The interesting thing about forest fires is the powerlessness one feels when placed kissing distance from an inferno.
I never really understood the underlying threat of forest fires until 3 days ago, but folks, I learnt that lesson pronto.
First things first, forest fires have zero chill. It started off with a faint whiff of an amateur BBQ whilst I was pacing in the garden and within 10 minutes, ash was swirling in the air, a toxic imitation of a winter’s snow.
The time my mind went from vague curiosity to full blown – pack the fucking cats and grab the passports – was measured in seconds.
Never before have I been so thankful to have bug out bags at the ready and a mostly solid set up (more on this later) for dealing with environmental emergencies. It’s times like this being prepared really pays off.
Situations like this are tough to handle – when do you flee? What do you take? I have no real advice on what you should do because it’s very situational, but I’ll just detail what I did.
First things first, I grabbed the two bug out bags, placed ’em in my office and proceeded to throw in my passports & cash from the safe.
Whilst I was doing that, the girl grabbed all 5 cats, split them up into 2 rooms (not all of them get along yet) with the windows and doors closed and placed the carriers open and ready to go.
When it comes to pets and making a quick getaway, you gotta eliminate variables, so isolation (making the cats easy to find & grab) with transport methods at the ready is the optimal set up.
Like life in general, you can’t go at it half-cocked. Gotta have a plan and thresholds in place. The first thing to assess is the immediate danger.
If the danger is close enough that the risk of dying is very real, then get the fuck out and plan when you are in a safe location.
As it stands, the area was full of firefighting planes, helicopters and fire trucks screaming down the street. On top of that, the wind was blowing away from my house and the firefighters brought their A-game, which gave me reasonable grounds to have bug out plans ready, but be able to assess the situation as it escalated.
I observed 6 of my neighbours, all of which reacted, but in very different ways, and thus for your reading pleasure;
The Neighbours’ Reactions
Neighbour 1
Got in the car with his wife, stayed outside the driveway and kept the motor going.
Analysis: The smartest course of action, sadly not viable to idle with 5 cats in the Portuguese July heat, but definitely worth figuring out a solution that works for our family.
Neighbour 2
Called friends who lived nearby. They parked their car and kept her company in the comfort of her home. Probably in front of the TV for updates.
Analysis: She is 85 years old. Makes sense from her perspective. It’s important to be self-aware of your limitations and ask for help preemptively.
Neighbour 3
Seemingly chilled inside the house, zero action plan in place as best as I could tell.
Analysis: I don’t want to be too harsh or judgmental because they may be badass preppers like me. I know from an outside perspective I was chilling on the patio smoking a cigar and taking photos of the shitshow (y’all are welcome).
All of this to say that just because you are calm and watching the situation unfold doesn’t mean you are unconcerned or an idiot. It may just mean you already have plans in place.
I have to admit that a lot of my chill was as a consequence of the overwhelming response from the firefighters. True heroes.
Neighbour 4
Spent the entire time on the street talking on the phone. Kids were also outside, seemingly no real plan of action – just mild concern.
Analysis: I said Hi to her, she looked horrified. Zero idea if she was planning on leaving or calling for a pick up, seems to me that she just didn’t know what to do.
Neighbour 5
Don’t know exactly what was hit, but some idiot driver likely couldn’t help looking away from the road to oogle the shitshow of smoke. Hubris slapped him back to the Quinta – drove his car into a wall? Or another car?
Analysis: Don’t be a fucking idiot when behind the wheel. Especially when a forest caught fire. Seriously.
Neighbour 6
Now this one was comical, as I was chilling on the patio, Elise saw this bloke get on his roof and water it with his garden hose.
I shit you not.
Proof. ^
Analysis: Folks, if an out of control fire wants to give you a kiss, a hose ain’t gonna save you or your house.
Pragmatically I don’t know why he acted that way. Best I can come up with – it’s an action and when scared, humans want to act. Even if its stupid.
Climbing the roof of a house and watering it when emergency services are stretched is moronic.
As for the girl and I, we masked up (breathing in smoke for extended periods of time isn’t great) and kept people in our lives updated whilst snapping photos. Objectively, having a plan of action in place means that I felt relatively confident that I could escalate or de-escalate as needed without any ensuing panic due to everything being packed and ready to go.
What I learnt.
My preps & response time are on fucking point, I would guesstimate that enacting our protocols after we decided this was a serious situation, took us less than 3 minutes.
Not exaggerating. And that is with 5 cats. The only thing that I wish we had was 2 more cat carriers. One is a kitten and would have shared a carrier whilst another would have gone in the backpack. Not ideal and this is a situation I have already resolved (or will be resolved within a few days when Amazon delivers).
The girl always had the carriers ready to go in a closet and shit like this is so important it can’t be overstated.
Having pets is a responsibility, being a responsible owner means having a plan to protect them when shit goes south.
Another thing worth keeping in mind is having your passports/cards/important docs in a central location.
I have a filing cabinet for the stuff that matters, but can be replaced and a small fire safe for my grab and go must haves. This includes all passports + binder with all my bank cards and copy of our birth & marriage certificates. You gotta have this stuff on hand folks because a fire is stressful enough to not add searching for shit into the mix.
It’s important to plan for loss as well, because it’s not possible to get everything out. I am happy(ish) to let my PC burn because I have offsite backups of my data.
Same with belongings. That’s what insurance is for. So many stories of people getting trapped and injured because they were packing when they should have been running.
Don’t be stupid.
Have bug out bags. Have plans in place for those you love. Ignore the rest.
On that note, I hope you enjoyed this little story and accompanying photos. Let me know in the comments what you would have done or if you have any experience with similar events!
Global warming certainly makes the “hypothetical” apocalypse scenarios real.
Aye, thankfully in my neck of the woods its pretty rare to have forest fires- at least on my doorstep. A sobering reminder of the power of nature though.
Great read, thanks! You have portable pets — we have horses. 8 of them. And live in wildfire country (Interior Alaska.). 6 years ago we had a fire get within 3/4 of a mile and I was shocked at the number of folks who had no plans for their horses (or even had trailers.) We have three plans depending on where fire comes from and the last resort is turning them loose with phone numbers spray painted on their butts.
Fire safe, and external hard drive with backup. Everything else is insured.
Sounds like you have your shit together Julie! The spray painted numbers on the horses is a real good idea! Out of curiosity- does Alaska get wild fires?
My observations of the pictures indicated to me that the first photo of the blackish smoke is from petrochemicals that are burning, not a forest fire. Subsequent photos does indicate a more natural, wood source for the fire, i.e. brown smoke. I’ve worked forest fires so I know the difference Either way, it’s always better to leave than to stay…just make sure you have good insurance.
You are dead on the money! What happened from what I understand, is that a car caught fire and it spread to the near by forest. Good call mate!
I am glad you are both ok. Forest fires are no joke. I’ve been in the same situation. In 2017. A terrible year for Portugal, Galicia and Asturias. We basically did the same thing you did. Get our bags and prepare to run if things went south. We didn’t have cats back then, but we do now. So it would be really cool if you one day write an article about prepping for your cats. I’ve prepped successfully (ish) for dogs in the past. Even for sheep and chickens. But cats are tricky. Easy as pie if you are bugging in. Hell if you have to bug out.
Again, I am glad you are both ok.
Cheers mate, definitely a weird experience to undertake- even if I came out with zero issues. I’ll talk to the girl about scribbling up an article about prepping with cats!
Hey Thomas. Just checking in two make sure both of you (and the cats) are ok. I don’t know which part of Portugal do you live in, but with the immense amount of fires and the first death, this is starting to look like it could end up like 2017. Here across the border is the same. I spent the last days making preparations in case it comes to that. Quite a few places to take care of, as some of my family is overwhelmingly underprepared for this type of thing. It puzzles me, because we get massive fires every year, and lost a lot in 2017. Thank you for considering the cat article. Take care, mate.
We are doing good, I live in Lisboa (Cascais)- so far no big fires on my doorstep but yeah, been keeping on eye on the news and its getting pretty crazy. Not surprising with the heatwave we are experiencing though!
Hi, Thomas. I’m glad both of you were ok back in July. I hope you are still ok now. I know the Geres is burning, but I believe the Lisboa area is not affected. I hope it stays that way. Cascais is a lovely place. I live in Galicia, in Ourense. We are literally on fire right now. Ten massive forest fires still active in the province. I don’t live close to the fires, but it’s starting to rain ash here too. I do work close to the affected areas, and it’s hell down there. It looks, smells and feels like 2017 all over again. It makes me so sad and so angry. My homeland on fire, like every end of summer. Back in 2017 I lost my childhood home in the fires. A lot of people lost their homes, their land, their business. And three years later, the same bullshit. And it doesn’t look like it will ever get better.
I sincerely hope Elise and you are ok. Take care, mate.
Hi back Xavier- sorry for the late response! As for Lisboa not being affected- it was small/contained fires. Nothing crazy but for me it was a new experience so plenty of adrenaline at the beginning! Crazy that your neck of the woods has issues on an annual basis. Not sure if I could handle it tbh.
Take care!
First, very glad your okay, and second, glad your property stayed safe. Funny you should mention about the cats. We only have one whose a little/big in size Princess. Part of my emergency preps is a small separate BOB for her. Enough food for three days, and water in 8 oz packets, and a couple fav toys. Whole thing weighs maybe a pound, and of course the cat carrier. She’s part of the family so it’s only reasonable she has her own Bug Out Bag, even though she would refuse to carry it! Don’t know how’d that work out with multiple cats. Anyway your good people to care and include your cats in the plan.
Funny thing is earlier today I was watching the Weather Channel and they were showing videos of the recent California Brush/wild fires with interviews. Some folks had less notice then you did. Horrible thing fires like that. I think you did well, very well as unlike most, you were prepared!
Thanks Broadwing- really glad it didn’t stray into my property! Would have been a different kind of article! As for the cats- we would never consider leaving them behind unless it was life or death. We plan accordingly and I am glad that it paid off (even if I didn’t have to evac- knowing that I could is a huge relief).
Hi, good points and fodder to chew on.
In Australia, blocking down pipes on gutters, then hosing roof to have water in gutter, is standard operating procedure…
This will help prevent hot cinders being blown under eaves which can set ceiling alight.
Fascinating, now that you have explained it, it makes perfect sense. I just thought he was crazy! Hah. Are there other helpful tips from Western Australia you can share?
1. I am glad things worked out.
2. Fire is my greatest danger. Not gangs. Not earthquakes. Not riots.
3. If not addressed within 7 minutes, a home is completely destroyed.
4. A fire can spread faster than you can run or drive.
5. You are aware that many people died in a CA wildfire. It happened because they didn’t “move it, move it”.
The next time, if the unfortunate situation presents itself, do not hesitate in leaving because you have 5 cats. They should not be part of your plan with a fire so close and which you cannot outrun.
We have the thing in CA when people are told to “move it, move it” and they don’t. Their choice. A bad choice.
Leaving the cats behind is a no go mate, as long as I feel I can safely evac with them, my plans will include ’em! Never gave much thought about fires until this event- definitely jumped to the top of my “this could get dicey” list of threats. The speed at which it moves is terrifying. We are working on re-evaluating our protocols to cut down on time and have the preps permanently ready to go. A thought was a fire bag/sleeve inside the safe so I don’t have to spend 20 seconds looking for the passport etc. Being able to open the safe- pull the sleeve out and gogogo would have been better. Another thought is renting a storage box downtown (unlikely to be hit by a fire) and simply forgoing any removal of items- in which case we could just grab cats and run- I reckon we could get out of dodge in sub 90 seconds if push came to shove.
Whats your solution with paperwork and passports etc?