How to Create a Quick Home Evacuation Plan
By Dave Gilkeson, Governors Place HOA
It is believed that high winds connected dry trees to electrical wires and caused the fires in Maui. Think for a minute – could this happen in Katy? We have dry tree branches and electrical wires and sometimes high winds – the same formula. Could it bring the same disaster – maybe on a smaller scale? Maybe larger?
Are you prepared to evacuate your home in ten minutes or less? If your neighbor’s home was on fire, you may only have that much time to leave your home and keep your family safe. What should you do to prepare?
The first part of the preparation is to believe this actually could occur. In the last week, there have been two grass fires in our neighborhood – Governors Place. One of these could even be spontaneous combustion. Please believe this is real.
There are really only three major preparation points.
1. Put together a comprehensive list of items you absolutely need to bring / keep with you.
Such items as prescription medications, cell phone and chargers, glasses, jewelry, insurance docs, passports, picture albums and important documents. The list should contain the item and its location. Place like items together as well as neighboring items so the collection can be expedited. The list should now be separated by the person who will be responsible to gather the items. If there are five responsible people in the home, five lists. If it happens that not all the occupants are home, the lists get divided up by those who are evacuating.
2. Get a box for each responsible person.
Something big, but able to be handled. This is where the box can really work to your advantage. For example, if you have a designated location for emergency clothes, all that is necessary is to empty those contents into the box and move on to the next item. Now you have clothing for a few days and not have to worry about purchasing or receiving clothes from a donation agency.
3. Set up a drill.
Simulate an evacuation and use a timer to see how long it takes for you to evacuate. You may not even have 10 minutes – what if it were seven?
Always being prepared is not just a slogan for the Boy Scouts. With a little bit of planning and simulation exercises, you may be able to minimize the grief of seeing your home go up in flames.
