CAlifornia Fires, Evacuation, Cameras

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hap

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I live close to one of the Southern California fires from last week. Severe wind conditions blew the blaze southward toward town and evacuation orders were promulgated. the southern boundary for evacuation probably 1-2mi from my house. It was terribly stressful and we had to prepare to get out of the house with some belongings , animals, and find shelter. Not to mention draconian COVID orders in place and election chaos.

Important papers, ID, passports, birth certificates, cash a good idea to pack up. Maybe even some particularly precious or valuable items. Like manhy of you I have cameras, too many cameras , lenses, accessories. Expensive stuff.

So I had to consider what to do about it. Before I say what I did, I'd like to hear thoughts from the community what they would do, if anything, with their carefuly or haphazardly curated "gear"....if ordered out of your house in the face of oncoming armageddon.
 
I live in a fire area too. Luckily we haven't been even close to evacuation orders. But cars in the street (one loaded with whatever we could get in), then get the hoses working of the roof until the last minute as Beemermark says 'run.'
 
living in hurricane prone florida, it's also been a consideration.

living in any disaster -prone area can be stressful



i've accommodated myself to being prepared to lose it all - packed my main camera bag, and negative boxes in the car - and leaving the darkroom and other cameras and gear, and hoping for the best.
i'm old enough to know i'm leaving it all behind anyways! :angel:
 
jvo said:
living in hurricane prone florida, it's also been a consideration.

living in any disaster -prone area can be stressful



i've accommodated myself to being prepared to lose it all - packed my main camera bag, and negative boxes in the car - and leaving the darkroom and other cameras and gear, and hoping for the best.
i'm old enough to know i'm leaving it all behind anyways! :angel:
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I understand your position and those thoughts were entertained and I made up my mind I'd leave all the photo stuff and hope for the best. But hurricane forecasting gives you more time and perhaps more possible options.

Fire started, winds blew, next day authorities mandating evacuations. a month before, I'd told my wife that we were so lucky to live in a town where a fire was very unlikely to upend our lives.

In the end we did not have to evacuate but 100000 of my town did. And fast.
 
hap said:
BTW we are considering a coast to coast move from California to Florida.
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yeh, i guess there is more of an advance warning...



i did the ca to fla move 20 years ago - other than the florida politics, glad i did.
 
Living in a Hurricane zone now and I really miss living in Ohio, Iowa, and Nebraska. Back then you were lucky to have enough time to dive in the cellar when the tornado hit, and never gave a thought to grabbing anything except the baby.
 
Most likely a earthquake here in south Puget Sound. So, little to no warning, I dunno, maybe the dog will go crazy...nah, the dog is all the time crazy. Not really any warning so just hope the house doesn’t fall over I guess.
 
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