Mandatory Evacuation: Are You Ready?

Mandatory evacuations can happen at any time. Those of us that live in high fire danger areas have seen whole communities destroyed summer after summer. For most of them, they had more than 10 minutes to prepare. But what if it’s 2 am and a fireman knocks at your door?  Are you prepared to evacuate your family in 10 mins or less? Take 5 mins and see what that experience looks like for these 2 families that are obviously well prepared that this is about to happen

With as well prepared as they were for this drill there are many important things they forgot. How can you tell if your family is ready?

Hold Your Own Mandatory Evacuation Drill:

• Set a timer for 10 mins
• All members of the family must physically participate. No “mental drills” allowed
• Don’t forget to include the pets
• Pack the car as if you are headed out to a Red Cross Shelter.

How did you do?

Compare what you brought to this fabulous Emergency Evacuation Checklist.

Some things to think about:

• Be more prepared by getting photos and important papers stored on flashdrives or into a cloud service.
• Store pet crates with a small amount of food sealed up, an extra leash (the ones you get at the vet are great for extras), a collapsible bowl and a large water bottle for each. Neither of these families crated their dogs which may be a problem in a shelter situation.
• Have toiletry bags always ready to go. The one woman looking for toothpaste was funny.
• Add an emergency roadtrip kit to your car.