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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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. [/quote]
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. [/quote]

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. [/quote]
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.[/quote]

Christmas decorations? China decorations? WTF, lady! You are crazy. If your friend comes in a trailer?! Really, I don't know whether to laugh or cry at this.

Having to flee my house at midnight with my husband and two elementary aged kids, two guinea pigs, and dog (the gecko got left behind) the priority is PEOPLE AND PETS and how to get out safely and survive. In our case as the fire got closer and closer there was not much of a warning. These are some of our  things we have prioritized and now consider:
1. You most likely are NOT going to have electricity as you evacuate at night. SoCal Edison starts cutting the power in widespread areas because they don't want Santa Ana winds blowing more power poles over and starting a new electrical fire.  So you are trying to figure out when you are going to have to evacuate without being able to look at a laptop (our internet goes out if we have no power) or TV screen. We now have solar powered camping lamps that will charge phones and provide light to get grab things. Put one in every bedroom. https://www.amazon.com/Duracell-flashlight-illumination-emergency-available/dp/B0CT78JJDP/ref=asc_df_B0CT78JJDP?mcid=fe05ef8183573adf99c1501e26a93a51&tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=693128046662&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11371813603861569545&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9031615&hvtargid=pla-2294117180143&psc=1
2. As the fire comes closer and closer the wind is going to blow massive amounts of smoke. This sets off the fire alarms in your house. Imagine trying to gather things in the dark as every single fire alarm in your house is going off. We started literally ripping every single one of them off the walls because we couldn't take it as panic sets in. 
3. Make sure your garage door can open WITHOUT power. CA passed a law that new garage doors can open if the power is out (they have a battery pack that will allow the garage door to open a few times without power). If not park your car outside of your garage on Santa Ana wind fires. 
4. Trying to figure out what is happening is stressful. You are trying to figure out what is happening and how far the fire is away on a cell phone screen. You need a contact person who does NOT live near you to be able to be helping you out in case you really are forced to leave quickly. Sometimes you might have more warning than other times. That person has to be able to tell you the direction the fire is traveling, what roads are open to evacuate, and can book a hotel miles away from the fire for you online or start calling hotels directly to see if there is space. Think about it. When we had to evacuate we ended up sleeping the first night in our car because every hotel around was booked. You are competing with thousands of people to try to get a hotel room. And it is harder if you have pets. We luckily got a room the next night at a hotel 15 miles away. We could have traveled 60 miles away to stay with family but we stunk like smoke and were just tired and wanted to just be together as family. We had no idea if we had a house left (a neighbors house burned up the block along with hundreds of others in our town). 
5. You should have a snack bag because stores and restaurants close since there is no power for internet to use credit cards, workers are evacuating. 
Ugh our lights just went in and out. We are going to lose power soon. Will post more later. 
 [/quote]

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