dave29
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June 6 at 10pm, we were notified via a Code Red message that we needed to evacuate by 6am the next morning. We were on pre vacuation notice so we already had a few things packed. the day before I moved 3 cars to one friends house and 2 to another. I had to leave a 64 Porsche, GT4, 52 Ford pickup and 2 Harleys in the garage knowing that they were good on insurance. We had taken oner 100 pictures of the contents of the house and garage for insurance purposes. At 6am the Sheriff was at our door and we were out. Fortunately we have a great friend who lives about 3 miles away who said we could stay with him. If it was just my wife and I, we would have stayed for the duration. We have 2 dogs so we knew staying would just be an imposition.
We took our Mac's so once we arrived at his house we started looking for a vacation rental that's fully furnished and took dog's. We found one that was available for 9 days so we took it. The smoke from the fires was horrific in the morning and most houses here do not have air so it was a little warm during the day. Yesterday we received notice that we could return home so at 2pm yesterday we were back home safe with only ash and embers to scattered around but the house in great condition.
We are now back to pre evacuation status because the fire is still raging.
Just a couple of take aways to share with you:
Take pictures of your house with every drawer or cupboard open and put it on a storage device and keep it somewhere other than your home.
If evacuated, take your tax returns for at least 5 previous years. Take phone books, computers, and insurance documents. Take records of any improvements you have made to your home.
If it's summer only take clothing that is necessary for summer not everything in your closet. Take your own pillow.
Put in a hold mail at the Post Office for 30 days. You can always extend that and picking up your mail there will assure that your mail is not burnt up or stoles from your mailbox.
If you have automatic sprinklers, increase the time at every station and have them go on every day. Turn on outside lights of firefighters can see around your house at night and remove any flammable items from the outside.
Lastly, notify your insurance agent but most importantly, notify your family and friends who will be worried if they see the news on television or on the web before they know if you're ok.
Hopefully you won't need to go through this in your lifetime.
Best
We took our Mac's so once we arrived at his house we started looking for a vacation rental that's fully furnished and took dog's. We found one that was available for 9 days so we took it. The smoke from the fires was horrific in the morning and most houses here do not have air so it was a little warm during the day. Yesterday we received notice that we could return home so at 2pm yesterday we were back home safe with only ash and embers to scattered around but the house in great condition.
We are now back to pre evacuation status because the fire is still raging.
Just a couple of take aways to share with you:
Take pictures of your house with every drawer or cupboard open and put it on a storage device and keep it somewhere other than your home.
If evacuated, take your tax returns for at least 5 previous years. Take phone books, computers, and insurance documents. Take records of any improvements you have made to your home.
If it's summer only take clothing that is necessary for summer not everything in your closet. Take your own pillow.
Put in a hold mail at the Post Office for 30 days. You can always extend that and picking up your mail there will assure that your mail is not burnt up or stoles from your mailbox.
If you have automatic sprinklers, increase the time at every station and have them go on every day. Turn on outside lights of firefighters can see around your house at night and remove any flammable items from the outside.
Lastly, notify your insurance agent but most importantly, notify your family and friends who will be worried if they see the news on television or on the web before they know if you're ok.
Hopefully you won't need to go through this in your lifetime.
Best
