Evacuation Prep List for a Family

Living in the forest in the Southwest, fire emergency is always a worry snd having an evacuation prep list takes a lot fo the worry and chaos off my mind. Especially in the heat of the early summer before the monsoon rains have come.

And that’s exactly where we are right now. To boot, there is a fire raging to the south of us that in less than a week has grown to be one of Arizona’s top 10 largest wildfires on record. The pre-evacuation (or SET zone) is just 9 miles south of our house.

We’ve spent the last little bit putting our emergency supplies and plan into place, but I had to even Google what to organize and what to remember. I felt a little clueless going into this prep! So I wanted to share what we’ve done and what we’ve learned for anyone else looking for this same information.

It is ALWAYS good to be prepared and to have a plan in place.

My friend Kandra posted up her list that she has on her wall and it is totally genius. I used it as inspiration to make our “bug out” list for if we ever need to bug out. She broke her list down by how much time she has to get out, and I thought it was perfect!

Below you can find the lists that we made for us if we need to get up and get out. Are there any items you’d add to the lists?!

Our Evacuation Prep List

Supplies always in each car:

• wipes
• diapers
• emergency backpack
• 1 change of clothes for each person
• 2 gallons of water
• Headlamp or flashlight with extra batteries
• Cell Phone Charger
• 1 pouch of formula
• face masks

1 minute to leave:

• kids
• keys
• wallet
• phone

5 minutes to leave

• kids, keys, wallet, phone
• Two-Way Radios (we only have one family phone, so we keep two way radios on hand now for when we need to travel in separate cars)
• Emergency Document Crate
  • File Box
    • Family ID’s (Birth Certificates, Social Security, Passports, etc)
    • Car title and paperwork
    • Business license, tax license, essential docs
    • House info/lease
    • Insurance paperwork
    • 1 statement for bank and each bill to have account numbers on hand
    • checkbook
  • Medical Folders
  • External Hard Drive with essential backups
• Camera crate (with some of our external hard drives and the very basic essential gear for conducting my business)
• Diaper Bag (I’m trying to always maintain a diaper bag with the essentials of a handful of diapers, wipes, formula powder, and a bottle
• 72 hour kit (ours is in a bucket so it’s easy to grab)
• Water jugs
• Medicine Box

10 minutes to leave

• kids, keys, wallet, phone
• Two-Way Radios
• Emergency Document Crate
• Camera Crate
• Diaper Bag
• Water jugs
• Medicine Box
• External Hard Drives
• LapTop
• Bag of sample size toiletries
• Baby carrier (boba wrap or ergo)

30 minutes to leave

• kids, keys, wallet, phone
• Two-Way Radios
• Emergency Document Crate
• Diaper Bag
• Water jugs
• Medicine Box
• External Hard Drives
• Computers
• Bag of sample size toiletries
• Camera crate
• Baby carrier (boba wrap or ergo)
• Bag of clothes/pillow/blanket for each person (I saw a great idea that each person can even grab a laundry basket and put clothes in that to grab and run
• Diapers/Wipes/Formula
• Family Memories Crate
  • pictures we can’t replace
  • family history books
  • Great Grandma’s painting
• Scriptures

Evacuation Prep List with 1+ hours to leave

• kids, keys, wallet, phone
• Two-Way Radios
• Emergency Document Crate
• Diaper Bag
• Water jugs
• Medicine Box
• External Hard Drives
• Computers
• Bag of sample size toiletries
• Camera crate
• Baby carrier (boba wrap or ergo)
• Bag of clothes/pillow/blanket for each person
• Diapers/Wipes/Formula
• Family Memories Crate
• Scriptures
• Bag of essential wood working tools for Cameron
• Personal History Boxes
  • Personal keepsakes
  • letters
• Food from fridge
• Food storage that space will allow

To make these evacuation prep list super effective and workable we have these lists on the inside of our cup cupboard door and we’re making sure we know where every single one of these items are and pre-organizing them so it truly is a grab-and-go situation. The more prepared we are, the faster we can pack up and get out of here!

Follow (and join in!) our Wilderness Mowers journey as we work to become less reliant on the consumer culture, prepare for the future, and become closer as a family! You can find our Wilderness Mowers journey on the blog by clicking here, or through the #wildernessmowers hashtag on Instagram!