Santa Barbara White Fire: Evacuation Kit & Disaster Preparedness Checklist

A few months ago, I wrote about getting a Disaster Preparedness bag or Evacuation Kit together and have finally finished the project. I must say that it’s pretty good timing because currently the Santa Barbara “White Fire,”* a fast moving fire is burning in the nearby Los Padres National Forest. Tankers are flying overhead as I type.

The Santa Barbara White Fire – any and every fire for that matter, is making me a little (okay, a LOT!) cuckoo. Honestly. The thing about fires (that I learned early on from the locals) is that they are the most terrifying of all natural disasters that happen in our beautiful enclave of the world. No, it’s not the fear of earthquakes. It’s the fires that evoke fear because they happen fast and furiously.

It’s always something, isn’t it? Tornados. Hurricanes. Fires. What I am learning is that disaster (be it health, or natural) can strike at any time and we need to be as prepared as we possibly can.

So, anyway, we now have our “Disaster Go-Bags” at the ready, should we need them (which I really hope that we don’t!). What is a Disaster Go-Bag, you ask? It is simply a collection of basic items your household may need in the event of an emergency. This has been a hot topic of conversation today, so I thought I’d share this disaster preparedness checklist with you (again).

We keep ours on the side of our bed, ready especially for a possible middle-of-the-night nasty situation. Here’s what we are including (hear my copy machine humming in the background copying our documents?):

I hope that you will NOT ever need to use this!

The evening sky being illuminated by The Santa Barbara White Fire. By the way, it was named for the location where it started: White Rock area off of Paradise Road.