Letter Re: A Nearby Wildfire Was My Preparedness Wake up Call

James:
Don’t know if the callow-youth angle is of interest to your readers, but I dashed this off after a recent wildfire alert: This evening around 5:30 there were reports of a fire very near my
home. Wildfires around here can get interesting quick, especially this late in the year with plenty of dry fuel waiting around. I thought we might have to Get out of Dodge and so I ordered the wife to pack up the paperwork and prep the munchkin for a few days field trip.
Error. Wife does not respond well to orders, and she judged the threat to be considerably less than I did.
I then went to grab my bug-out bag and load it in trusty escape vehicle. Mixed results. My Bug Out Bag (B.O.B.) was in pieces all over the garage and house, as parts of it had been used in recent camping
trip, some for vacation travel, or in my guru-bag for my work.
Assembling the kit under time pressure and while checking in on the radio/tv/internet news, hounding the wife to follow through on evacuation procedures…it was not going too well. Stress induced
tunnel vision slows people down and invites errors.
A few hours later the fire was under control and we wound down and turned in for the night.
Lessons learned:
Discuss relative priorities ahead of time, so when the time comes to move out there is less wasted effort in communication.

Rechargeable batteries are great for daily use, but useless in a bug-out situation. Not enough extras were charged and ready to go, so my two-way radios, extra Mini-Maglites, and backpacking GPS were useless. Keep a stash of copper-top [Duracell]s or lithiums on hand for when they are needed.

Keep your evac vehicle ready to roll. My escape vehicle was in moderate condition. The truck bed was loaded with junk I’d slated for a dump run, and only one of the two fuel tanks was full. Better to be empty of junk and topped off. Other minor problem: Not road-legal for three bodies.

Keep your B.O.B. packed with dedicated gear. If you can’t grab and go, it isn’t a B.O.B.Yeah, your best flashlights live there. So what. Make the second rate gear take the daily wear and tear.

Gear to make life bearable and the more readily portable valuables / memorables could have been collated and loaded, but it would have taken quite some time. Lesson: Get some Rubbermaid bins. Number them. Stow gear numbered by load order so as to make finding things easier. Items not likely to be needed in the short-term get loaded first. Print up inventory list and tape to inside lids, along with
a cheapo LED keychain light. This way important equipment gets loaded quickly and my loved ones can find what they need in my absence, even on the side of the road in the dark. Keep a few
extra bins for rapid-load of household items such as family photo albums, insurance paperwork, etc. Keep the weight manageable by the weakest person likely to be helping load.

I had I planned to haul off any fuel or ammo I had, for the safety of any rescue workers. Since I do not yet have a large volume to move, I thought it polite. Having a garage explode or a case of
ammo cook off could ruin somebody’s day. Remembering where all gas, kerosene, Coleman’s, fuel canisters, target ammo, real ammo, gopher-killer ammo were stored and getting it all together was a
minor challenge. Lesson: Keep ammo stored centrally and securely. Keep fuels stored outside garage in locking cabinet.

Alternate evac routes were planned, but only in my head and on screen. Should keep paper maps in all cars. Review routes in advance. Two alternate routes, two alternate rally points. Practice them in advance by taking the ‘scenic route’ to ‘grandmas house’.

[My original] plan was for her to head out very early in this scenario on with our precious cargo and take shelter at our fallback place while I loaded gear and stood ready to defend the home front against fire or looters until such time as I needed to bail out. With everything but property already secured, I know I would not spend much time playing hero. In the future, I want to plan on a one
vehicle evac, so I know where my most important cargo is and have a second set of hands and eyes to help in getting there intact.

Planning and wishful thinking don’t go very far to securing the safety of your family and property. It can all fall down fast with sloppy execution. I now intend to finish my summer by being able to pack up with a few minutes notice and be safely out of town. Thanks for all the good advice and references I have found here. – The Hushmailer