And then I grab-and this is real-a swimsuit. A mf SWIMSUIT. Because hey it’s still summer right? Or something? I CANNOT EXPLAIN.

Now at this point it’s really hitting us that our neighbors don’t seem frantically throwing things in their car as we are. Or doing anything really. And we’re close-ish with our neighbors and they have young kids so I start calling them. And calling them.

Finally they answer & that’s when I make the biggest u turn from terror to relief/embarrassment in my life. See, they have been monitoring the fires all day. They also read the entire EM alert & not just the “Evacuate.” part so they know that the fires r actually still pretty far

So we get online and start looking and sure enough, the fires are still a couple towns over from us. There’s no current threat or evac orders to our area. And then a second EM alert pops up saying there was an error and that our area was not supposed to get that message.

So with that, we unpacked the pets and attempted one of the most fitful nights of sleep of our lives.

Really I’m grateful though. This exposed some holes in our preparedness that most people never get a second chance at.

So please, have an emergency kit and a bug out bag ready because you just never know. Also panic is wild and your brain might be unpredictable and do things like decide that swimsuits are important but socks are not.

Think not just of preparing yourself but your pets too. Have your precious docs in a fireproof safe, and make copies to keep in your disaster kit. Speaking of kits here’s some tips on how to build one: https://www.ready.gov/kit 

And make friends with your neighbors. Communities are safer when we work together. And they might keep you from panic driving into the unknown in the middle of the night for no reason