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Burning Truth #7: Preparing for disaster is a process
We’ve all seen the images: Long lines of traffic moving in one direction, families tossing belongings into the car, fleeing in the face of a raging wildfire, a devastating hurricane, or rising floodwaters.
What if that was you? Imagine that a wildfire is coming, and you have just been ordered to evacuate. You must leave home quickly, and don’t know when you will come back.
Suddenly you have a million things to do. You frantically search for the kids’ shoes. The cat has sprouted the claws of a tiger, and its carrier has shrunk to half its usual size. The dried leaves on the porch look like a major bonfire waiting to happen. Your phone is pinging and ringing with worried messages.
You’re kicking yourself for not having packed those go-bags and not having a plan for what you would do in this situation. Like you meant to do.
The truth is, most of us aren’t prepared for disaster. Life gets in the way — work, family, the constant demands of daily living. The idea of creating a “go-bag” or developing an evacuation plan can feel overwhelming, like just one more thing to add to our already overflowing to-do lists.
But, what if you thought of preparing for disaster as an ongoing process of small steps, rather than a monumental ordeal? Like cleaning, it’s something you can do a little bit at a time — with occasional deep dives — and that’s never truly “finished.”
Your focus shifts from “must-dos” to “what matters most.” You get to decide what worries you most. You get to take small manageable steps. You get to think of preparing for disaster as something you do, not as something you have to do.
What are your top concerns? If you had to evacuate today, what would be your biggest worries?
What one small step can you take now?
If this post started you thinking, please think about
making a small donation
to make preparing for disaster fun and empowering.
For inspiration on small things you might do today, check out these posts:
Burning Truth #8: Good information can be hard to come by
Truth #8: Good information can be hard to come by
Imagine that your phone alerts you that a wildfire has started, not so far away. When you look out the window, you notice the orange sky is getting darker with smoke and ash. Now you’re getting nervous. Is the fire coming your way? How fast? If you have to evacuate, which way should you go? You need more information, how do you get it?
Having already signed up for emergency alerts you got a head start with an early notification. Your local newspaper’s website reports the fire has progressed to a site 30 miles. However, this contradicts your county’s official website, which states the fire is still 50 miles away. Which one is accurate?
Talking to your neighbors, one says that they heard that the wildfire was traveling away and not a danger. A second neighbor heard on a local news radio station that the wildfire is mostly contained. A third read on Facebook that it was not contained at all and traveling fast in your direction. Which do you act on?
Between too little information and too much information (sprinkled with the inevitable misinformation), getting the right information can be difficult in a rapidly changing situation. In a wildfire (or any disaster), accurate information is critical to making good decisions. Unfortunately, wildfires travel fast and unpredictably — even official sources may not be able to keep up!
Always, err on the safe side. If you feel you may be at risk, then just leave.
Do you know where to get your local official information?
Are you signed up for emergency alerts?
If this post started you thinking, please think about
making a small donation
to make preparing for disaster fun and empowering.
Burning Truth #9: You may be away from home for 4 weeks. Or more.
Imagine that you’ve just learned that a wildfire is approaching your home. You are under an Evacuation Warning, meaning that you need to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice.
Then, tomorrow, you receive an Evacuation Order, meaning that you need to leave immediately. As you leave, you wave to your home, not knowing when or whether you will see it again. You end up being away from home until four weeks from today.
You read that right: Four weeks!
That’s not an uncommon scenario. According to data collected by the US Census Bureau, more than half of the people who reported having been displaced because of a wildfire in 2023-2024 were away from home for more than a month. Nearly one-third were away for more than six months or never returned to their home.
Here’s what the numbers say:
If you had to leave home tomorrow and couldn’t return for four weeks, where would you go at first? Where can you stay for a month? What would you need to have with you?
Think about it.
If this post started you thinking, please think about
making a small donation
to make preparing for disaster fun and empowering.
For insights about evacuating and returning home, enjoy these posts:
Check out our other Burning Truths.
Welcome to the 2024 Holiday Calendar!
In keeping with our tradition of giving back during the holiday season, we are delighted to kick off our
2024 Holiday Calendar: 9 Burning Truths for Wildfire Safety
In this year’s series, we bring you the nine insights our research has identified as most important for people to truly grasp in order to be able to make good decisions when facing a wildfire.
Enjoy!