No, not a fire in the bedroom (or on floor, couch, or kitchen counter.) I’m talking about real fire.
I live in Hollywood, in a dumpy little apartment in a grungy neighborhood, but I love it. Our top floor balcony faces the hills and the Hollywood sign. That’s where the fire comes in.
This summer I’ve had to stand on my balcony, grimly watching the water-drop planes and helicopters try to put out fires in the hills. Much of our beloved Griffith Park is gone, the wildlife habitat destroyed. We now have three bird-feeders on our balcony. It’s our attempt to help the homeless birds that now sit on our railing.
Not long after that one of my favorite places in Southern California (actually off the coast of So Cal) also caught fire. Santa Catalina Island is like a little piece of the Mediterranean in the Pacific. With beautiful blue water, miles of beaches, and an eco-friendly conservationist bent, Catalina is one of my favorite places, and the setting from my upcoming Samhain story, Sealed with a Kiss. Plus the main town is called Avalon, who wouldn’t want to visit Avalon?
But Catalina caught fire, coming close enough to Avalon that it had to be evacuated.
As I watched orange light flare up behind the closest ridge of hills, and then watched the island burn on the news, I realized I was not prepared to deal with a fire. Refusing to let Prometheus’s gift ever get the better of me, I assembled a fire box, carefully placed in the living room of our apartment so anyone can grab it and run, should they have to evacuate.
For those who don’t have a fire box, get one, right now. You can find file-box sized ones at Target.
Here’s a list of things we placed in our fire box:
- Digital photos: We’re digital girls so we bought flash drives and uploaded all our photos to them. We try to add recent photos to the drives at least once a month.
- CD of all your e-books: Back those bad boys up to CD and stuff them in there!
- Important Documents. For those of you dumb enough to not have a safe deposit box (raises hand) put stuff like your passport in here.
- Mementos: Baby shoes, christening dresses, locks of hair, wedding photos (scan them as a back-up,) the roll of microfiche detailing the location of Jimmy Hoffa… all these priceless things should be in here.
- Pay as you go cell phone: Though I always have mine on me, we got a little pay as you go phone, charged it up, and put it in here.
- Address Book: Don’t lose all your contacts in a fire, photocopy or print out your address book and keep it in there as well.
I hope this little list is of some help. If you have something to add, or have ever been through a house fire, let us know.
OH NO!!!! Catalina Island I have to tell my husband. I haven’t heard about it, that is sooo sad. Great idea on the fire box, that is something I have always meant to do and never have.
Thank you! I’m in LA too. I’ve been watching the same fires. We always joke that the good part of not being rich in LA means that since we don’t live in the hills or Malibu, we may have to worry about earthquakes, floods, riots and La M, but we don’t have to worry about fire.
Dangerous thinking. Half the city is a Red Flag zone, but instead of taking that as a hint to be prepared, all I’ve done is complain about parking. We should’a had a box packed already. Thanks for the reminder!
I’ve been through a total loss house fire. Please add to your fire box, toothbrushes and toothpaste,hairbrushes and clean socks. You would be surprised at how soon you will want these simple things and in an emergency you may not have anywhere or means to go get them. The biggest loss is the family photo albums, the rest is a pain in the butt to replace, but replaceable.
Also review your fire insurance on your home, that it covers more than just the exterior walls.
That’s all.
Y- my heart hurt for Catalina. It’s beautiful. If you ever have a chance to go, do it.
Bettie- It’s been a crazy summer hasn’t it? Have you ever gone hiking in Griffith park, most of my favorite trails are now gone.
People who live in Malibu are just nuts. I mean, if I saw my neighbor’s house slide off a cliff… I’d move.
Jackie- My gosh, I am so sorry. Thanks for letting up know about the toothpaste and toothbrush and socks. That would never have occurred to me.
Wow, you Californians with the earthquakes and the fires. How do you do it? Thanks for sharing your eyewitness account. I could really picture what you saw and went through.
A firebox, not so necessary here in the midwest. About our biggest concern is tornadoes, not even flooding where I live.
Lila, it just makes you sick, huh? You sound way more prepared than most. Is that box multi-use for earthquakes too? Not being flip, but I know that is as much an issue for you folks.
Bonnie – don’t know where you live, but fires are a huge problem where I live – last week the smoke from the Idaho fires and the Wyoming fires clogged up our fair city for two days to the point they were issuing asthma alerts (I live in the Black Hills of western South Dakota) so fire is a serious issue here.
It’s not perfect anywhere, is it?
That’s so scary. I can’t even imagine. What a great list and reminder.
There sure seems to be a lot of weather/fire disasters over the world lately. Scary stuff.
> Have you ever gone hiking in Griffith park,
> most of my favorite trails are now gone.
Dante’s View was one of my favorite places in the whole city. They said it will take twenty years to get it back to what it was. I wish I’d gone more often.
Living in Australia, I know all about the devastation of bush fires – or forest fires, as Americans call them.
Keep safe at this difficult time.