What's in your Go Bag? Fire Escapee
 

California fires are everywhere. It's scary. We've been on high alert due to the fires up north and seems fire season came a tad earlier this year. I live in Los Angeles near a canyon so very susceptible.

Any tips on what should go in the Go Bag that one might not think of? Aside from clothes, passport, extra cash, contact lens, ... I mean I can't imagine it all burning down but having been evacuated last year I'm trying to be more prepared this season.

Thank you! Hope everyone is safe from the fires and covid.

now I’d add a box of masks and hand sanitizer

If you have pets, a copy of their vaccination recs, a serving of food, etc.

and a spare pair of clean underwear is always nice.

House insurance, meds, old pictures, pet food, collar, leash, toiletries.Clothing. I have done it once for fire and do it sort of for hurricanes in case the roof blows off.

DC - this is on our minds a lot as we live in the mountains of Colorado.

I often worry that we're not sufficiently prepared. We keep computer back-ups in a bank safe deposit box, along with a household inventory, photos of household goods (to assist in filling out insurance personal property inventory forms if necessary) and various important documents.

We have a fire proof safe in our house with other items like passports, cash and documents that haven't made it to the safe deposit box yet.

If we have sufficient time, we'd take the safe with us, if not, it's fireproof, but probably wouldn't hold up in a total loss.

I guess my go bag would contain the basics - some clothing, phone, purse, prescriptions, glasses, contacts, toiletries, water, and snacks. If I have time, I'd also try to grab my jewelry box and my wedding photo.

I hope none of us has to find out if we're sufficiently prepared or not.

Indeed, but I already know that we are not ... :(
But we should be, though we are not in a high risk area. Still, what if the power goes out for a long time?

Here are some ideas, I've had this bookmarked for a while.
https://www.ready.gov/kit

I keep my travel bag packed & in a closet near the front door. All of it, washable-by-hand clothes and everything else you need in a carry-on sized bag + day pack with electronics, cosmetics, prescriptions, etc. + small bag with extra shoes. Important: always take extra shoes & socks. My sister learned the hard way when she left home in sandals the day her house burned.

2 grocery bags. One with food that can be eaten right out of the bag, plus coffee & tea, small ultra-pasturized cartons of milk & sugar. The other with gear as it relates to bag 1. Immersion water heater to make coffee, tea, noodles. Insulated cup, a couple more metal cups, bowl, cutlery, a sharp knife, paper towels, tissues. Always in the back compartment of the car a sleeping bag, pillow, TP. I've been meaning to add my small tent. Must get a pad to sleep on.

Edit: also a portable file with important papers, jewelry, current life.

Moderating comment removed. Oops, spoke too soon, it's gone again.

I am & it does. If you'd like simple lessons on coping without a fridge for 2 or 3 days, just ask.

Sure I'd be curious.

We're actually OK if the power goes out even for as much as a couple weeks, presuming we could gather water from a nearby creek. We could go several days without that water source. And we'd eat the food in the fridge first, but we couldn't keep it running.

But we are less prepared if we had to cut and run in hurry.

There are lists of what to take from the State of CA, various counties and news organisations. Find one that you find easy to follow, then make your own and put it on the fridge door.

If there is a fire in your area, but not yet near you, park your car in your driveway facing the street. Load what you can ahead of time. You can always take it out again if you don't need to leave.

I always have some water in my car. It's handy at any time, but in an evacuation you will need it.

Here's the list from the LA TImes. Most important when you're told to leave, leave at once.

https://www.latimes.com/local/califo...809-story.html

Nelson: "Sure I'd be curious."

I've found that the fridge stays cool & frozen stuff stays frozen if I don't open the doors. That only works if we have a warning & we do when there's going to be a shutdown in response to winds that bring down power lines & can start fires. So when there's a warning I move several days supplies to a cooler, with plenty of ice. I wrap frozen food piled together in foam packing material & bubble wrap.

My stove is gas but must have a lighter or matches with no electric ignition.

Thanks MmePerdu, those are good ideas that I would not have thought of.

Barbara, that LA Times list is good. I turned off my ad blocker to see it and even the ads were not objectionable.

That is a good list from the LA Times.

We had to evacuate a large forest fire in AZ that came very near our home in June. Besides a few clothes and medications I grabbed historic family papers and a very old family bible , some small framed photos. My husband grabbed the checkbook, financial stuff, passports, GE cards.I also packed my laptop, both iPads and chargers for all of our devices. We were told to keep our car keys on us at all times, and to back the cars into the garage for quick get away. When the sheriff knocked on our door telling us to evacuate we jumped in the cars which were already packed and left. When it was time to leave, things didn’t matter. We just wanted to get out of there safely!
The fire didn’t get to our home but it was quite sobering. I am so upset about the residents of CA who are affected now.

Thank you!! So glad I asked there are many things I didn't think of and also the links. Jewelry, reversing car on the driveway, photos.. no pets.

The prep experience has been quite a revelation .. a bit of an art form really.

MmePerdu, I liked your food separating ideas to keep food cold .. .that's something I already passed on to my family. How awful to hear about your sister's house burning down. Everything down to a crisp :(
It sounds like she got away unscathed except for not so pampered feet which was a potent reminder to put tennis shoes in my car. I also have hiking shoes at the ready in case I need to go down the hill/canyon, brush.. cliff.

Growing up I was exposed to typhoons, extreme flooding, volcano erupting but fires are a new thing for me. Only one way out of here so when they say evacuate there's no wasting time. I watched the Paradise documentary, OMG that was enough.

Ideal scenario would be to zipline down to the PCH with all my waterproofed stuff in a kayak ..then I can just push myself into the Pacific and sail away from the fires.

I'm also looking for overnight camping and road trip tips. I could use a change of scenery but the drive is mainly to bathe my doll. Any thoughts on road trip destinations that's scorching hot near LA? He needs to dry properly under the heat of the sun to avoid any chance of mold.

Thanks again for such a thorough list.

Just adding to the list: estate planning documents and all your updated flash drives that hopefully contain pictures you want to preserve, and pictures showing the contents of your home, inside and outside.

Adding to what surfergirl said about photos showing contents of your home. I did this several years ago after reading about the insurance nightmare of trying to document from memory every item in a home after a devastating fire vs handing the insurance company a file of photos. I'm not in a fire zone, but did this several years ago and it's stored in my Google drive. It's time I updated that file. Don't forget to open up your closet doors and cabinets when taking pics.

More great stuff, thank you! This reminds me to take pictures of all my plants. I think insurance covers plants?

I've accumulated quite a few especially since covid began .. they've been very therapeutic :love:

What a great reminder with the horrible fires going on right now. So many of our friends/family have evacuated in OR. A friend of our daughters barely made it out. They had mere minutes and got the pets and a neighbor and that was it. Other neighbors did not make it out. I cannot imagine going through that at any age, but in your 20's I think that would be even more traumatic. A go bag makes so much sense and I have seen things on this thread that I didn't think to add, so thank you. Also, that paperwork things can just be photos taken o your phone and then out those in an album of their own, maybe titles Go Bag, so you don't have to grab those at all when the time comes.

https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2021...ers-given-yet/

We are back at this again folks and this time there's an arsonist on the loose!! It's been an eventful several hours that started late last night.

My Go Bag is in the car now. I also brought my favorite books that aren't digital... jewelry, passport, water, tent, documents, etc. Ooooh need to put pillows in there thank you !! also need to buy an immersion water heater! I should've done that. I mean this is just kind of unbelievable. I can see orange flames from my window.

There is zero containment but no one is injured. It went from 15 acres burning to 750 acres in a matter of a few hours.

I appreciate all your tips! If you have any more last minute suggestions now is the time :)

I'd like to add baking soda, duck tape and nail polish to the list.
https://crisisequipped.com/baking-soda-in-an-emergency/
50 Brilliant Uses for Baking Soda in an Emergency

https://www.backdoorsurvival.com/duc...-for-survival/
Uses of Duck tape for Survival and Emergencies

https://www.getzone.com/sootch00-sur...r-nail-polish/
10 Uses for Nail Polish