Pt. 1: Emergency Preparedness

Welcome to the first part of our multi-part series on Emergency Preparedness

I have two unique views on disaster preparedness due to my past experience. Not only am I a real estate broker, but I’m also a former military police officer and, unfortunately, I’ve been through two fires in my lifetime, one as a teenager and one as an adult homeowner. I’m going to try and walk you through some of the things that I’ve learned from those experiences in the first of a multi-part series, but this very first one is going to be about what you need to do to plan.

We’re going to use P.L.A.N. as an acronym.

P stands for prepare. What I want you to prepare ahead of time are storage boxes of photos. If you have family heirloom photos that you need to take with you make sure that they’re ready to go. That’s just something you can do in the course of your normal spring cleaning. The second is anything that you have only on a hard drive. You want to make sure it’s backed up to the cloud, so you don’t have to worry about whether or not you’re taking it with you. Makes sure you’ve updated all your backups and everything’s in place. The third is medications lists. If you have family members that are on medications, during the disaster is not the time to be trying to write out what medications they’re on and trying to make sure that you have everything. Yes, you can get it from a pharmacy, but if you’re displaced for a little while, it’s just much easier if you actually have it already in one place and you shove all the medications in one Ziploc bag.

Then, last but not least download the San Diego County emergency app. It’s easy to download the app, it’s free and it’ll update you on whatever’s going on in your area that would be causing you to potentially have to evacuate. P stands for prepare.

Number two, L. L is lists. Yeah, I’m big on checklists. I know, I’m an analytical geek, but in this case, the lists are what you really need for when it is go-time. You’ve gotten a warning order, there’s maybe a wildfire in your area, you know that there’ve been some tremors from earthquakes nearby and you’ve said, “Hey, there might be another bigger one coming,” whatever that is, if you’re preparing you want to make sure you have a checklist for when it is go time and you actually have to pack up the car and leave. That’s batteries and clothing and all of those things, you can get a good list of those items from ReadySanDiego.org.

You can go online and get that, and that’s a great checklist to start with and make sure that you have it already printed out and you’re ready to go. You might even stick it in one of the spots in your suitcase so that you have it in case you ever just have to pull it out and start packing.

Then, number three, A is add. Here’s my little tip or two for you, and that is making sure that you add in all of your bills that are not online and any insurance info that you need to have handy. Most people have their policy number or they know how to pay their bill online, but they don’t necessarily have their insurance agent’s phone number or the claims number available, so make sure you have all of that easy, ready to go.

Then, you need to open up every cabinet door in your house and take pictures room by room by room, all four sides of the room, and move on to the next room. Do that for every room in your house and go around the outside and take pictures too. God forbid, you actually do lose your home in a fire, you’re going to want all of those pictures for insurance because it’s all going to matter when they’re doing the claims for what you had inside your home.

Then last is N, needs. The things in your life that need nourishment and will need caring for while you’re trying to look at the warning orders and potentially evacuate are going to be things that you want to make sure you’re ready for. The first is to get gas in the car. If you know that there’s a warning order out for a potential fire in your area, it’s not the time to be going home with just a quarter tank of gas. Make sure you’ve got half a tank or more, so you’re ready to go, ready to pack up.

Then, your kiddos, kids usually need a way to be soothed and entertained. In 2007, when we had to evacuate for the witch fires, my kids were nine and they were panicking because we had actually lost a home in the Cedar fires a few years before that, and so they were obviously going to be upset. I literally had them sit on the edge of the bed and read stories out loud to each other while I was packing. Whatever it is that’s going to work for your family that’s going to soothe them and you can’t forget about yourself. If you’re the one listening to this and you know, you’re the mom or dad that’s got to be doing that packing, make sure you take your beds and your favorite book or your favorite tape, pack the extra bubble bath for yourself, whatever that is, because in the days or weeks to come if there is something that causes you to be displaced, you want to make sure you’ve taken those few items that are going to be of comfort to you.

Look forward to talking to on our next piece of this series, take care.