Prepping in wildfire country
Wildfire gives you minutes, not days. Everything about your plan should assume you are leaving fast, in smoke, possibly at night.
What goes wrong here
- Fast evacuations
- Wind-driven fires can cover miles in under an hour. Evacuation warnings can come with minutes to spare.
- Smoke
- Fine particulate travels hundreds of miles and harms health even far from the fire.
- Planned power shutoffs
- Utilities cut power during high-wind days to prevent ignitions, sometimes for days.
- Clogged routes
- Narrow canyon and hillside roads jam when everyone leaves at once.
- Losing everything
- Documents, photos and irreplaceable items burn. Insurance needs proof.
What's different about your plan
Your go-bag is the center of your plan, not an add-on. Pack one per person and keep it by the door or in the car during fire season. Practice getting everyone and every pet into the car in 10 minutes.
Smoke is the threat most people underplay. Real N95s for everyone, a portable HEPA air purifier sized for your bedroom, and a way to seal one room keep you healthy through weeks of bad air.
Planned shutoffs mean outage prep matters here too. A battery power station runs a purifier, phones and a CPAP. Sign up for your utility's shutoff notices and your county's evacuation alerts, which are separate systems.
Do these first, in this order
- A go-bag per person, in the car in season
Meds, documents, cash, chargers, glasses, N95s, a change of clothes.
Go-bags and evacuation guide - County alert sign-up
Phone defaults don't always include local evacuation orders.
Radios and communication guide - N95s and a HEPA purifier
Keep a box of N95s and a purifier you can run off a power station.
Go-bags and evacuation guide - Power station for shutoff days
Runs a purifier, fridge-cycling and phones without fumes.
Power stations and generators guide - Home inventory video
Walk through every room on video. Store it in the cloud.
- Two routes out, practiced
Drive both once. Know where they meet traffic chokepoints.
Skip or put off
- Big stockpiles you can't take with you. Mobile beats massive here.
- Staying to defend the house. Leave when told.
How ready is your wildfire country home?
The quiz weights every item for wildfire country risks and shows your top gaps. About 3 minutes, no sign-up.