By: SurvivalGearLists.com

There are rising flood waters from a local stream or a sweeping wild fire is just several ridges away from your home. You’re discussing with your wife/girlfriend/husband if you should pack up the car and leave. You start hearing a loud speaker coming down your street.

Turns out the local authorities are announcing that there is a mandatory evacuation order in effect and you have 10 minutes to leave your home.

10 MINUTES TO EVACUATE!!! That is a very short amount of time to decide what goes with you and what gets left behind.

I’ll make this even harder. You are sound asleep and there’s a pounding on your front door; it’s the police/fire and you have 10 minutes to evacuate. What would you grab? Photos? Collectables? Kid's artwork? Your pet fish?

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View of wildfire burning outside my home at night. Hard to go to sleep with it that close.
My college roommate faced this very scenario once. His wife was out of town one weekend and a wildfire was coming directly towards his house. He had to grab as much stuff as he could, get his two kids in the car and race to safety. Unfortunately, the fire burnt down his home and everything in it. Sorting through the ashes he only found a strange collection of knobs from his kitchen cabinets. Gone were their clothes, pictures, a car, their kid's toys…everything.
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Nothing left of my friend's home after a wildfire.
If you haven't made an evacuation plan and checklist you could easily forget important documents or family heirlooms.

Before a situation arises where you have to evacuate you can take the following preparedness steps to have your family ready to evacuate:

Before evacuation:

Develop list of times to take with you in event of evacuation
Keep the list printed somewhere easy to locate (no time for computer to boot)
Scan important documents (see below for what documents to scan)
Establish a meeting location in case family is not together
Photograph (or video) all of your belongings:

- Computers
- Furniture
- TVs
- Cars
- Bikes (pedal and motorcycles)
- Collectables
- Artwork
- Snow blowers
- Basically everything you own
Scan important documents
Keep a portable hard drive or USB drive that can be grabbed quickly in case of an evacuation order.

Better yet - place a portable hard drive or USB drive with this information in your safety deposit box, store on cloud storage like Carbonite, Google Docs or on Amazon. This way if you are not home when the evacuation order comes down you can still access your information.

Items to scan:

Pictures of family, relatives, home, car, property etc,
Family and friends contact information – name, relation, phone, address, notes
Insurance documents -Home, life, vehicles, valuables, etc.
Wills, Trusts, Medical Directives, etc.
Medical Records – list of medications being taken and for what, immunizations, prescriptions (meds and eyes), etc.
Birth, Marriage and Divorce certificates
Deeds and Leases
Immunization records – especially tetanus
Voter registration card
Passport
Social Security card
Copies of IDs and other items - Driver’s license, Social Security Card, Concealed Carry Permit, Hunting/Fishing Permits, Credit Cards, and any other cards you normally keep in your wallet
Most recent Social Security statement
Financial records (copy of a monthly statement or annual summary) to include bank account numbers, CC numbers, 401k account numbers and balances, and other items from you investment portfolio(s)
Mortgage information:

- Lender name, address, phone
- Account number
- Payment cycle and amount



During Evacuation

Grab your evacuation list
Assign each member of the family their tasks of items to get on the list
Pull out both cars and face them down towards the street for quick get away
Fill car with desired items
Don’t forget clothing for the next couple of days
If you have time, turn off the gas, electricity, and water
Disconnect appliances to prevent electrical shock when power is restored
Follow the designated evacuation routes and expect heavy traffic
- Do not attempt to drive or walk across creeks or flooded roads
Keep outside lights on so emergency workers can locate your home
Lock doors