I was not in a mandatory evacuation zone.
I was within eye shot of smoke and flames of the #Holyfire
earlier this week.
I'm back home putting away my photographs, signed books and art.
What I learned from the wildfire:
Be ready.
Write out your plan and walk it through.
Have boxes and bags on hand to quickly pack what you take
and fits in your vehicle. Keep the memento items you plan
to grab in one place. I spent time looking for my son's
First Communion rosary (he's away at college - the one thing he
wanted from his room).
You need work clothing and extra shoes.
Put your passports and birth certificates into a safe deposit box. Some banks charge an annual fee, check for free ones. DO THAT NOW.
Turn off gas and propane lines, know where the valve is and leave a wrench there for easy fast shut off.
Remove dangerous/ hazardous items or label the buildings that keep firearms,
fuel or flammable items with the hazardous materials sign.
On Monday, the first day, I called Enterprise to rent a truck, thinking
I was to move my neighbor's ten dogs. Type the number into contacts to call before the emergency.
There will be a staging area or typically horse stable/ fairgrounds
to drop animals BUT the animals need to be labelled.
Have collars with your phone number, spray paint on their back,
nail polish your cell number on hooves - durable and visible.
Plan this in advance. Have buckets or metal bowls
for water and a couple days of feed. Have pictures of the animals
in the cloud. If animals are small or old, keep them with you as this may cause them trauma.
News media lags in information time, even a day or two.
Timely information is comforting and useful. Connect with neighbors
on social media in advance. Be supportive and positive online. I found
Instagram helpful, I don't know what media is going to be the best in
the future, but use two and get some friends together, a posse.
I listened to KFI radio, and fire news wasn't current. On day three, my daughter made me stop listening to sensational news about murders, court trials,
and the President on that radio station. This information I find overload of drama. Listening to the news I thought gave me comfort but it riled up my emotions with clutter.
Do what keeps you on track.
Get prepared now for the next disaster.
Clean out your rain gutters. The leaves are a fire hazard.
Clean out clutter, also fire and trip hazards.
Cut down all dead trees and brush 250 feet of your structure.
The wood can be used as firewood but don't move it - this spreads
bugs and disease. You can cut up the wood and bury it with a foot of
dirt on top. The wood will rot into the soil and add moisture over time.
Trim trees so the canopy is higher than ten feet underneath, even for weeping varieties.
Prune out all dead wood in bushes. Its a terrible idea to cut hedges and bushes
into a ball or box without allowing light inside. In the core is a tangle of dried
timber that needs trimming.
Donate chemicals and paint and flammables you don't need.
It is YOUR JOB not the city or county or neighbor to prepare.
Clear a free zone.
IF you had fire, next we have flooding, so get that ready for winter.
If you haven't had a fire in the western United States, you are fortunate,
help others. Don't donate to the Red Cross or United Way - the money only goes to fat salaries. Give to a local cause you know.
The last of my sunflowers survived not being watered a couple days.
Since we stayed on my sister and brother in law's couch- I gave her some
sunny sunflowers.
I saw beautiful people. I'm proud of the firefighters, the rangers, the CHP, the Cal Trans people, my neighbors, the water truck guy, the brave and simple kindness of animal control acting as animal rescue and our Orange and Riverside communities who cared for one another.
Grateful the fire is almost out.
