Entry bubble I Hope My Family's OK

By: Sommer | October 26, 2007 | Category: Home and Family

My mom’s oldest brother and his family live in Aliso Viejo, CA. I’ve only visited them once or twice so I’m not really familiar with the geography; all I know is that it’s south of LA and north of San Diego. When the wildfires started burning, I know it sounds callous, but I didn’t pay that much attention to the reports on the news. I’ll admit that I’ve become somewhat immune to hearing about all the disasters and crime that’s proclaimed loudly by the media 24/7.

Our family tends to live under the credo that unless you’ve heard otherwise everything’s fine so I didn’t really start to wonder about my family’s safety until Wednesday. (We’re a close family, but we all feel comfortable living our own lives spread out across the country - so this type of behavior really isn’t strange for us.)California fires map

After a little online research and some help from maps I learned that their house is about 28 miles north of the Horno/Ammo fire which was 40 – 50% contained and 16 miles west of the Santiago Fire, which was 30% contained, both as of Thursday afternoon.

So far, the fires are still pretty far away from Aliso Viejo but there’s no doubt they’re still burning. I’ll keep an eye on the status of the fires and hope that no more start even closer. If the family had been evacuated I could have used USA.gov Find Family and Friends page to check on their status with several organizations including the Red Cross and FEMA. 

My thoughts and prayers are with all those who’ve been affected by these wildfires.  For additional information on how you can get help or help those in need visit USA.gov/californiafires.

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Entry bubble The California Fires

By: Nancy | October 25, 2007 | Category: Home and Family

fire trucks and forest fire It was hard to pry myself from the TV news this morning to get ready for work. The images of the fires sweeping down the California coast and the thought of hundreds of thousands of people being evacuated from their homes, not knowing what they'll find when they return, was pretty overwhelming.

If you're in California making your way through this situation or if you're like me, thousands of miles away wondering how to help, and what you'd do if you were faced with a similar disaster, I found some information on USA.gov and pueblo.gsa.gov that can help us all.

USA.gov just created a special page of resources related to the California fires. Learn about getting disaster relief if you're in the middle of the crisis. Connect with loved ones who may have been evacuated. And find out how you can donate to help in the rescue and recovery efforts. There’s also a special page listing telephone hotlines for evacuees and for those who’d like to volunteer to help during the crisis.

One things that keeps coming up over and over in TV interviews with people whose homes were destroyed in the fire is that they wished they'd had their important documents with them when they were evacuated, or at least kept everything in a fireproof safe. It's staggering to think about having to gather up everything important and evacuate your home in a matter of minutes. I don't think I could do it very efficiently right now. I have a fireproof safe, but important documents like insurance papers, my car title and my birth certificate are stored all over the place in my home. I am honestly not ready for a disaster. If you're not either, here's something we can both use: A Citizen Guide to Disaster Preparedness. This starts with the basics of planning ahead for emergencies by assembling supply kits with food, water and medications, pre-planning evacuation routes and more.

Now, as for those important documents you'll need in the event of an emergency, here's a list of what you should have and what the best ways are to safely store these records.

What if you're one of those families I saw on TV whose records were lost in the fires? You don't have to worry; there are ways of getting copies of everything. Here's a comprehensive list from USA.gov that was first developed to help Hurricane Katrina survivors get copies of their important documents that were destroyed in the flooding. Whether your documents have been lost in a disaster or you just plain can't find something around your home, these links will help you get copies of your vital personal records (birth and marriage certificates), banking records, your passport, Social Security card, medical records and more.

Keep checking back. USA.gov's California Fires page will continue to be updated with more information to help everyone affected by the fires get through this challenging time.

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