Wildfires are raging through out Colorado this week, forcing the evacuations of over 10,000 people.  In Manitou Springs, just west of Colorado Springs news interviews showed some residents had only a few moments to evacuate from over a thousand homes.

If you have 5 minutes to depart, what do you grab? Most of us don’t make the best decisions under that kind of pressure.

Better to write out a “go lost”, a list of items you would take if evacuation were required. Put the highest priority items first, and work down. This should be part of your emergency preparedness checklist.

At times, when a hurricane is coming ashore you may have hours, or the better part of a day to get everything together to evacuate. Other times, during some firers or fast rising floods you my have only minutes. An advance list allows you stay focused on the most important.

In our home, we have a go box, a file box with all key documents, originals or copies. Included are copies of bank and investment document with account numbers, medical files, home ownership, insurance records and car titles. Grabbing the go box saves the time of going through files individually.

We have a list of pictures and family heirlooms we would want to save. 

Every family may have different decisions on what to take. Far better to develop your list now, and then be ready should you ever be required to evacuate.

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