Comments on: How to be prepared in case of fire

By: jocheryl

jocheryl — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 14:12:38 +0000

my daughter made the mistake of storing all her scrapbooking supply reciepts with her scrapbooking stuff, they were away from the house for long enough to give someone time to come in and literally pack up their entire house full of belongings…she had saved the reciepts originally to create a profit/loss statement because she wanted to start a scrapbook page business (she is disabled and bed ridden) anyway, when the scoundrels took her supplies, the reciepts went with them…bye bye to proof for the insurance company, we are having a heck of a time remembering everything she had and assessing a value/price to it…i’m on here looking for answers…anyone have any suggestions how to recreate a scrapbooking inventory list?

take a tip from this mistake, don’t trust your neighbors to watch your house while you are away, and don’t store you reciepts for items WITH those items…

and remember how many valuables you actually have, i would take a picture of EVERY special christmas ornament…EVERY ONE…i gave my daughter several special expensive ornaments each year to commemorate the events of that you so that when she had her own home, she would start with a full christmas tree (not like mine was with three ornaments on it!) they were all pink too…plus my folks carved and painted a wooden one for her each year…you might not think to document that type of thing, but in retrospect, i would let the theifs keep almost everything else, if they would just give back the christmas ornaments…it is so heartbreaking, so heartbreaking…

oh, another suggestion, no matter what your sentimental items stand for, don’t get too attached to them…otherwise it hurts too much when they are gone…

i am questioning the wisdom of our christmas ritual of reviewing the years gone by using the ornaments each christmas when we get them out…now christmas will always remind us that all our reminders are gone…i feel like they might just as well stolen this mother’s heart…they did still my pink mercury glass heart!

i would almost rather have had the stuff go away too than to know someone else will be using our things…my only hope is that when they are passed down through their generations, they will represent something pure and sweet to those who inherit them, not, hey, these are the ornaments mom got for free from her stupid neighbors.

oh well, i better get off my sympathy cruise…

By: Taylor at Household Management 101

Taylor at Household Management 101 — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 04:06:22 +0000

There are lots of reasons to create a household inventory before disaster strikes. One that is often overlooked, however, is that insurance adjusters are trained to be skeptical of your claims. Having proof of what you owned, especially visual proof, can be very helpful in keeping an already traumatic situation from becoming more stressful because the insurance company wants to settle your claim for less than you think it is worth.

By: K

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:51:36 +0000

Because of where we live we have a pretty intensive fire and evacuation plan in case of wild fires.

I think it is good to think about it on levels. What would you grab if…

… you had 5 minutes? (The kids, the dog & my purse)
… you had 10 minutes? (above plus the portable hard drive, the laptop, the accordian folder by the desk and the plastic box of photo albums in the bottom of the upstairs hall closet… then turn on the outside sprinklers and leave.)
… you had 2 hours? (above plus great grandpa’s rocker and some other larger items)

By: Emma

Emma — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 08:21:39 +0000

All great ideas – especially the first one!

Also, I’d like to pass on my thoughts to your programmer and his family, I can’t imagine how difficult things must be for him now and going into the future.

By: ephi

ephi — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 07:38:10 +0000

Erin, this is great, thanks. Applicable to riot situation, too. My mum put a bag of clothes and bathing supplies under her bed all the time.

By: Korta

Korta — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:58:27 +0000

I handle my digital photo storage an easy way… I make disks of all the best pictures I have, and give them to my mother as a Christmas present each year. She gets the pictures for her computer, and I know that my fave pictures are safe…

By: Beverly D

Beverly D — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:47:09 +0000

I have all my important papers in a fireproof box. The key is on my keyring. That said, there is a great deal that I would have to replace that (of course) isn’t in the box, and I’ve been steadily working on a detailed inventory, with a Quicken program (backed up on a flash drive, kept in the box) with pictures. Still, I am the keeper of the family genealogy, and I have originals of old photos, deeds, birth and death certificates, and much more. I would be just sick if these were lost.

By: Mary Anne in Kentucky

Mary Anne in Kentucky — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:55:40 +0000

Beth, I knew a cat years ago who was an office cat (he worked for an office with mice); he travelled home with a different person every weekend and they usually carried him in a pillowcase. He did a great laundry imitation on the bus, which didn’t allow cats.

About the safe deposit key–why would you have to grab it? Mine is on my key ring which is in my pocket unless I’m in bed or in the shower, when it’s within arms reach.

By: Beth

Beth — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:25:45 +0000

I get as many copies of essential papers as I can and store a set at my mother’s home. I have a duplicate birth certificate there as well as a listing of my bank accounts, insurance policy numbers, and home information.

What about an idea of storing important things outside your “physical” house but on your property? I have a detached garage and a shed that would be ideal for storing an emergency box.

Also, I once heard a great piece of advice when it came to pets. I have a cat and would obviously need to grab her and get her out. You aren’t going to have enough time to find a pet carrier so it was suggested you take a pillowcase and drop the kitty in there. I guess it would work for any type of small animal – they probably wouldn’t be happy but at least they would be safe and contained!

By: Erin Doland

Erin Doland — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:15:50 +0000

I want to add a bit of a negative vote for the “essential” boxes people are discussing. In cases of fire and other natural disasters, the last thing you should have to worry about is picking up an emergency box. Plus, a good portion of fires/disasters happen when people aren’t at home. Being prepared in ways that we discuss in the article above are effective for every circumstance, regardless of if you are home.

By: Shalin

Shalin — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:03:10 +0000

So glad the family got out w/o major injury! It can be hard on anyone and I wish them a speedy recovery back to an enjoyable life.

Warmest wishes,
Shalin

By: Jeri Dansky

Jeri Dansky — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:18:24 +0000

Regarding home inventories (point 2 above): You can also use an online home inventory service. See https://www.anywherevault.com/.

By: Jeri Dansky

Jeri Dansky — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:14:13 +0000

Celeste, a couple people sell grab-and-go products.

Suzan created hers when she herself had to evacuate because of a fire. See http://www.grabngobox.com/.

And here’s another option: http://www.securitaonline.com/products.htm.

By: Shalin

Shalin — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 14:39:12 +0000

These are great tips. As a minimizing excersise, I like #1 the most.

Also – consider *prevention*… As a former volunteer firefighter I’m quite sure you can call up your fire department or insurance company and request a home inspection for fire prevention. These typically don’t take more than ~1hr and can be surprisingly informative.

Very best wishes,
Shalin

By: Liz

Liz — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 14:08:14 +0000

A great way to backup pictures is using flickr.com – you can upload pictures and mark them as private, meaning only you can see them. If you pay for the pro account, you can have as many uploads as you want and the file sizes of the images can be large as well meaning that if you wanted to reprint any of the images, they would still look good.

By: Celeste

Celeste — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 14:00:31 +0000

My southern California friends deliberately keep a “go box” of baby books and important papers at the main exit, in case they have to evacuate due to fires. Obviously scanning pics and saving them offsite is great, but if you have a treasured memento with stuff like hospital bracelets and locks of hair, making an escape plan for it is good.

I’m intrigued by the “blue box” that Suze Orman sells for keeping important documents ready to go in just this situation. It comes with a lot of forms that a person can fill out ahead of time just to be ready for a scenario like this, to make recovery easier.

This is an excellent post and I think you should make a link to it as one of your core messages. Everyone can use this information even if they don’t want to pursue a minimalist lifestyle in the home.

By: Alex Fayle

Alex Fayle — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:54:28 +0000

I had a small fire in my house once – caused some smoke damage on the second floor, but I was really fortunate. When my father was doing renovations he didn’t just stick up drywall and then paint it. He put a full layer of drywall compound over the whole thing. Given that the house was built in 1910, it gave the walls a more plastered look, plus it saved the house – the fireman told me that if it weren’t for that layer of drywall compound the drywall paper would have caught fire and I would have lost the house in minutes.

The other thing that saved me was knowing *exactly* where the fire extinguisher was and how to use it.

For several months after the fire, however, all I wanted to do was sell the place and everything in it. I’d felt violated and just wanted to be rid of it all. I’ve heard the same from people who’ve had fires that haven’t completely destroyed their homes.

Cheers,
Alex

PS Great tips by the way, especially the backup stuff – I need to do that…

By: Anne

Anne — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:45:04 +0000

having experienced a fire in our home, the top half (bedrooms and closets) charred beyond hope and the bottom half smoke damaged and almost total loss, this is a great subject to delve into!
We lost a lot, but have our lives and we hold to that when you go to get something out of your room that doesn’t exist, wierd to go get a pair of earrings you wore for years out of a jewelry box you no longer have…very much a phantom feeling.

By: Erin Doland

Erin Doland — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:35:39 +0000

@Sue — I 100 percent agree with your advice about renters insurance. My apartment was broken into during my last year of college and having insurance saved me thousands of dollars (most of it was clothing, no joke, they stole my clothes).

By: Sue

Sue — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:54:02 +0000

Even if someone is renting, they NEED renters’ insurance. One of my co-worker’s daughter was burned out of her apartment. I made some comment about her reporting her loss to her insurance, and he stated confidently that he told her she did not need insurance, she didn’t have that much stuff. Once she started the replacement process, he was stunned. Cosmetics, jewelry, electronics, furniture, clothes and more clothes, shoes, etc. He had promised to help her and he was out-of-pocket for thousands of dollars. (He also lost my confidence in his “wisdom”.)