Ditch bag for home

[Jon Schneider]

This is kind of off topic for a board about sailing, but we had a scare today with the building next to us going on fire.  We live in Brooklyn on a block of row houses/brownstones.  When I first saw the smoke blowing past our bedroom windows in the rear of our building, I knew it was bad.  I quickly yanked out a duffel bag and told my wife to throw in enough clothes for a couple of days along with her jewelery (she doesn't have much, so it was easy for her to toss it all in... there's a silver lining).  I did the same and grabbed the small strong box with our important papers (proof that my wife married me in case she ever wants to deny it, etc.), along with a bag of dog food.  We live in a small apartment and have a pretty simple life, so all of this took about five minutes.  But five minutes would have been way too long if it had been our building on fire.  BTW, now that I'm disassembling our ditch bag, I realized that we left our passports in the desk. 

It makes me think that perhaps I should truly assemble a "ditch bag" for home for just such emergencies.  I wanted to share this experience so that you could go over in your own mind just how quickly you could get the most important facets of your life pulled together in case of a fire or some other disaster.  Maybe it should be a duffel on the ready with at least a list attached to it itemizing stuff to throw in.  Just a thought (albeit not a cheery one).

[Bobg]

Jon, excellent Idea, isn't it funny how a lot of us are ready for most emergencies, but not at home where we feel safe.  I have one for my car, my boat, you got me thinking of a ditch bag for the house now.  A friend lost his house, is still lamenting years later he wished he would have had all important stuff in one spot.  He had to run out of the house knowing his valued pictures were in another room and couldn't get to them.  Maybe we could reposition valued stuff, like in a dresser by the door or something.  Anyway off topic, but thanks for the heads up.  Bob

[Ted Pounds]

You should include in your bag a CD-ROM with pictures of all your stuff.  That will help with any insurance claim.  Probably a good idea for the boat too.  Also you should store the pictures online (in case you don't get out with your "ditch bag").  I keep mine on Kodak Gallery, but there are other, free sites where you can do that.  I do that because a good friend of mine (and Catalina owner) had his house burn to the ground while he and his wife were out.  He had a hard time getting his insurance company to pay for all the contents.  They wanted proof of everything he owned.