Every county in California and other desert states are preparing for another HOT fire season. In 2018, California had some of the most destructive fires in our history, leaving thousands of people homeless and upwards of 90 families mourning the loss of loved ones. My heart hurt last year–the loss of life and property was devastating.
I can only image the aftermath of losing everything, my heart breaks. I wish there was something more I could do. In my mind, the only thing I can do is spread information and offer assistance with what I know. Photo preservation and storage for safe keeping.
Cal Fire has the 6 P’s of Preparedness plan that I’d like to share.
I’d like to focus on how PLC can help with half of the P’s on the list.
- Papers- these documents include birth certificates, marriage certificates, social security cards, Living Trust, Will, Life insurace paperwork, Medical Insurance information, and bank account information. These are the most crucial. These documents can be scanned and put on a hard drive. These are best stored in a safety deposit box or a fire proof safe, off site with another family member is also a great option.
- Pictures-All paper photos, scrapbooks and paper memorabilia should be scanned and placed on 2 seperate hard drives in 2 seperate locations. Although I highly recommend 3 seperate places, a cloud based service such as Dropbox is a great resource also.
- Personal Computers- should be automatically backed up with a cloud based service and on a second hard drive, also to be stored in a fire proof safe and an offsite location.
The hard drives I write about are crucial when you must evacuate quickly. Having these systems already in place could save valuable time when you have to leave your home in a hurry. You could have the peace of mind knowing that all the most important things are safe; away from your home– you could simply leave knowing those things would be preserved.
I pray for a fire season that sees very little destructive fire.
