During natural disasters like wildfires and hurricanes, people in at-risk areas are often asked to evacuate. It’s important to prepare, heed evacuation warnings and remember the six P’s of evacuating – a checklist list of the necessities you should pack or take with you whether you are evacuating from a fire or another natural disaster.
These kinds of checklists commonly circulate on social media and are often put out by local officials during national disasters. The six P’s included may vary, but they all address the important things you would not want to lose or leave behind in a disaster.
1. People and Pets
CalFire’s list of six P’s includes action items to include in your emergency preparedness plan. You should pick a meeting point for your family members to join each other after evacuating that is safe and away from the high-risk zones. You should also plan your escape routes and practice them so your family knows where to go.
Have a plan for safely evacuating your pets, who may be frightened.
You can also choose someone who lives outside of the at-risk area that your family can check in with in case you get separated or some phones no longer work.
2. Papers, phone numbers and important documents
Papers and important documents could get damaged in wildfires and other natural disasters. You should take things like IDs, passports, insurance cards and Social Security cards with you. You may also want to take a list of important numbers with you — if your phone dies, you can’t access your contact list.
These tips apply to all disasters during which your important documents might get destroyed, like a hurricane.
3. Prescriptions
Have your full, current supply of prescriptions packed in case you can’t get to a pharmacy. You may also want to take other health supplies like vitamins, eyeglasses and extra contacts.
4. Photos and personal items
Especially in disasters like the Southern California wildfires, where entire homes can be destroyed, you should take family photos and small mementos that you wouldn’t want to lose and that are irreplaceable to you.
You will also want room for other personal items like toiletries and even snacks and water. The United States Department of Agriculture recommends packing enough water and food for two to three days.
5. Personal computer and hard drives
If your work or personal documents are digital, bring the hard drives or laptop computers they are on. Computers can get destroyed in fires or other storms like hurricanes.
6. Plastics – credit cards, ATM cards, cash
Lastly, take your credit and debit cards and cash. In many cases, people don’t know when they will be able to return home. With power outages, even ATMs may shut down, so it is important to have cash and other forms of payment when you leave home.
Preparing to evacuate
As major wildfires ravage several Los Angeles neighborhoods, thousands of people were told to evacuate — leaving almost everything behind and some even leaving by foot.
The Los Angeles Fire Department recommends creating a plan for evacuating your family and pets out of the area, packing an emergency supply kit, talking to your loved ones about a communication plan and following local officials like the LAPD for evacuation updates.
Cal Fire has an interactive map showing the various evacuation zones brought on by the Palisades Fire, Sunset Fire and Eaton Fire, which have burned tens of thousands of acres and are threatening thousands of structures.
There are two levels to the zones. In the red zones, it is mandatory to evacuate and required by law. In the yellow zones, there is an evacuation warning and mandatory evacuations could be imminent — people who may have trouble getting out of these areas should leave immediately.
While authorities will tell the public about evacuation plans, CalFire says it is safer to leave before a mandatory order is issued — which police will enforce evacuation.
