What would you grab if the house was on fire/earthquake/?

[kittensaver]

Mar 16, 2016 14:07:11 GMT -5 lexxy703 said:

Mar 16, 2016 13:57:14 GMT -5 kittensaver said:

I never said these things were in order of importance, just sayin' . . . .

The reality is - - DH would grab the back-up drive and the safe (they're in the same spot) while I would start for the cats. We've actually talked about this as part of our emergency plan because we live in earthquake country.

He's self-employed and has client information on back-up, so it makes sense for him to go for that first so that he still has a job!

I noticed that other people have said "I'd go for the cat/dog if I could . . . " House pets tend to scatter and hide in emergency/scary situations, and I have four of them to try and corral in a very short period of time.

It would take me/us far longer to locate and grab the cats than it would to save DH's job. But I would definitely save whoever I could . . . . just sayin' . . .

Well I guess having a job after you lose everything is kinda important!

I've thought about the cats scattering & hiding especially if the smoke alarm is screaming.  I know for a fact my little black one will go under my bed & my bed rails come almost to the floor so I can only get my arm under there.  She hides there during T-storms so I'm sure in the case of fire or earthquake she'd dive for cover.  One has a super secret hiding space that I have yet to discover.  I'll think she's outside & she'll appear out of nowhere.  I might be able to save my boy cat.  He's a bit of a mama's boy so he might come to me.

My brood would actually be much safer in an earthquake. They could crawl into their "safe spaces" and wait/cower there for someone to retrieve them, even if it took a few hours or a few days. The reality of an earthquake is that unless it hits over 8.0 the house will be damaged but it will not collapse. People fear dying in a earthquake, but the bald reality is that fires are much swifter and much more dangerous. Time is MUCH more limited in case of fire. You can die from smoke inhalation way before the flames actually reach you . . . which is why a hiding/cowering cat is very problematic for everyone.

Because we live in a one-story house, in case of fire (and smoke and VERY limited time) I would probably open the nearest window and simply deposit the cats through the window onto the ground outside - - and then go out the window after them. (Again, we've talked in detail about these things in our emergency plans). They might run away, but at least they will survive and can hopefully be collected up later. In case of fire I seriously doubt I'd have enough time to bring all four carriers down out of the attic, collect up all the cats, crate them and carry them all outside . . . again, just sayin' . . . however as always, YMMV.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Mar 16, 2016 14:16:30 GMT -5 midjd said:

- Box of Christmas ornaments (not all are meaningful, but the ones with DD's handprints and the ones I received as gifts would be impossible to replace). 

I forgot about those.   There is no way I could get to them in time, they are stored in the basement.   I could replace quite a few of them but there are several from my childhood and ones that belonged to my grandmother that I'd never be able to replace.

Same with my Nativity set.  It's not worth risking my life over but I'd be upset if it were lost to a fire.  A large portion of my set belonged to my great grandmother and have been passed down.

[steph08]

I'd be sad about a lot of stuff, but besides the kid, DH, and the dogs, there isn't anything I would need to have.

DD's baby book, my two scrapbooks, and my purse (which has my thumb drive and a lot of pictures of DD) would be nice.

[whoisjohngalt]

Mar 16, 2016 13:46:29 GMT -5 alwaysbeoptimizing said:

Mar 16, 2016 13:08:18 GMT -5 whoisjohngalt said:

Kids aside, box with paperwork, box with my mom's jewelry and my laptop.  If I loose my laptop I will loose every.single picture I have ever taken of the kids.  Over  20,000 of them.

dude, put that up on onedrive for free, and have it keep the folder in sync. in 2016 that's crazy to not back that up to the cloud

dear lord, if I had a dollar for every time I hear/heard "it's 1999, it's crazy..."  "it's 21st century, it's crazy..." 

[Deleted]

Besides the box of pictures that I'd be kind of bummed about, and some paperwork, like the house abstract, tax docs, and titles, that would be an annoyance, there really isn't anything in my house I would be that upset to lose.  If anything it would finally be decluttered! 

[Artemis Windsong]

Documents on finances and property ownership.

Various weapons.

I don't have one now.  A backpack with enough clothing and camping equipment to last a few days.  I did have one for years. 

In two flood incidents, I had to make this decision.  DH took all of the paperwork out of large ziplock bags a couple of years ago.  I wanted to keep them in grab and go mode. 

I moved the photo albums upstairs as high as I could get them.  The new place for them.

[thyme4change]

My kids, my cats and my external hard drive with all the pictures of my kids' life.

[whoisjohngalt]

Mar 16, 2016 15:57:40 GMT -5 alwaysbeoptimizing said:

Mar 16, 2016 15:30:13 GMT -5 whoisjohngalt said:

dear lord, if I had a dollar for every time I hear/heard "it's 1999, it's crazy..."  "it's 21st century, it's crazy..." 

I think I said it this way because I was also a late adopter to the cloud. so I saw a little of me in you.

I used to do the backup drives/etc, but once i set this up, it's nice tha tit just happens and I don't have to remember to back up/etc.

It actually simplified life.  Unlike my phone or other modern conveniences that have complicated my life.

I am sure you are not as paranoid as I am.   I don't like having pics saved like that.  My husband does all our back ups on separate drives (they look like little sticks), but I have no idea where they are, so me, answering OP - I would be just grabbing my laptop.  But what I really should do is figure out how he does all that and where he keeps it.....

Oh, and my cell phone doesn't take pics and  is not able to send them anywhere.  I don't have "data" plan.

[quince]

Living things.  Important documents are in the fire safe, so I'd grab my purse which is on the way out and call it good.

[whoisjohngalt]

My ex-roommate told me once that if our apartment catches on fire and I don't save her cats - she will kill me.  She had a few guns and a shot gun under her bed, so I kind of believed her.  I didn't mention it to her  that  I don't like cats and especially her cats, so they would never be the first thing on my mind.  Or the second.  Or....at all

[TheOtherMe]

My cat, external hard drive, laptop, purse and phone.  The rest I would not like losing but could live without.  Lots of old photos on that hard drive.

[marvholly]

I do not have pets, kids or anyone else in my home.

Purse for cell phone, wallet, ID, credit cards, health insurance cards. If I had a few minutes I would grab my cash stash. My antique jewelry collection happens to be in a bank box. I should probably move the cash stash there too (and the box key to my purse although DD1 also has a box key).

Papers like passport & birth/death certificates are easily replaced.

[daisy]

Interesting answers -  I had forgotten all about Christmas ornaments....I have all of mine from childhood as well as a lot of my grandmother's.  We have this crazy homestead thing going on here - the 100+yo farmhouse does not have an attic and our basement is a cellar so our 'things' are stored in the annex building and also in DH's polebarn.   There is a weird crawl space, pseudo-attic space off of the upstairs bedroom so there are a few boxes of my Depression glass (also inherited from my grandmother and collected by me for 40 years) there, and that would all perish because it takes 10 minutes to access in a non-emergency.  All my jewelry is in a safe deposit box so no worry about that..cash - HAHAHAH !  None to worry about.

My ornaments and all of the Christmas stuff are out in the pole barn so unless that was on fire, it would be safe.  I have all the photo albums in the annex and like most everyone else, I use Dropbox so pics from the last 3 years or so would be safe.  DH would probably be grabbing what he could out of his gun safe...but it's steel so if the fire got put out quickly most of that would be safe. 

Two house cats would no doubt hide and there's no way I'd be able to get them out   - the dog is my shadow anyway so she'd be outside in a flash.  It's funny to think that my DH and his son are 1/5 of the fire department anyway..and if a fire happened in the summer and DH was home, he'd have his firetruck out of the polebarn and start putting out the fire himself anyway - he keeps telling me I need to learn to run the pump...hmmm.  Probably be in my best interests to do so.

Also interesting to hear that some of us have actual plans for an emergency.  That's one thing I always did with the kids, have the whole, "Go to the neighbor's house and wait on the porch, dad or I will get the dogs out...etc" plan so they knew what to do.  I remember when I was a kid the chimney caught on fire and we lived 20 minutes from town, down a narrow dirt road.  The fire department had to park at the street and run a hose off the tanker down to the house - we kids sat in the car in the driveway worrying about my gerbils, my brother's fish and my sister's blankie.  Luckily the damage was minimal and all of our pets survived. 

Thanks everyone - this has helped me think as well about formatting a stronger plan here in this particular house.