many shelters won’t let you bring in pets unless they are crated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a fire storm of mass destruction and will only get worse over the night.

Iconic landmarks like the Getty Villa and Palisades HS are on fire. 0% contained.

I grew up i this is a disaster. People had to abandon their cars in traffic and run.

30,000 people evacuated but the Getty staff say the museum is very secure. My LA friends left their home before the gridlock. I have been through three fire evacuations in the last few years in the Rocky Mountain West, and several friends lost their homes with minutes to get out. The trauma of losing everything you have is unimaginable, especially for children. I have totally changed how I arrange everything. My heart goes out to anyone who has to evacuate, and wait and wonder what is happening to their home. The wind forecast looks terrible.

If you don't mind sharing, I'd like to hear what changes you made. I live in LA and have several family and friends sheltering in hotels right now.

I am glad your friends made it out, and I hope their homes make it.

We had 15 minutes in our first evacuation, many of our friends had literally two minutes. Here is what I’ve done

-Reorganized “must have” paper and objects so that they exist in one grabbable plastic file box stored in the front closet. This means that the overall organization is disrupted. Obviously it has passports, banking, emergency cash etc., but it also has my favorite drawings from each child, original genealogical documents, love letters. This is the box that is first out. It’s what you need and what you feel like you will die without. I sharpied symbols on the box to remind me to close windows, doors, and shut off power/gas. We don’t have propane but if you do you should try to remove it. This is where you put the things that you take if you have two minutes. I also have a small box of charging equipment. This is totally an emotional crutch for me. I learned the first time that slinging chargers into random places made me feel out of control and panicky, but I really wanted to take them.

-The front closet also has flat boxes, packing tape, bubble wrap, scissors that are not used for anything else. They are there primarily for art and books.

-I have packed a box with one or two pieces of each of the multiple sets of china and crystal that are family things.

-I have a packed box of our most treasured Christmas things.

-Jewelry is stored in a box with trays and I am religious about putting it away

-Books are shelved so that high priority keepers are together. Old photo albums are there (yes they are scanned, but some photos I want if I can have them).

-Every bedroom has a box of big black trash bags. You can stuff a ton of clothing, stuffed animals, special blankets, etc. in really quickly and the bags will squish into vehicles efficiently. Kids can do this while you do something else.i will never forget holding my kid’s quavering friend who barely escaped with her family and did not have a single thing left. Not one stuffed animal, baby toy, pillowcase. Nothing.

-Scanning and photographing. Pretty much everything that can be scanned is scanned, if it can’t be scanned it’s photographed. I have thumb drives here and send copies to my mother and cousin. This serves two purposes. Whatever we can’t take out, we will have a memory of, and we will get the max for our contents insurance (start scanning receipts for things as you buy). Insurance for build cost is usually not enough, and they’re only obligated to pay a % of contents unless you can document it all.

-Priorotized lists. We know approximately what can go out in 2, 5, 10, 15, 30 minutes. We know what fits in our vehicles and what we can add if our friend comes with a trailer. This is all written in order and stored in an envelope taped to the must go box. Be sure to include a device list. No matter how prepared you are, it’s scary. It’s not a time to make decisions. You don’t want to be in the basement staring at your sorority memorabilia and your grandmother’s ice skates and wondering what to take. This also means someone else can pack if you put locations and ideally a photo on the list.

Overall, my house is no longer organized for maximum efficiency, but for maximum evacuation efficiency. It doesn’t change much or look weird. It just means some extra steps and discipline here and there. Everyone will have different priorities and choices. The key is making those decisions before the crisis and organizing so you don’t have to think or search for things when you evacuate.

This is insane. I agree about people, pets, important documents, and chargers. Laterns/batteries is a good idea too. The kids have a few favorite toys/stuffies. But I don’t care about anything else you mentioned - even if I had a week to prepare I wouldn’t bring China or Christmas decorations or kids artwork. Now if Google and Amazon photo BOTH lose all my digital storage, THEN I’d be devastated. But the stuff is just stuff.

You do you. You have no right to judge anyone else. I had to leave grabbing what I could with no planning the first time. Then we watched and waited for three days. It sucked beyond belief and yes, if I can safely prevent my family from going through what our friends have, I will do it. Now we’re prepared. My best friends lost every single thing. It’s all “just stuff” until it happens to you. Make your own decisions and don’t judge other people as long as they are obeying safety orders.

+1 I’m so sick of people coming for this woman after they ASKED HER how she organizes to get out with all her stuff.

+2

This woman answered a question and shared her process. It’s not anyone’s job to tell her that her choices for what to save are wrong.

The idea about the trash bags is especially smart.

+1,000

+2000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Spencer Pratt's house burned down.

Oh no! He’s a wild personality but I loved his hummingbirds posts on instagram

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure if this is accurate, but a celebrity whose mansion burned down claimed that many had no insurance because they had been dropped recently by a big insurer.

They should name the insurer. Collected premiums all this time then waited last minute when they realized there wasn’t any rain or any planning then cancelled on everyone. A shame

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Why aren’t fire mitigation systems installed as part of the public works systems, developments or private homes? Large water guns to create a barrier or cover a neighborhood?

I don't really understand what you have in mind - like a continuous spray? Water isn't unlimited - hydrants in some of these areas are already running dry as firefighters use them. And any active system would presumably require power and somebody to man it. Plus spraying water in 100 mpg gusts probably not effective.

I know this kind of fire is unfamiliar to east coasters, I'm not mocking. But it's much bigger and faster than you are imagining. You're basically asking why Florida doesn't have some kind of pump to keep hurricanes out.

As with hurricanes, there are new building methods that help. Burying the power lines would be a huge help, but that's expensive and CA allowed it's power utility to be privatized. This is really a story of climate change + bad infrastructure decisions.

Have you ever seen crop irrigation systems, they implement rotating water cannons to cover large swaths of land. Install some of these and only turn them on when a fire is happening and a neighborhood is in danger. It’s not a complex idea.

LOL asking someone from CA if they've seen a crop sprinkler. Uh, yes, I have.
I tried to nicely explain already, but it's clear you are not familiar with fires, the terrain, or the water or electricity situation. But sure, you solved it, good job.

Yeah, still not sure how this idea isnt better than nothing. A quick google search shows that apparently there are companies that do provide this service. Adapting it to be an integral part of a community’s infrastructure would make sense.

https://www.wildfirewater.com/

I think this area would be hard because it is all hills and houses. There isn't space to put a massive sprinkler system.

I assume planes can scoop up water from the ocean to fight the fire? I am not sure how that works.

No you can’t dump sea water all over the land because you will salt the soil and nothing will ever grow there again.