The “Water Cooler” will be up Monday-Friday at noon!
Today’s question:
If your house was on fire and you could only grab one item (family & pets were already out of the house), what would you grab?
Talk about it….
NOTE: click HERE to learn how to make a fire escape plan.
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A hose to put it out?
The hose
My file server, since it has all my music and photos on it and isn’t backed up off site.
Besides my favorite humans and pets, I’d grab the family history trunk. I have the family Bible from when my great-great-grandmother arrived here from Wales, and tons of old photos and diaries.
Laptop / memory cards has all my family pictures and important papers scanned on it
fire was too big for the hose, grabbed the phone and called 911
Some marshmellows.
Might as well roast them on the open flames….
I`m kidding of course
The gab and go bag next to my bed. It has copies of all our important papers, duplicate keys to the house and cars, $20 in cash, 30 day supply of all our meds and a spare set of clothes.
All our pictures including our wedding album.
My external hard drive with all my pictures on it. I guess all the ones from before internet would get burned up because I couldn’t take the time to carry out 30 photo albums.
@8 Important papers, duplicate keys, 30 days of meds, but only 20 bucks in cash?
I would try to get the car out of the garage.
I’d grab the computer hard drive and my box with all the genealogy records and photos in it.
Living In Claycord, excellent idea. I need to create one of them things.
Family photographs. (o;
My ass and get out!
My computer if possible it has all my pictures and documents scanned on it. I had actually been thinking of downloading everything to a couple flash drives. You can get huge memory these days- then leave one at each of my childrens home. Would be good for any emergency would have copies of all documents financial information, medical information they may need.
Uhmmmm….. think I better get this done. It had been in my mind already.
Assuming my phone and wallet were already in my pockets…probably my laptop.
I’d go with most people and say home server with all our photos, videos and important documents. But it makes me think I should actually have an offsite backup of them. Thanks for the reminder. I’m getting an external hard disk today and I’m going to back that up. Maybe I can convince my parents to do the same with their computer and we can swap hard disks on a regular basis.
My small backup drive for my computer – easy to grab and run with…
After actually losing all my possessions in a fire many years ago….
it would definitely be photos….everything else can be replaced.
My son, family photos and laptop.
Shoes, jacket, purse & laptop…well, that’s 4…am consciously prepared to do grab in one feld swoop. They are all in position for me to grab in the dark from one spot, on my way out the bedroom window.
When I go to bed, I have sturdy shoes at the foot of my bed and place my purse (including keys, $, and phone) hanging over the bed post above them, a jacket and laptop nearby on a stool next to the window, so that I could grab them all in the dark on my way out the window.
If I had time, I’d grab some pictures, too, but would have to go into another room for that.
I stay prepared. My family has had to evacuate in the middle of the night in So. Calif. on multiple occasions due to wildfires springing up unexpectedly.
Assuming that my family was able to get themselves out, and our pets were also accounted for…….
I’d grab my external HD as it has all my images on it. Seeing as my camera bag is right there too, I’d grab it on my way out the window.
My firearms. As well as my photos and important documents file.
As long as my family and myself are out that’s most important. We decided a couple yrs ago to get a safe for important items. Also my daughter in PA has copies of all my photos,at least all of them since digital days
Photos, then the wife or the dog?
My giant David Bowie-Aladdin Sane photo. After my kids are out of course!
My camera, laptop and external HD. Then I will take photos and send to Claycord!
My butt and my cat
The guns!!!!
I would grab the Xbox out of my husband’s hands and toss it back in the house.
My porn.
#27 go for the dog first. Man’s best friend!
I’d grab my purse because it contains my drivers license, my credit cards, ATM card, Kaiser card, and cell phone, which has all the important phone numbers that I no longer have memorized. All are things I’ll need right away if I am homeless due to a fire.
I have back up service from carbonite.com where digital copies of all important papers and pictures are backed up. I would grab my laptop and keys. Get the vehicle away from the house. Might need to live in the vehicle for a few says after the fire.
my guitar and my computer
LOL@ Pinky #32
@ Bubba: Shameful! Everyone knows, in this day and age, you should have your important files backed up OFF-SITE!
Pants with wallet and hopefully cellphone to get in touch with family and friends.
My bed and a blanket, cause obviously I’m homeless now
My mom’s old Winchester Model 52. She won some trophy’s with it back in a time when women were not always welcome on a firing range. Especially if they were good.
Plus, it’s an absolute tack driver.
We have a “go list” in lieu of a ‘go bag” inside the kitchen cabinet (taped post-it inside the door) . My close neighbors are aware of the list, in case we are not home during a fire or emergency. Our neighbors all exchanged info, so that in case of emergency, if possible, all that could be saved would be. The list details, in order of priority, what we would most like to save……number of pets (first!), type, prescription drugs.Anyone remember the “Vial of Life” used to kept in the fridge when we were growing up in the 70′s? Had prescription drugs listed for emergency personnel to look for in the event of a medical emergency. Anyway, made the list after a fire threat and feel a little more confidant that I don’t have to think about what we to take in an emergency situation. Just grab the list. Computer back-ups are stored off premises and updated monthly.
Really important about the prescription drugs etc. when you are dealing with elderly people.
The two parrots, the dog, my away bag with (two handguns, 1 shotgun, 1 rifle, ammunition, shoes, jacket, underwear, first aid kit, cash, financial records, flash memory with backed up home computer, insurance policies, keys) and wife with her away bag.
Since you mentioned that pets and family were already safe, my purse. If I had time, I’d also grab the family photo album.
This really makes you think. My first thought is my purse because it’s such a hassle to contact every company and get all new cards, etc. But, really, the one thing I really treasure is a tape that I filmed for my mom. When she found out she had cancer, we walked around her home and she explained where a lot of her belongings came from (my father passed away 3 years before her), what was sentimental and why, etc. The best part of that tape is my mom’s voice and picture is on it. This was very difficult for her and we only were able to film half the house. But it’s still very special and something we should all think about doing for our heirs. I know my son at this point doesn’t have a clue about what has been handed down in our family that has sentimental or monetary value. We owe that to our kids and family.
Tooth Brush!
My beer! Oh, and my son.
Wow! So many people would have to grab photos. Anybody with a computer can load all photos from a hard drive to a photos haring sight such as “Shutterfly” for FREE. Absolutely no charge, you can never lose your photos. They have multiple backup locations throughout the country in case of a natural disater and if they ever go out of business, you will be notified with at least 30 days to back up your photos. Better yet, keep a hard drive and a share sight just in case. another reason a share sight is great- you can access your photos from any Internet connection. share photos of the kids anywhere!
My wife’s recipe boxes: some of those date back to ancestors in Oklahoma in the 20′s.
My dog and cat.
During the Skylar fire that happened in Sept. I got the phone call from the fire dept. to evacuate my home. With the fire blazing above my house…..and I could feel the heat from it, I was in such a panic I really could not think of what I should bother taking. I leashed the dog, took my purse, cash and moved my truck to the end of the driveway. Asked a kind woman across the street to hold on to the dog and went back to help water down the back yard and roof.
My Kiln or my sewing machine.
I pray this never happens to us but would sure find out fast how good your homeowners insurance is
My water cooler. I could put out the fire and at the same time continue with these discussions.
We had a house fire…no time to think except to grab our son and our pets.
Backing up all your pictures, docs and recipes off-site is the ideal way to go. Store your special recipes on Allrecipes.com, it’s free. Someone mentioned Shutterfly for pictures. External drives are good as long as you can remember to grab it. Or, keep them on a flash drive on your key-chain. I think they have a 1TB flashdrive. That should be enough, maybe!? Make a couple copies.
It’s so awful to have to experience a house fire.
if i had 8 or so arms, id “grab” my computer…but it’s a PC, and takes up a desk and underneath it. i dont think itd be very grab-able.
realistically? i guess my mp3 player & headphones (the headphones never come out of the mp3 player’s port, so i think its reasonable to count them both as 1 article). at least then i could freak out about where im going to sleep that night while listening to my tunes.
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