What would you save in a house fire?

[HowDoYouSpellThat]

Assuming loved ones/pets were safe and sound, what would you save from your home in the event of fire?

I was musing on this, as you do, on the Midlands line from Brum to London.

I think that many people, especially Gen X, probably have less 'things' these days.. photos, books, music all live online and are non tangible, so needn't be saved as they don't actually exist.

Are people still handing down heirlooms to children? Do we value objects like we once did or are they so easily replacable and abundent that we don't value them as highly as once before?

For me, it'd be my sketchbooks. They are irreplaceable (but utterly worthless!) and represent so much about the time in which they were filled.

Ds' soft toy
My teddy
Photos
Portrait of my great grandmother as a child
Books

If the children and the cats were out of the house, I wouldn’t care if the lot burned to the ground. Birth certificates and passports would be nice, but I wouldn’t risk my life for them.

I’m in my forties, autistic, and not very sentimental.

Cats, dog, small animals and get DH to carry daughter out. No physical property is worth risking lives for

My dog.
only living things matter. Everything else is just stuff.

My neighbours house burnt down one Sunday afternoon, it was truly horrific.
She wanted her laptop because it had all her business stuff on it. Another neighbour did go into the house to get it, which I thought was incredibly stupid.

there is nothing in my house that I am sentimental enough about to save and I often think of hiring a skip to declutter my parents house so I don’t have to do it when they have died.

Nothing at all. Is all just stuff.

Ipad
Phone
Cushion with all pics of children and dogs
2 necklaces that my son chose for me ,cheap ie about £15 / 20 but very sentimental.

It does sound like many people would be better off just buying some fire and water proof boxes/document holders and have things backed up properly.

A tiny cardigan and hat that all of my sons wore newborn (all 30s/40s now🙈)

My folder which has passports, investments, pensions, Insurance etc.

Kids comforters.
Kids memory boxes.

Everything else can realistically be replaced.

I keep birth/marriage/death certificates, important paperwork, passports and expensive jewellery (don't have much) in a small safe that should survive a fire, so wouldn't have to worry about those. We have a huge plastic box filled with photos (from before phone cameras were a thing), but I wouldn't be able to carry it as it's really heavy, and I'd be sad to lose those memories. However, as long as my two DDs, the dog and cat were out, I wouldn't worry about grabbing anything else as my family are the only irreplaceable things.

Back in the 70s, when I was a teen, my next door neighbours house caught fire. It went up so quick the lady living there didn't have time to grab 'stuff'. My late father managed to get a ladder up and rescue her from her bedroom window, but it was touch and go as her stairs were completely alight.

I have a big metal file that has all our paperwork in. So, bank statements, utilities, insurances, passports, birth certificates, all the stuff that (having sorted out my mother's estate recently) would make starting from scratch much much easier.

I don't have much in the way of jewellery, certainly no sentimental ornaments, gadgets and electronics can all be replaced.

My photographs are hard copies and I have a box of baby memories that would be painful to loose, but they're stacked in the back of the airing cupboard and couldn't be arsed to retrieve in a fire. Maybe the kids' lifelong teddies?

Tbh the arsehole cat wouldn't be a priority...

Cross stitched pictures made for milestone birthdays by my daughter and son in law- irreplaceable.

My massive old rocking horse
but I’d need help

I can’t think of anything sentimental in my house that I’d be overly upset if I lost. It’s all just ‘stuff.’ If DH and the kids were safe I’d probably just go and join them!

Old photographs, everything else can be replaced.

When we actually had a house fire I just grabbed my handbag that was next to me and got the DC out. You really don't have time to do anything else if you want to stay alive.

This…and I know this is hypothetical but it is a bit offensive to be fair. Everything is replaceable in one way shape or form. As long as my dc were safe then I don’t give a shit.

My mum's handwritten recipe book and my dogs' ashes.

DH would get his hundreds of guitars out first and then look to see if I was out.

The dog and cat.

I knew a lady who had suffered a house fire. The first few days were especially difficult as she was without her glasses, so I’d try to grab those. But really I’d just want to get out as quickly as possible.

I’ve scanned all important documents into my computer (cloud drive) so I’d save the cats and my signed David Bowie photograph.

Very different as no risk to life but my mum had a flood and everything was destroyed. She has one photo of her parents that her little sister gave her after the event.

I'm not very sentimental but this has made me think I should keep my papers somewhere fire proof as it must be a pain not having them.