Homestead mailing list

[Don Bowen <don.bowen AT earthlink.net>]

At 3/6/2008, you wrote:
>Quickly walking around the house thinking "What do I need to take in case
>the house burns down?" was humbling, yet  there was very little we needed. 

Having been through this twice I can understand.  What do you grab is a real 
question.  On one fire we had plenty of time and we loaded the car and pickup 
with important papers, clothes, pictures, etc.  Pets were loaded into 
carriers and food loaded. I was working out of a home office and loaded both 
computers but left behind keyboards, monitors, etc.  I remember walking out 
to my shop and wondering what I should try to save then realizing that it was 
all or none so I turned around and walked out.  The fire circled around us 
and we thought it would pass by then faster than you can think it the wind 
shifted and we had to leave now.  I remember running though the house and 
shouting to get out and the flames chased us up the road.  

The house was spared mostly because I had used some firescapping around the 
house.  It also had a fire proof roof, double paned windows, and stucco eves. 
 After the fire I looked into the attic and saw some embers had come in 
through the eve vents so I placed some steel hardware cloth over them.

It was an education about what to take and what to leave.  We later 
reorganized things with all important papers in a single drawer of a filing 
cabinet and pictures that were not on the wall in another.    We also has 
some important pictures copied and the copies on the wall while the rest were 
in the filing cabinet.  We wanted to get a fire proof safe but they are 
expensive.

The about five years later another fire came through.  This time we did not 
have much time so my wife grabbed some clothes and the pets then her and the 
grandson headed into town.  I grabbed computers and the filing cabinet 
drawers and followed.  A lot less stressful.

Again the house was spared.  I came back about a half hour later and started 
wetting things down.  After the first fire I had run 1 1/2 inch water lines 
down the back.  I wanted to put in some fire hose but all I had was some 5/8 
garden hose and sprinklers but that was enough to keep the fire away from a 
shed and my trailers.


Don Bowen        Awl Knotted Up        KI6DIU
http://www.braingarage.com

My travel journal
http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/journal/Journal.html