Fire Evacuation Plans?

[Oogiem]

OK What is anyone else doing in terms of preparation for fires?

Do you have an evacuation plan?

Care to share?

What can you do now to get ready?

[Circe]

If the front door is not an option, I figure I'll run screaming to my balcony, where I will then bush dive into my downstair neighbor's shrubbery. Its a small apartment... not a lot of options. Haha

[CalvinHobbes]

Oogie, I've never had to experience it but I've been thinking of you, I really hope you, your family, and all of your animals are okay!!!

[KAllen]

I live in a trailor...they go up like a dried Christmas tree. Our plan is "Get the F**K Out" in this order:

1) Boys (4yr & 18mths)

2) Dog & Cat

3) Wife

4) Guns(The irreplaceable ones like my Grandfathers 1911 from WWII & Shotgun the rest are kinda replaceable)

5) I'm bringing out the guns so I'm 5

[smedly]

If there is fire even near your area pack up and go. Look what happened with Colorado Springs. Be prepared to bugout on a moments notice. Also board up your windows, it could be the difference between your house getting burned up or not.

[Oogiem]

Here's the state of things now, our house is metal roof and cement board siding. We have 1 tree close to the house, an old apple tree, Deck is trex so less burnable. We've cleared the juniper trees but are considering clearing a bunch more. There is no way we could evacuate the flock of sheep so a plan to protect them in place is necessary. We're thinking put the ewes all in the innermost pasture, turn all the irrigation water onto that pasture. Put all rams in the upper pasture with no trees nearby. Leave at least 2 dogs per group of sheep. Move all tractors to the center of the largest empty field. We have 4 ponds on our place. In fire years past one of our ponds was used by the helicopters to get water to fight it and I'd expect that again. We'd probably try to shelter in place as we are more defensible than any of the houses near CO Springs in terms of already have cleared space and have water nearby. Plus in our area many times the suggestion is to stay put if your house is fire resistant as the roads are narrow and evacuation can clog them leading to no way for the firefighters to get in to fight the fire. Still working out how to deal with stuff if we were asked to evacuate.

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

Yeah, you have a lot of stuff to save. For me, the steps would be:

1- Find window

2- Open window

3- Throw wife through window

4- Throw self through window

[Mordechaj]

To soften the landing?

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

To soften the landing?

Didn't consider that... Hopefully she'd move. We'll have to practice some parkour rolls or something.

[NukeTheUnicorns]

Thank goodness for that rain yesterday eh? Looks like the fires are dying down a little. Hope you're doing okay in your area, Oogiem.

[Rosie]

My house doesnt have high ceilings and my room is only 1 floor up so if I couldn't get down the stairs and out the front door, I would hang drop from the window which would only be about 3 feet. Might twist an ankle but its better than getting burnt alive! Also my bedroom over looks the lawn so if there was stuff I had to save and there was time I'd chuck it onto the lawn where it would have a softer landing. I cant really think of anything in my house that I would be devastated if I lost them to fire except my teddy bear (I'm 27 *blush*) and old photos but they are all down stairs near the front door so if I couldnt get out that way they would be destroyed anyway.

[Benjsec]

I cant really think of anything in my house that I would be devastated if I lost them to fire except my teddy bear (I'm 27 *blush*) .

Nothing wrong with that

I've been on lots of firestation visits and had talks about making such a plan but never really have. Then again we don't exactly get the same kind of wild fires over here, it hardly ever stops raining long enough!

[WizardTrip]

7th floor in a condo. 1 door in and out. Due to jumping and certain death, balcony is out of the question. If door is good, run as fast as hell down the 7 flights of stairs. If door is not an option, run out to balcony and scream like a little girl until I realize I could possibly climb down from one balcony to the next.

[Elastigirl]

Oogiem: How close to Colorado Springs and the fire are you? I'm hope you and your farms stays safe.

As far as our plans, well we live in the Seattle area, where moss is growing on everyone's toes from all the rain, so chances of a widespread fire are relatively nil.

[Doodle]

Fire Evacuation plans? Simple.. Open window if I can not get out by front door... and Shout "HEY YOU GUYS!" First floor bedroom... right next door to the fire department. I look out my window (it wont let me post a picture) and see the fire station. They could literally open up their garage doors and not bother pulling the trucks out of the garage before they shoot water at our house with their Large Diameter Hose. (they have before XD) Fun times.

[JPAN]

Oogiem - I am assuming the closest fire to you is the Pine Ridge Fire. Have they sent out any pre-evacuation notices yet? I know you want to try and stay and protect your animals but it might also be good to prepare if you and your family have to leave. Have a box/boxes packed with all of your important items and be ready to go at a moments notice

Hopefully we get some rain soon. Best of luck!

[JPAN]

http://www.9news.com/money/271905/344/High-Park-wildfire-a-stark-reminder-of-the-need-to-plan

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_20950726?source=pop

might have some useful information in it

[EnygmaEve]

This:

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This pic is kinda like a really good metaphor for my last job.

[Oogiem]

Oogiem: How close to Colorado Springs and the fire are you?

We are a long way away from the current fires. They are on the eastern slope we are over the mountains on the other side. The closest to us is the fire in the Bookcliffs near Grand Junction.

But in years past there have been major fires in our area. The July Wake fire in 1994 was a big fire that threatened our mesa. My mother drove around the road blocks, went onto our mesa and turned irrigation water away from all the places it was and onto the far west side of the mesa towards the fire. She ended up in water court for that because even though she was the ditch rider it's illegal to change boxes, but the soaking saved the mesa because the blowing embers did not start any fires. We are drier already this year than we were in 1994. We have a steep juniper/sagebrush hillside on the front of our farm.

[Oogiem]

Oogiem - I am assuming the closest fire to you is the Pine Ridge Fire. Have they sent out any pre-evacuation notices yet?

Yes but it's about 80-100 miles away.

[leadchipmunk]

Our plan is "Get the F**K Out"

That there is the extent of my plan. No need for steps, just get out of there

[Georges]

Um. To all the people who said, "we don't get wildfires here," you do realize that house fires can happen in soggy regions, right? You have plans for getting out of the building, even if it's only one building on fire, right? Okay, good.

[shortstuff]

Our plan if the fire is inside = find door/window open/break door/window, go though door/window, go to evacuation point(s), which is what we call the white gates or the dam (two different points but we can see if anyone is at the other).

If the fire is outside = Get anything that is important if you are able, ie dog, laptops, the scapebooks mum has done, birth certificates, stuff like that, get the F out of there and head somewhere safe and where you can find out more, such as where you should go, like the fire station.

[---]

I'm in a small, 2nd-story apartment. If there's enough time, we grab the box with the important papers and make a beeline for the stairs. If not, then my husband lowers me out the window, and then he goes. In the unlikely event that we would get separated, we'd meet in the parking lot by our car.

If we had to evacuate, we'd grab the laptops, my purse, important papers, and the "ready" bag that we put together just today. We have a spare change of clothes for each of us (including underwear!), a flashlight, and essential toiletries in the ready bag.

[---]

Ah, preparedness. There's a fire extinguisher in the hall 10 feet straight across from our apartment's door; which, considering that it's a small space, and the kitchen is the room closest to the door anyway, we'd be hard-pressed to get it any closer. The smoke alarms in our building work quite well--we know that because they're triggered about twice a month by our neighbors' smoking. (sigh) We do know to go low. That one was drilled into me as a child, along with "stop, drop, and roll."

Here's a tip I think is worth mentioning: if you have a grease fire, DO NOT TRY TO EXTINGUISH IT WITH WATER. Maybe that seems like a gimmie, but I know a lot of people who have no idea. I also know of one friend of a friend who critically burned herself by grabbing the handle of a pot with burning oil in it and trying to take it to the sink. She ended up spilling a large amount of the burning oil on her legs and feet.

Assuming a fire extinguisher isn't handy, there are two ways to quickly put out a grease fire. Assuming it's in a pan, one way is to put a lid on the pan. Another way is to throw baking soda on it. (Not flour or sugar, by the way. Both of those are very combustible.)

Just throwing that one out there.