If You Have to Evacuate, Remember These "P's"

6/17/2021 (Permalink)

In case of an emergency evacuation, there are certain items you should always remember to take from your home, and there is an easy way to remember what they are because they all start with the letter "P".  

*People and Pets - Obviously the most important thing in your home are the people who you care about who live there with you, and your furry critters are an important part of that group.  Secure their exit and safety before you consider removing anything else from your home.  Remember, everything else is material and replaceable…people are not.

*Papers, Phone Numbers and Important Documents - This information will be helpful if you need to call various businesses and should include your account numbers.  Think ahead and place all these documents in one location, and ideally, in a fire safe box that is easy to grab and exit your home with quickly.  Make sure it doesn’t get buried underneath other items in your office of extra bedroom.  Keep it out and readily available in case of emergency.  

*Prescriptions, Vitamins & Eyeglasses – These are extremely important items to maintain your health, and you have to be able to read those labels!  These are all relatively easy to replace, but if you do a little preplanning, it will make it easier to regroup if you need to be out of your home for any length of time.

*Pictures - Grab the ones you can't replace, like the ones that aren’t on your phone or are particularly old.  It’s always a good idea to make some copies of the really valuable (sentimental or otherwise) pictures and put them in your bank’s safe deposit box for safe keeping.    

*Personal computer hard drive and disks - Backup your information regularly to a portable hard drive so you can grab it and go.  Make sure it is with your other important documents and ideally in a fire proof case, or one you can grab easily if necessary. 

*"Plastic" - Bring your credit and ATM cards, driver's license and any cash you have in the house.

Print out this list and keep it in your home office or a prominent place in your home in case you need to reference it in case of emergency. 

If your home or business does experience fire or smoke damage, call the experts at SERVPRO of Vacaville/Fairfield/Dixon/Davis at (707) 724-8977 and we'll help make it "Like it never even happened."  We hope you never have to call us, but if you do, we will be available 24 hours a day 7 days a week to help.