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Preppers

Watching house burn down essentials

6 replies

namastayinbed · 04/08/2018 12:05

I'm new to prepping and saw a thread referenced along the lines of 'You're watching your house burn down - what do you wish you had?' but advanced search isn't helping. Could someone link, or can I get some advice on what to pack in a small grab bag in case of a house fire?

So far I have phone numbers and house insurance policy, £20 cash, spare car key, passports and birth certs.

Not going to pack food and drink as I'm pretty sure the neighbours would help!

And I bet I'd forget to grab it anyway!!!

OP posts:
MaitlandGirl · 04/08/2018 12:21

We have a grab bag at all times as we live in a bushfire prone area.

Our bag contains :
Passports,
Spare phone charger (we all have iPhones so only need 1 charger)
External battery packs for the phones (1 each)
Cash
Citizenship documents (expensive to get copies of)
Birth certificates
My marriage certificate and decree absolute
Exam certificates (again expensive to get copies of)
Immunisation/micrrochip records for dogs
2 changes of clothes for everyone
Sanitary protection
Toilet roll
Spare shoes
Dog food (dry biscuits in ziplock bags)
Spare dog leads and collars with tags
Photocopies of presciptions
1 weeks supply of all prescriptions
Insurance paperwork
Car registration documents
Photo copy of drivers licences
Hard drive with all photos that aren’t stored online.

In the car we keep a similar bag but without the documents.

House/car keys are always kept in the internal garage door at night and we always have dogs leads hanging by the front door.

We also have a well rehearsed plan for who gets what and we can be out of the house and driving away in 3 mins if needs be.

MaitlandGirl · 04/08/2018 12:24

Forgot to mention - wash kit with spare toothbrushes and loads of baby wipes lol

IAmInsignificunt · 04/08/2018 14:04

Ours starts thus:

  • Set of keys for front and back door in our bedroom.
  • A torch in bedside table
  • A press button light on the window sill (theory being you’ll be able to find the light as it will be next to the brightest part of the room)

We have 2 pack packs at the bottom of the stairs, they have tiny torches attached to them. They contain:

  • A light change of clothes for everyone
  • Nappies
  • Dog leads
  • Dog treats
  • Foil backed picnic blanket tied to the bottom of both backpacks
  • Cereal bars
  • First aid kit
  • Sanpro
  • Tissues
  • Facewipes
  • A laminated piece of paper with contact numbers for: family, friends, schools, work, insurance companies, utilities companies, banks, medical clinic and vet.
  • A laminated piece of paper with a list of the various medications and dosages each person is prescribed. Plus a list of allergies. With a photo of each person next to the list.
  • USB stick containing all relevant information plus scans of documents and receipts (we also have an email address with all of this information stored)
  • Passports in one and photocopies in another
  • USB stick containing special photos and photos of every room in the house.
  • Spare car key
  • Phone charger
  • £100 in cash
  • Socks
  • Loo roll (take inner out and squash down)
  • Emergency credit card

This is all kept next to a family hospital wash bag which contains:

  • Shower gel
  • Shampoo
  • Tooth brush and toothpaste mini
  • Face lotion
  • Nail scissors
  • Sanpro
  • Anti bac gel
Dyrne · 04/08/2018 23:14

I second all of the above - especially making sure you have all your photos & documents scanned in and saved digitally - if you can store them on the cloud or away from the house, even better (I have an external hard drive in my locker at work). Not just home insurance, but imagine literally everything in your house has gone - do you remember the ins and outs of all bank accounts, birth/marriage certificates, qualifications, pension info, stocks/bonds, loans, car documents, crochet lovers anonymous memberships? You may need to apply for new cards, certificates etc and if you’ve just lost everything having a list will help you get started rather than being under pressure to remember.

Taking photos of every room in the house is inspired, @IAmInsignificunt ! I keep thinking I should do some sort of inventory but can’t be arsed - photos of each room would be great to start to catalogue where things are.

Op definitely put some clothes in, and a teddy or similar if you have small DC (plus nappies etc if needed; and even a small colouring book and crayons). Potentially you would be stuck barefoot in your PJs (I have an old bra packed, for example, so i’m Not jiggling around)

Do any of your family have prescriptions? Either a couple of days worth of meds would be useful if so; or the numbers of some local 24/7 pharmacies so you can get something if needed urgently until you can arrange a new prescription. An old pair of glasses may be useful as well.

(Top tip - anti bac gel is actually brilliant at getting spot stains off of skin!)

Put grab bag as close to front door as you can - you don’t have time to be scrabbling around in a cupboard for it.

And goes without saying - make sure you have lots of smoke alarms and test them regularly so you have a fighting change of getting out in time to grab anything!

Dyrne · 04/08/2018 23:18

Should say soot stains, not spot stains!

namastayinbed · 05/08/2018 17:52

Thanks - these are great! And yes, hopefully I won't be too concerned with spot stains!

Off to test alarms and compile the stuff.

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