"Another price of living near wild lands is the likelihood of some day experiencing a disastrous wildfire. In summer-dry climates fire is a regularly expected natural event. Prior to our public policy of fire suppression, most acreage in lowland and mid-elevation California burned every ten to fifty years. The most destructive fires occur in hilly areas, which, because of the views and surrounding open space, is where much suburban development has occurred."
The above quote is from Plants and Landscape for Summer Dry Climates a publication of EBMUD. It is a valuable resource for anyone with property in the San Francisco Bay Area.
We moved to Contra Costa County in the Fall of 2009. We were thrilled to have an acre of land covered with multiple species of native oak trees of various size. The reality of living in this area is that the chance of fire is high and being prepared is vital. My first emergency binder I prepared included contact numbers and copies of important documents. I filled a plastic storage container with flashlights, batteries, candles, a lighter, matches, glow sticks, life straws, a battery powered radio and a hand crank radio. In both cars we added an emergency window breaker to the glove compartment and on our second floor sitting inside a decorative basked below a window is our emergency evacuation ladder.
Over the last few years fires have been bigger, more frequent and more destructive. They also seem closer. I would be foolish to think that where I live would be exempt from destruction from wildfire. Not too long before the first power outage by PG&E as we got ready for bed one evening a 3.5 earthquake occurred not far from our home. Other than the rattling of the windows and a few pictures askew on the walls we had no damage.
It seems to me that to appropriately prepare for a home emergency I can break it down into three areas of focus:
1. Back ups or copies of important documents and photographs that are stored either in the cloud or offsite or both.
2. A Plan for evacuating and a plan for staying put.
3. Supplies to support the plans.
(Note as of 2020): AND THEN CAME THE PANDEMIC and more fires....
(Note as of 2021): And more fires.
We moved to Contra Costa County in the Fall of 2009. We were thrilled to have an acre of land covered with multiple species of native oak trees of various size. The reality of living in this area is that the chance of fire is high and being prepared is vital. My first emergency binder I prepared included contact numbers and copies of important documents. I filled a plastic storage container with flashlights, batteries, candles, a lighter, matches, glow sticks, life straws, a battery powered radio and a hand crank radio. In both cars we added an emergency window breaker to the glove compartment and on our second floor sitting inside a decorative basked below a window is our emergency evacuation ladder.
Over the last few years fires have been bigger, more frequent and more destructive. They also seem closer. I would be foolish to think that where I live would be exempt from destruction from wildfire. Not too long before the first power outage by PG&E as we got ready for bed one evening a 3.5 earthquake occurred not far from our home. Other than the rattling of the windows and a few pictures askew on the walls we had no damage.
It seems to me that to appropriately prepare for a home emergency I can break it down into three areas of focus:
1. Back ups or copies of important documents and photographs that are stored either in the cloud or offsite or both.
2. A Plan for evacuating and a plan for staying put.
3. Supplies to support the plans.
(Note as of 2020): AND THEN CAME THE PANDEMIC and more fires....
(Note as of 2021): And more fires.