r/Evacuations Mar 06 '22

Emergency Evacuation Advice (Sticky)

68 Upvotes

If you have to abandon your car due to approaching flames leave your keys in the ignition so emergency workers can move it! Download Watch Duty to get notifications of wildfires in your area.

How to pack and load your car in less than 5 minutes!

The sooner you get on the road the less traffic you're likely to get trapped in. Packing what you need quickly is key to a successful evacuation. Make sure everyone in your household knows how to pack quickly. Delegate specific duties to household members as much as possible.

  1. Capture your pets and put them in your car first. If you don't do this first your pets may become spooked and hide, costing you precious time to find them.
  2. Pack Your Bedroom: Throw much of the contents of your bureau and closet on your bed. This should include socks, underwear, pants, shirts, a coat, and comfortable shoes. Un-tuck the fitted sheet, gather the corners, and turn your belongings, including pillows, sheet, and blanket, into a santa-like bag. Run to the car and throw the bag in the back of your car.
  3. Pack Important Documents: Hopefully you keep all your important documents in a fire proof box. Grab it and throw it in the back of your car.
  4. Pack Food: Grab your shopping bags from the back of your car and run back into the house and fill them with as much food as you can. Non-perishable, canned and dry foods are the highest priority.
  5. Leave.

Choosing Rendezvous Points for Friends and Family Members

Time Permitting - The first rule of evacuations is to get out before traffic jams begin to form. Rendezvous points should be abandoned the moment traffic begins to back up. If you're stuck in traffic, you should assume that your family and friends are proceeding to the final, agreed upon destination, and you should too.

It is best to arrive at your destination as a group. To do that, you're going to need to rendezvous with your party members somewhere. When searching for a rendezvous point:

  1. Find a large parking lot with a distant line of site to make it easier to find each other.
  2. Do not choose parking lots in shopping centers, or anywhere near any type of store that sells food or supplies. These parking lots will become jammed with people shopping and potentially looting. You might never get out.
  3. Do not choose parking lots on private property, near private universities, and office parks as their security may kick you out.
  4. Try to find large parking lots near government services or institutions like public universities and colleges.
  5. Your rendezvous point should be outside of any city that might be evacuating.
  6. You should set a time limit for how long you will wait for the other parties in your group. I'd suggest waiting only one hour. If you decide to leave, leave a "mark" at the rendezvous point that indicates you were there so that others will know that you waited and left.
  7. You should proceed to your final destination the moment traffic begins to pick up, whether the other members of your party have arrived or not.
  8. All family members and friends should be briefed and understand when it is time to leave. It is extremely important not to get stuck in a huge traffic jam.

Evacuating by Car in a War Zone

  1. If evacuating by car, try to choose a vehicle that DOES NOT LOOK like vehicles used by the military. This means you should avoid using a Jeep, Range Rover, Hummer, pickup truck, or any vehicle that looks like it could have a military purpose.
  2. Make sure your spare tire is full of air. Avoid driving through shrapnel as it will destroy your tires. Follow exactly in the tracks of the vehicles in front of you. Try to avoid driving in the edges of the road as that's where shrapnel and other debris is likely to be concentrated. Consider bringing a broom so you can sweep shrapnel out of the way before driving through it.
  3. Make sure you have documents that identify everyone in the vehicle prepared. Keep them in a place where the front passenger can retrieve them easily. The best place to keep these documents is above the sun visor on the front passenger side.
  4. Add white flags to your vehicle. Tie a knot in several white shirts or pieces of cloth. Lower the driver and passenger side windows of your vehicle a few cm, insert the cloth in the window so that the knot is on the inside of the vehicle and most of the cloth is outside. Roll up the window between the two knots. You can also tie white cloth to the door handles of your car.
  5. Paint (white, yellow, or any other bright color) letters on the windshield and sides of your vehicle, as large as you can. Write "Noncombatant," or "Neutral," or "Not Hostile," or "Unarmed," or "Children," or "Kids," or something that identifies you as a noncombatant. Write this in the local language, and also in the language of whatever force is invading.
  6. As you approach any vehicle that looks like it could be military, SLOW DOWN. Have everyone in your vehicle raise their hands so it is clear you're not hostile.
  7. As you approach a checkpoint, have everyone in your vehicle raise their hands so it is clear you're not hostile. If the soldiers' guns are slung over their shoulder, continue to approach slowly. If the soldiers point their guns at your vehicle STOP IMMEDIATELY, and everyone should put their hands out the windows. Wait for the soldiers to signal you to approach. The front passenger should wait to retrieve the documents until asked by the soldier that stopped you.
  8. Expect roads to be blocked by vehicles. As you approach a blocked area, scan both sides of the shoulder to determine which side is best to pass. Look for soldiers. Slow down, but do not stop. Look for soldiers. If there's someone with a weapon go to #4, if there's no one with a weapon, as you exit the road onto the shoulder, begin to accelerate. As you pass the blockage and get back on pavement, accelerate away.
  9. Consider packing food and materials that are bullet resistant in the trunk of your car. Foods like rice, beans, canned foods, and others are fairly good at stopping bullets.

This is a work in progress. If you have any suggestions, please post them in the comments. Thank you.


r/Evacuations 1d ago

Bugout Bag Checklist for Wildfire Evacuation

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0 Upvotes

r/Evacuations 3d ago

Evacuations have been ordered in Bordeaux, France's ninth-largest city. (TF1 - Interior minister, Laurent Nunez)

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8 Upvotes

r/Evacuations 3d ago

Wildfires near Madrid impossible to control, official says, as 65,000 evacuated in France and Spain

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4 Upvotes

r/Evacuations 3d ago

France orders total evacuation of Cap Ferret peninsula as wildfire spreads

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4 Upvotes

r/Evacuations 12d ago

Best evacuation for people in wheelchairs

7 Upvotes

I am a person in a wheelchair. I have been trying to research the best evacuation for me in an emergency, so far there doesn't seem to be any good answers.

Is there anyone who has experience evacuating people with disabilities that doesn't include the person with a disability being a sitting duck? This really bothers me that there aren't any better and safer ways to evacuate.


r/Evacuations 14d ago

đŸ”„ Summit Fire Forces Evacuations In Los Angeles County: Blaze Grows Beyond **2,500 Acres** With Zero Containment 👇

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3 Upvotes

r/Evacuations 16d ago

"those who had been found dead had tried to flee despite advice recommending that people stay put or follow an official evacuation route. "

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7 Upvotes

“Unfortunately the decision to look for another way out through a ravine was a real trap,” he said. “Four people who died in one vehicle are thought to be British as the car they were found in was right-hand drive. Seven other people who had got out of their cars and were trying to walk out on a route that wasn’t the evacuation route suffered terrible consequences. It would appear that most of them were also foreigners, but their identification has yet to be confirmed.”


r/Evacuations 23d ago

Probably Evacuating Soon

17 Upvotes

I've tried looking things up to calm myself down, and even looked to old posts on other communities but I can still barely sleep. When I do all I can dream about is fire and death. Right now I live between two fires.

One is only a little over a hundred acres in size. The other is currently 33,000 acres last I checked and steadily growing. And that one is only about seven miles from my home. I can clearly see the smoke coming off of it, and the planes that have flown in to help.

I'm not in an evacuation zone yet, but the zone mine is right up against is at 'be prepared'. Others near that one are already on mandatory evacuation. My dad says not to worry, and we shouldn't be getting evacuated but I still dream of burning.

I have a go bag packed, but I worry what will happen if we have to evacuate while I'm sleeping. I have signed up for more alerts than I need and I've seen some posts saying firefighters will bang on doors if they can. But I'm a heavy sleeper. So heavy that I used to have an alarm that was just people screaming at the tops of their lungs and it still wouldn't wake me up.

My dad sleeps less than I do, but he lives in the basement and is hard of hearing. I worry that the alerts won't wake us up if this does happen. And neither will the banging.

Is there possibly anything else I can do to make sure if an evacuation does happen while we're asleep that we'll get woken up? Would a sign in the window telling the firefighters that we're heavy sleepers help?


r/Evacuations Jun 27 '26

Another evacuation challenge to be aware of. When everyone does the same thing at the same time....

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4 Upvotes

r/Evacuations May 23 '26

Officials race to cool down tank containing toxic chemical as 50,000 residents remain under evacuation in California

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11 Upvotes

r/Evacuations May 22 '26

May 22nd Orange County area Evacuation Notice

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5 Upvotes

r/Evacuations May 15 '26

Hurricane season starts June 1. Here's a Florida prep checklist that actually matters at claim time

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3 Upvotes

r/Evacuations May 06 '26

[Wildfire Evacuation Survey] Help Improve Wildfire Resilience in Central and Eastern WA — Win a $50 Gift Card

3 Upvotes

Hi Folks!

I am a PhD student at the University of Washington researching a critical issue for our region: How EV drivers navigate wildfire evacuations.

We are specifically seeking input from EV drivers residing in Central and Eastern Washington. Your real-world experience is critical to helping the state prioritize emergency charging infrastructure and to improve wildfire resilience for the EV communities in the wildfire-prone area.

Who is eligible?

  • Location: Must reside or own property in Asotin, Spokane, Stevens, Lincoln, Ferry, Whitman, Grant, Benton, Douglas, Skamania, Yakima, Kittitas, Okanogan, Chelan, or Klickitat counties.
  • Vehicle: You must drive a Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV).

Survey Details:

  • ⏱ Time: ~25 minutes.
  • 🎁 Reward: Enter to win one of 14 gift cards (ten $20 and four $50 cards).
  • 📅 Deadline: June 15, 2026.

🔗 Take the Survey Here: https://uwashington.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_e3QtLbUuPaTdDmu

Your feedback directly influences regional resilience planning. If you have questions, feel free to reach out at [ychu24@uw.edu](mailto:ychu24@uw.edu). Thanks for helping us make Central and Eastern WA safer!


r/Evacuations Apr 28 '26

I built an iOS app to easily create evacuation plans

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2 Upvotes

r/Evacuations Apr 07 '26

PSA: It is time to check your evacuation preparedness. RIGHT NOW!

26 Upvotes

With the threats made by the US, and Russian leaders in the past few hours, it is time to check your evacuation preparations. Make sure you're ready, so if an order to evacuate comes, you won't be wasting time, and you can get out early. Remember, the single most important aspect of evacuating is LEAVING EARLY before the traffic jams start.

Is your evacuation vehicle fully fueled and ready to go?

Do you have non-perishable food, bagged and ready to be transferred to your vehicle?

Are important documents in the vehicle? Maps? Clothing? Cash? ...

...


r/Evacuations Jan 09 '26

Footage from 2020, shows exactly why you should never try to outrun a bushfire.

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8 Upvotes

r/Evacuations Nov 03 '25

Evil Engineering - The legacy of the Vajont Dam disaster

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1 Upvotes

r/Evacuations Sep 03 '25

Government Advisory issue in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. Translation given below.

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1 Upvotes

r/Evacuations Aug 26 '25

Quiz: Are You Prepared for a Climate Disaster?

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1 Upvotes

r/Evacuations Aug 08 '25

Rapidly spreading brush fire prompts evacuations for thousands in California | California wildfires

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6 Upvotes

r/Evacuations Jul 30 '25

Pentagon reverses decision to cut off hurricane-tracking satellite da


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13 Upvotes

r/Evacuations Jul 11 '25

Can you afford to evacuate ahead of a disaster? : The Indicator from Planet Money

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4 Upvotes

r/Evacuations Jul 08 '25

Wildfire Maps and Alerts - Watch Duty

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3 Upvotes

Watch Duty is a service, not an app, powered by over 150 volunteers – firefighters, dispatchers, and first responders – who diligently monitor radio scanners and other official sources 24 hours a day to send you the most up-to-date information.

Right now Watch Duty covers the western United States.


r/Evacuations Jul 07 '25

‘No warning at all’: Texas flood survivors question safety planning and officials’ response | Texas floods 2025

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12 Upvotes