Wildfire

The people who die are usually the ones who could not leave.

In the Camp Fire, 85 people died, most within the first twelve hours. Most of them were older residents whose homes burned before anyone could reach them — not people who chose to stay, people who could not get out on their own. The roads out of Paradise gridlocked and some abandoned their cars and ran. The decision that saves you is made before the smoke, not during it.

Source: NIST / California Senate review

Do this tonight

Name the person in your household who could not get out alone, and name who is responsible for them. If nobody has that job, nobody will do it.

Where wildfire actually get declared

Federal major disaster declarations, FY2015–present.

California 10 Washington 6 Colorado 2 New Mexico 2 Oklahoma 2 Oregon 2 Arizona 1 Hawaii 1 Montana 1 Nebraska 1 North Dakota 1 Tennessee 1 Wyoming 1

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The 72-Hour Checklist

One page, and it works for every hazard — the first ninety minutes look the same in all of them.

Your state

What you actually face

Every declaration where you live, ranked, with the failure mode behind each.

Severe storms →Flooding →Hurricanes →Winter storms →Snowstorms →Ice storms →