Chatted with a friend last night who also ran like hell from Shasta County's 7.5-mile-high fire tornado.

In his neighborhood (now mostly gone), power went off, and some people couldn't get their cars out of their garages. They didn't know how to work the garage door manually.

They scrambled out with other people, but their cars, loaded with their emergency regalia, burned up.



Could happen in flood or any emergency where power goes out.

When I had to replace my opener last winter, I had one with a battery backup installed for issues like this. I no longer have the upper body strength to raise the door. Battery back up will take it up and down for at least two rounds.

Only added about $150 to my total cost.

Wonder what they thought that wooden handle dangling down from the chain drive was?

That's the pull-string to turn on the light, silly.
Everybody knows that :)

LOL!!!

Reminds me of the time I was sitting in a car dealership waiting for my car to be repaired. A frantic call came to the service desk from someone who couldn't get into their car. Apparently the battery in their key remote was dead or not functioning and the person was losing it. Very carefully the technician guided the person through inserting the key into the keyhole of the car door and turning it until it opened. The old fashioned way. Disaster averted.

Another good tip.

Put spare car and house key on a hook by the house door that leads to your garage.

Having lived in "earthquake country" most of my life, and gone through several (as well as massive brush fires, power outages due to high winds, etc.), I learned some lessons a long time ago.

One that's really helpful and easy to maintain is a grab-pack. We keep one in our garage, and one in a hall closet.

Each is a normal full-sized suitcase. It contains 3-4 days of clothes for everyone in the family, photocopies of important papers (including passports), spare house and car keys, and some regularly-rotated bottled water and snacks. There are also DVDs that have backed-up copies of our wedding album, family photos, and digital account passwords. Our original important papers are in a fire-proof safe, the copies are just in case we can't get to that. In the event of a quick evacuation (which we had to do in the 2005 firestorm in our area), we grab the suitcase, throw it in the back of the car, and get out. We could live entirely off one pack for 3-4 days if need be, and reconstruct anything important that's lost if it came to that.

We also keep a propane-bottle stove and lantern in the house for when the power goes out, and we have a bunch of solar-chargeable LED flashlights (and a solar-powered phone charger). 'Cause every now and then SDG&E shuts off our power when the winds get really nasty, so the power lines don't start fires.

Only had to use the grab-packs once. Have had to use the propane-solar stuff several times in the last 5 years.

That is horrifying. I really wouldn’t have guessed that people wouldn’t know how to open a garage door manually though, that truly surprises me. My 90 year old house doesn’t have a garage so I will have to go to my parents house and make sure this is something my kids know.

It's the little details like this that take people by surprise. Who would've thought?!

Another tip for natural disasters is to take cash instead of ATM cards. Example: Hurricane Katrina: the banks and ATM centers were shut down. People could not access their funds with plastic for weeks.

I definitely had to know how to open the garage door if the power went out. But then a spring broke on the garage door and I wasn't able to use it for many years. Luckily no car that was working was left inside!!

Here's a 200 ft firenado twister caught on video snatching a firefighter's hose. It melted it. (from British Columbia.) Firemen were cussing out the firenado (can you blame them?)

https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2018/09/19/firefighters-battle-firenado-canada-es-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/atv-world-news/

Electric gates are a kicker, too.
(Especially if you’re behind someone who refuses to ram it.) Of course, then you airbag launches.

Another reason to drive a truck.

When I was in the Navy, I was stationed in CA for the most part. We kept copies of important documents in a zip-lock baggie - actually several layers of baggies - in the freezer. The freezer usually makes it through a fire and other disasters. We couldn't afford a safe. Just make sure they're in several baggie layers.

Thanks for the tips Kathleen... we sure never know when we might need them especially when you live in Calli.

...see. Being a good Mormon over the years has taught everyone a few good things...like drinking the other member's beer when they're not looking. I'm still waiting for trek back to Jackson County. That will probably happen when we get a 9 or 10 richter scale event over on the New Madrid fault line. Then, we can all go back.....yeaaaa!!! Make sure your scuba gear is in good working order.

One of the things that you post and the replies points out is a situation that I have been aware of for many years. We as a nation have been inundated with don't think mediocrity. We have been taught to depend on the thinking and planning of others until we have been lulled into complancy.
We have been taught religiously and politically that others know more than we do so listen to them and don't trouble yourself with seeking out the solutions.
So when a disaster happens we are mentally and physiclly unprepared to deal with it. Perhaps What if thnking in advance would help us and maybe sve lives.

Also--know where your main water shutoff is.