In the event of a large wild fire in our area, several steps will be taken to help insure the safety of the residents of our community, including putting specific areas in the path of a fire on a “Standby to Evacuate” order. However, due to fire’s unpredictable nature, this step may be skipped. You may literally have only a few minutes to prepare to evacuate. It is essential, therefore, that you have a plan should the need arise to evacuate.
Planning for an evacuation should be done now, not when the need to do so is imminent. If you plan now, you will be able to leave the danger area quickly, minimizing your risk of getting stuck in traffic or having to risk returning to your home because you left behind something valuable.
To begin your plan, find or buy a three ring binder, and label it “Evacuation Plan." This plan will become your guide should the need ever arise for you to evacuate. If you have your plan in place, you will be able to leave sooner.
First, make a list of what you want to take. For most people, this includes cherished heirlooms, photos, animals, etc. Your list should also include food and water for everyone in the home, including animals, for at least three days, a first aid kid, clothing, important documents such as insurance paper work and social security cards, extras of any medications you are on, and cash. In a widespread evacuation, such as happened with the Hayman Fire, you may have to travel many miles to find an ATM with cash available. For the first draft of your list, include everything.
Next, sit down with your family and discuss the list. They may have additions. At this time, also determine where you will meet in case of an evacuation. An evacuation can occur at any time, and various family members may be at home, work, or school, and phone lines may be hampered by fire or firefighting efforts. Establishing a central meeting place is essential. In our home, everyone knows that if we have to evacuate, we will go to Grandma’s house, far enough north and east that we will be out of range of the fire.
When you sit down with your family, you will also need to discuss safe evacuation routes. You should know every route to the highway from your location. Your primary route to the highway is probably also the primary route for 100, or 1000, other people, who will all be trying to leave at the same time you are. If an alternate route is safe, consider taking that one, and make sure you know it well before the need to evacuate. Anyone who may be driving a vehicle should be familiar with these routes.
As you look at the list, look for ways you can pare it down. In an emergency, you may only be given a few short minutes to get out of your home. Instead of grabbing all of your photo albums, make it a priority to copy every picture onto a CD or DVD, and mail it to a friend or family member well away from your area. This way you will be able to reprint those important pictures if needed. Copies of important documents can also be stored at faraway locations. If you need your computer to work, learn how to pull the hard drive out quickly if you won’t have room to fit the entire tower in your vehicle. If you have livestock to worry about, you will need a detailed plan of how you will move them and where you will shelter them if the need arises. This takes time and effort, and many temporary shelters will not have room or provisions for livestock. You may need to prepare yourselves for the decision to open the gates and let them fend for themselves.
Next, you should start putting together the items you will need, gathering them in a central location in an easy to carry bag or box. This is typically called a “bug out bag.” Each family member should have their own bug out bag, and in each bag should be clothing, food, water, and medications for three days. Carrying three days’ worth of water will be difficult, but more could be stored in the car during summer months. Another bag should be gathered that includes pet food and water, special papers if you haven’t been able to copy them and send them elsewhere, and any other items you cannot live without. The items that are in your bug out bag can be taken off your list. At this point, your list should read something like this:
- Bug out bags
- Dog leash
- Aunt Mary’s lamp
- First aid kit
Yes, it should be that short, because everything else you need should be copied elsewhere or in your bug out bag. In our home, with five children, two of whom are still in diapers, we have a “bug out box,” which is a large Rubbermaid tote, plus several bags. Despite how much stuff we bug out with, we can be out of the house in less than fifteen minutes. This is essential in our fire prone area. It has taken us awhile to be able to stock it with duplicates of items we use often, such as diapers, wipes, and children’s Tylenol, but as we were able to purchase an item to go in the bug out bag, it was crossed off the list of items to grab in the Evacuation Guide, so it was one less thing to worry about. I do go through the box and bags seasonally to update clothing for sizing and possible weather conditions.
As you’re making your guide, you need to add some things to it you may not have thought about, to make sure that your home is as prepared as you can make it.
- Turn on the radio. Local radio stations will have instructions regarding the evacuation.
- Place any vehicles you are not taking with you in the garage, pointing out, with keys inside and windows rolled up. Close the garage door, leaving it unlocked. If need be, disconnect the electric garage door opener so that the door can be opened manually.
- If you have patio furniture, move it inside.
- Shut off your propane at the tank or natural gas at the meter.
- Close all exterior vents.
- Coat your home with Thermo-Gel (If you do not have thermo-gel or do not know what it is, the Fire Department can help you to obtain it)
- Prop a ladder against the house so firefighters have easy access to the roof.
- Make sure that all garden hoses are connected to faucets and attach a nozzle set on spray.
- Fill bathtubs, sinks and other containers with water.
- Close all exterior doors and windows.
- Close all interior doors.
- Open the fireplace damper, but place the screen over the hearth to prevent sparks and embers from entering the house.
- Leave light on in each room.
- Remove lightweight and or non-fire-resistant curtains and other combustible materials from around windows.
- If available, close fire-resistant drapes, shutters or venetian blinds. Attach pre-cut plywood panels to the exterior of windows and glass doors.
- Turn off all pilot lights.
- Move all overstuffed furniture (couches, easy chairs, beds) to the center of the room.
While these items may help your home survive a wild fire, they are secondary to the preservation of your family. If you do not have time to safely complete this list, then don’t! Often, these are items that can be completed if you are under a “Stand-by to Evacuate” or “Prepare to Evacuate” order when you have more than just a few minutes.
Most importantly, do not wait until given an order to evacuate to leave, if you feel that your safety is in jeopardy. If you feel that you are in danger, call 911 and leave. Fires start and spread quickly in our area, and it is essential that you report any fire that you see, even if you think someone else may have done so. If you weren’t already aware of the fire through the media or fire department personnel, then you should call and report it.
And, last but not least, don’t forget to practice! Just like when you were in school, practice makes perfect. Have a friend call when you are unprepared and start a drill, completing tasks just as you would in a real emergency. Run a variety of scenarios, such as one where you are told to prepare and you have plenty of time, and one when you have only a few minutes. Practicing your plan means you are less likely to panic when a real emergency happens!
Posted by Keisha
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