Apartment Fire Emergency: What To Take in a Hurry

During a fire emergency, you won’t have time to grab everything, so know ahead of time what’s worth grabbing in a hurry. Here’s a brief rundown of the materials items you should take with—if you have time.

Prepare for It or Forget It

No document or material item is worth an increased risk to your safety during a fire emergency, so if you don’t prepare ahead of time, you should just grab what you can—if you have time to grab anything—and forget the rest, no matter how much you treasure the item or how difficult or impossible they will be to replace.

However, you can make things much easier for yourself by purchasing a fireproof safe, preferably with a handle, that you can load with important items and store near the door in a closet or cabinet. During a fire, you can just grab it and go, without worrying about scrambling around the apartment to grab everything. Or if you don’t have the time to grab it or the fire is near the door, at least it’ll have a greater chance of surviving the fire if it’s fireproof.

Backup Your Photos

Memories are always with you, but photos are the one tangible link you may have to some of the best moments in your life. Portraits of children growing up can never be replaced. Photo albums are one thing you should grab if you have the time during a fire emergency and you can make this easier for yourself by keeping them stored in one location—preferably a storage box with a handle—near the door or a window. You could also back up all of your photos digitally and keep them stored on a flash drive you keep in your fireproof safe.

Make Copies of Important Documents

Any documents that can be easily replaced, such as bills and proof of insurance, don’t necessarily need to be grabbed during a fire emergency. Instead, think of documents that are harder to replace, such as legal documents like birth and marriage certificates or personal documents such as letters from loved ones. Makes copies of these documents and store at least their duplicates in your fireproof safe—or, better yet, in a safety deposit box at a bank, so you won’t have to worry about grabbing them during a fire.

Store Keepsakes in a Safe

Material items are unimportant compared to your safety, but if you have a few small items that you just can’t picture replacing, such as a parent’s wedding ring, keep them stored in your fireproof safe or a safe at a bank. As for everything else, let it go.

However, if you have time, you may want to take pictures of any pieces of art or other keepsakes that have meaning to you and include those pictures with your photos, so you’ll at least have a visual memory of the items you have to leave behind.

If you plan ahead of time, you won’t put yourself in more danger during a fire emergency by trying to grab all of the items you want to save. Remember that nothing is more important than human lives and after that, animal lives, so only worry about other items if you have enough time.