I am particularly emotional these days, being less than two weeks from my due date with baby girl/the day our house burned down...not to mention the real possibility of us moving overseas in the very near future. I didn't think the fire date would affect me that much, but with the weather/feeling outside being the same as it was right before the fire happened last year, it's bringing it all back to my sensory memory. Not just sad emotion, but gratitude for the incredible blessings we've had the last year. At Abram's recent soccer game in our old neighborhood, I took the chance to walk around the park we visited so many times while we lived there. I haven't been in that park since before the fire and was overcome with emotion as I remembered pushing the kids on the swings, getting family pictures there, going there to play soccer or football for FHE, running laps while pushing Emerson in the jogging stroller as I trained for the Tough Mudder, picking wild blackberries in late summer....I missed it all and felt grateful for the wonderful memories we had in that neighborhood. Also, this last week when I picked the kids up from school and were walking back to our van, we heard sirens so stopped to watch the fire engine go by. We see fire trucks out nearly every day here, so it was nothing new. But for some reason, standing still on the sidewalk and watching the firemen in their garb speed by in the fire truck while I held my kids' hands brought lots of emotion--sadness for the loss we and thousands of other families experienced nearly a year ago, but mostly gratitude for our safety and blessings and kindness we received from so, so many people.
Hi Natalie,
Here is a brief retelling of our story...please let me know if you need other details or have any questions about emergency preparedness.
I was woken up just after 2am by some kind of siren outside. In my sleep fog, I actually thought it was a tornado siren that I remembered from my childhood in the midwest, and it really alerted me and woke me up. I checked my phone and it showed an alert that was received 15 minutes prior saying that our neighborhood was under immediate evacuation orders due to wildfires. I woke my husband...we went out our front door to be greeted by smoky, warm air (it's usually chilly outside at 2am), neighbors loading their cars, and car after car leaving our neighborhood. Our nextdoor neighbor was outside and said she was going to come knock at our door. We went back inside, put shoes on, and got our three kids in the car (who all came out with their favorite blankie...which has been a huge blessing that they've had that familiar, comforting object with all the upheaval). We had no idea how close the fire was but we didn't take time to find out. It was really windy so we knew we needed to get out. Over the next 2 minutes, my husband grabbed two of our emergency kits (we had 5--one for each person), his laptop/phone, I grabbed a box in our closet with all of our documents, a couple photo albums and instruments that were near the garage door, plus a jacket and pair of shoes for each child. At that point, we just felt we needed to leave. My husband had the idea to take both of our cars to my daughter's preschool and meet there. So we drove separately, which worked in our situation, but there is a heart-breaking story of a couple who tried to take both cars out and got separated and one didn't make it. So we were fortunate in our case...we couldn't see the fire yet so After knocking on a neighbor's door and calling others, we met at our daughter's preschool. We left my husband's car and started driving down to a nearby city to find a hotel. At this point we could see fires in the hills in almost every direction from the highway...that's when we realized how far-reaching the fires were. All the hotels in that city were booked. We drove to the next city. All hotels booked. We called ahead to San Rafael...everything was booked. We finally ended up checking in to a hotel in Oakland. We finally got the kids to sleep and slept for about an hour. Soon after that, we got a call from our landlord that the whole street was completely leveled. So, for a timeline: We basically took 5 minutes to evacuate, and looking at post-fire maps that show where the fires were at what times, the fire hit our neighborhood about 30 minutes after we left.
So for our preparation prior to the fire:
A big blessing is that I had all of our documents (SS cards, birth certificates, marriage certificate, passports, insurance information, car titles, checks) in one little plastic file box in our closet. I'm so glad I grabbed it. This is not life-or-death, but having these documents has saved us from more headaches and stress and standing in long lines trying to get them replaced. Being organized pays off.
Also, we did have emergency kits. I remember thinking as we were evacuating that they might not even be useful, but I had my husband grab them just in case (he grabbed mine and his but not the kids'). They ended up being helpful in that we each had a second pair of garments. Again, this is not a life or death aspect, but with all the stress and upheaval, it was really nice to be able to have two pairs...wash one and wear one and repeat the next day (my mom sent us garments from Utah but it took a few days to ship). Feeling clean and hygienic makes things a little better. Obviously garments are not something we can just go to the store and buy. If we would have grabbed the kids' emergency backpacks, they would have had a change of clothes as well...but we didn't get those so they just lived in their pajamas for a day until we got a chance to get to the store to buy clothes. We also had toiletries in our backpacks. Yes, it's something you can easily go to the store and buy, but again with the stress and emotional times, the last thing you want to do is go to the store to buy a toothbrush.
We were renting the home that burned, but thankfully we had renter's insurance. Huge blessing. This would be a much more difficult situation without it. If you are renting, get renter's insurance!!
What I mentioned before about my kids' blankies...this has truly been a lifesaver that they took them out with them. We slept in 5 different places in a matter of two weeks when we were homeless after the fires, which is hard for little kids. Them having their security blanket was and continues to be (as we settle in our new place where nothing is familiar) a huge blessing.
Of course, our testimonies in Christ have been the true source of peace throughout all of this. I don't know how people cope well without that.
What I wish we would have done to be better prepared:
I think an actual mock evacuation would have helped us be better prepared. It's hard to think straight in emergency situations, but I'm sure role-playing would have helped. If you've already thought through it and practiced it, you don't have to actually think through it when it happens. There are a couple things I really wish I would have thought to grab: my laptop and our external hard drive with lots of pictures and home videos on it. This has been the saddest thing to lose, however, I'm convinced we can look at photos and watch home videos in heaven. ;) We are also mourning the loss of childhood journals and keepsakes/mission journal, etc. My husband and I each had a box in the garage we could have grabbed but didn't think to. I am going to start an online journal that will never burn. ;)
Something else is I wish we would have done prior is known our neighbors better. That neighbor I mentioned did say she was going to knock on our door, but we sadly didn't know her all that well in the first place. If you know your neighbors, you'll help and look out for each other better.
It would have been helpful if we had taken our kids' emergency kits with extra clothes, fun snacks, and paper/crayons to help keep them happy and distracted. We did without and thankfully we had family to stay with and family who gave us clothing for our kids. I also wish that our emergency kits had clothes for my husband and me...we wouldn't have had to go to the store in our pajamas. Not a huge deal but in a stressful situation, having people look at you skeptically doesn't help. ;) All in all, we feel very blessed to have our family safe and a new roof over our heads. We have so blessed by friends, family, and even strangers.
I know this is scattered but I hope there is at least something helpful from this....please forgive me for taking longer than expected to get it to you! Let me know if you have any questions!
Thanks,
Kristin
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