A couple of weeks ago, I participated in a very California experience: I got evacuated.
I looked at my phone one morning to find multiple texts from a friend asking if I’d gotten the alerts about a fire.
I hadn’t.
I’d been in the shower. So I looked at the Watch Duty app, like any good Californian would do (hint hint….get this app, or another fire alerting app), and saw that not only was there a fire that had started close to us, it was REALLY REALLY close to me. Like in the canyon right outside my complex. It was the Sorrento Valley fire and was in the Peñasquitos Canyon. The homes in Torrey Hills were in danger.
I immediately rushed outside to see what there was to see, and sure enough there was a huge plume of smoke right there. To give you a picture, here’s a map. I was standing where the star is, and the smoke was coming up over the houses where the scribbles are. The fire was just one turn of the canyon away from us and way too close to our neighbors.
As I watched the smoke, it started to turn lighter, which for anyone new to fires, is good news. Dark smoke = bad, light smoke = better. But then the wind kicked up and Watch Duty updated from 3-4 acres to 30 acres, and that’s when I got nervous. I headed back to my apartment to try to get my cats into their carriers because I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.
Unfortunately, they could tell something was wrong, so they were already kinda spooked. I tried to get Bindi into her carrier… she’s the one who used to actually like her carrier… but this time she fought with all she had, and I was unsuccessful. Then I tried Livvie, and amazingly, I actually got her in. So then I went back out to check the fire, thinking I’d give Bindi a minute to chill before I tried again.
When I went back out, the helicopters were dropping water, and the fixed-wing planes came in and were dropping the red fire retardant. It was amazing. They were flying so low, and the drops were very precise; it looked like they were coloring within the lines of a coloring book. Unfortunately, there was this one spot that kept erupting in thick black smoke that did not give me a warm fuzzy. And Watch Duty announced that they were requesting additional air support.
So I headed back to my apartment to pack up some of my plants to be ready in case of evacuation. If you don’t know me, I have a slight plant problem. My best friend and I collect succulents, the weirder the better. She has most of them, but my tiny little patio is filled to the brim. As I was walking back to the apartment, I got the alert for mandatory evacuation. Not just get ready to evacuate. Go! And go NOW!
I knew the fire wasn’t in our little part of the canyon yet, so I wasn’t completely freaked, but I also trust the firemen that they know when we should leave, and always want to follow their directions. I mean, I’ve seen all the movies, and know that if you wait, you get stuck in the traffic, and the fire storm, and die. I will always listen to the firemen.
I got back to my apartment ready to fight Bindi again only to find that Livvie had managed to get herself out of her carrier!! It was a soft-sided one, so she apparently was able to wiggle the zipper open. Now she was behind the couch, and I knew there was no chance I was going to be able to get her. So I tried to get Bindi in her carrier again, and she got so scared that she peed on me….and then ran behind the couch. Now what?
As I debated what to do I started packing the car. I realized that trying to figure out what to take when you’re stressed about possibly losing your home and your pets is harder than it seems like it would be. I could not think! I did pack up some plants, and was grateful that I happened to have some flats to put them in, but they were pretty flimsy so it was precarious carrying them to the car. Ultimately many of them fell over in the car, and spilled or got damaged. I evacuated to my best friend’s house, and she kindly sent me home with a much more sturdy cardboard flat. Lesson learned though: make sure I have on hand appropriate things to carry plants with in case of evacuation.
Then I started grabbing artwork. I collect art when I travel. Not fancy stuff. Mostly art from street vendors. Pay $20 for the art, spend $400 framing it. 😂 I piled it in the car haphazardly and had to take multiple trips. I had no idea if the frames would get scratched or if the glass would break. Lesson learned: have some empty plastic bins with bubble wrap in them ready for an evacuation to make this easier.
As you know, I lost my dog in April, so I grabbed his ashes and all the artwork and things I have to remember him by. I also got my last cat’s ashes. This was when I started realizing the things I wasn’t taking. Things that I was looking at and realizing they weren’t important enough to pick up in that moment. I had room in my car, but I also wanted to get out of there, and if it came between my life and stuff, there were only certain things that I was willing to take a few minutes to grab. It turned out, there are some things that I -love- and thought for sure I would have taken, but in that moment, they didn’t pass the test. Interestingly, this included clothes. I did grab medications, and my travel toiletry bag, so I think I had a toothbrush.
The reality is that I could have stayed in the apartment and waited for the firemen to come bang on doors, or waited until the building next door caught on fire before I left. Both of these things would have put the firemen in more danger. Both would have put me in more danger. But both would have given me more time to get my and cats into their carriers. I love my cats. They are family. I just lost my dog. Losing my cats would have destroyed me. Knowing my cats were scared and in pain and wondering why I wasn’t protecting them would have killed me. But their survival instincts unfortunately also run completely counter to my ability to protect them.
I couldn’t get them in their carriers. And I made the gut-wrenching decision to leave them. I left the front door unlocked and put a note on the door for the firemen that there were 2 cats inside. It was a horrible decision, and I have been judged for it. I totally get it. I’d judge me too. I did it as a born and raised Californian, knowing that in 99% of the fires in California (that’s my made-up number, I haven’t actually checked for accuracy) the fire is put out and no structures are damaged. I did it knowing that the full force of the fire department, and lots of air support, was already being thrown at this fire. I did it knowing that my complex has sprinklers in the canyon on the edge of the complex, and is surrounded by fire-resistant landscaping. I did it knowing that there is another building between my building and the canyon, and there were already firemen in our complex. I did it knowing that we have fire sprinklers in our apartments, and hopefully the worst that would happen is the cats would get super wet. In short, I did it under the assumption that the true risk was much smaller than the mandatory evacuation order was making it seem.
That didn’t stop me from ugly crying the entire drive to my best friend’s house. There was still a wildfire right next to my home. There was still a mandatory evacuation order in place, which the firemen wouldn’t have put in place if they weren’t concerned about the possibility of the fire getting out of control. It was a horrible decision to make, but I don’t believe that I would have made the same decision if I actually thought my building was at risk. I think if I really thought the building was at risk, I probably would have been one of those people in the documentaries getting out of the house just as it catches on fire, and trying to drive through the firestorm. I would end up starring in the documentary because I had spent so much time trying to catch the cats that I had to be rescued. I would have done exactly what I said I wouldn’t do because I would do everything in my power to get my cats, because I don’t think I could live with myself if I actually thought they were at risk.
But what this taught me is that we can’t do this again. The cats have to be more willing to get in their carriers. So now the carriers will be part of the furniture of my apartment. They will be filled with catnip and treats with the hope that the cats are already sleeping in the carrier when I need to lock them in it. One can wish. But at the very least, I need to have a chance to get them in. So I need to make the carriers less scary and more positive. This is my new goal.
I will also be creating an evacuation list, and ensuring I have the right supplies in place to be able to pack up quickly and easily. I did remember my computer and a charger, but I nearly forgot my important documents, and in my rush I wasn’t even sure where they were. I found them, but my brain was so freaked it was having trouble thinking straight. They should be in a fireproof box somewhere easy to find and grab. I need to make it so I don’t have to think, I just have to grab.
As for clothes, a friend mentioned that taking your dirty clothes can be a good idea because you know those are clothes that fit and you like, and are season appropriate because you just wore them. Of course, if you just did laundry, this doesn’t work quite as well, so maybe just have a list of basics that you remind yourself to grab. If you’d like to make your own list and plan, Cal Fire has recommendations on their website. They even have a tool to help you make your own checklist.
I was able to go home after 7 hours of being away. I think a lot of people in my complex never even left. I’m just not willing to be one of those people. I listen to experts. Even if they’re being overly cautious, they’re doing it for a reason. They’ve seen things, and know things that we don’t. For example, the area that was under mandatory evacuation was above the canyon where the fire was burning. I met people in my complex who were also watching the fire when it first started who thought that meant we were safer. They thought being on a canyon made us safer, and that since the fire had to go up hill that would keep us safer. Both of those things are completely opposite of reality. Living on a canyon is one of the more dangerous places you can be from a fire standpoint. Part of that is because fire moves fastest uphill because the tops of the flames are heating the brush ahead of it as it goes. Firemen know this and apparently not all residents do – trust the firemen.
When I was six, I was in a fire in Malibu that burned 50,000 acres and 125 homes. My dad had built a house on Winding Way Rd on top of a hill. There was a canyon behind us and the Santa Monica Mountains behind that. The fire had started in the Valley and I was the first to spot the flames coming over the mountain towards his house. It was minutes from the time I saw the flames to the time that the fire was encroaching on my dad’s house. The ups and downs of the canyons can make the fire move very fast as embers fly across the canyon. During that fire, my dad didn’t even have the option to evacuate. There was no water service to his house, he had to truck it in. The fire department literally parked at the bottom of his driveway, and essentially said, let us know if your house catches on fire and we’ll help you put it out, but otherwise you’re on your own. My dad had to stay to protect his own house. He was the fire department for his own home. Luckily he was successful.
Fires are a part of life living in California. Most people moving here worry about earthquakes. That’s what California is famous for. Ask any native Californian though, and they’ll tell you that earthquakes are much less of a concern for Californians than wildfires. And as we just had 4th of July, this is an apt topic. According to Daniel Swain, who is a climate scientist with the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, in an article for the San Jose Mercury News, “scientific studies have shown the day of the year when the most wildfires start is July Fourth.” The number and severity of wildfires have been getting worse over the past century in California and that trend is expected to continue.
In a weird way, I’m grateful to have had this “dress rehearsal” for an evacuation so that when I need to evacuate next time, and I do believe there will be a next time, I’ll be better prepared.
For more information about fire preparedness for your home and your family, check out the Cal Fire website.