This is really a bad situation . News state the entire city of 60,000 have been ordered evacuated .
This is quite massive.

Homes in Beacon Hill, and the Centennial Trailer Park have been destroyed.
There are stranded motorists.

This reminds us that while many preppers are planning to bug in , we
still need emergency bug out bags in our car , and other places , ready
to grab and go with some essentials. One being good walking / hiking boots
with change of socks. Watching the lines of traffic bumper to bumper
trying to evacuate is scary, wondering if they will run out of gas along the way
blocking traffic, then have to walk .

I can just imagine the panic of urgency for all that are not prepared. The Chaos
I hope everyone stays safe .

This is Emergency Preparedness week May 1 - 7 , 2016.

We need a bare essentials list

We've been watching this too. Pretty scary with everything so dry there and everywhere else around here. Hopefully the rain will come like they are saying it should.

keeping in touch with my brother and family, mom up visiting, dad working camp job near by and number of friends in the city as well.. at this point the city is burning.. we will see what the morning brings

Its bad...everywhere.....dry...just so dry....I have measured 3/8th of a inch of rainfall this April. in the 90's a typical April rain shower would fill the 3 inch dia line coming from my eaves, it would sound like a gusher or water fall going into the cistern...now I have got nothing this month. Now May...maybe June before my tanks fill to a level that doesn't leave me stressed.
This is part of my back yard (registered with ducks unlimited) as it had been a significant marsh land used by many species of bird, and deer, moose, elk..etc. It dried to nothing... I walked out to it and one Canada goose was sitting near the beaver dam was all that could be found. There is now a whole field of grass,,dried grass.

DW and I have been watching this for a few days now, making a "practice run" out of it. We kept up to date on the position of the fires, winds, etc and made mock decisions of when to pack what, what needed to be done when, and of course when to actually get in the vehicles and bug out. We called bug out yesterday at about 8AM, just beating the voluntary evacuation and gridlock that ensued. Although we feel we would have made good decisions, there were questions raised and we have adjusted our plans and added a few small projects to the "to do" list.

I will admit that I've never had a BOB because I always planned to bug-in. But now, after FortMac, I'm packing one! 🙁

I will admit that I've never had a BOB because I always planned to bug-in. But now, after FortMac, I'm packing one! 🙁

I'm in the same boat, most of my planning revolves around staying put. . . time to rethink.

I will admit that I've never had a BOB because I always planned to bug-in. But now, after FortMac, I'm packing one! 🙁

Yup, the issue is what is a BOB? Usual "prepper-approved" BOB is earth tone, full of flashlights, fire making tools, knifes and stuff. I don't necessarily subscribe to this concept, but just Google "Bug Out Bag" and my argument will be validated.

More realistically in that case, the BOB would be more a duffle with 3-4 changes of clothes, a shaving kit, bottles of water, a bunch of protein bars and a memory stick with all memorable pictures/scanned important docs. For the kids, their favourite Hello Kitty backpack with same in it and some toys/colouring books. I suppose the truck is already full of "flashlights, fire making tools, knifes and stuff..."

I guess this amplifies the need for keeping vehicles' tank at least 1/2 full.

Thoughts and prayers for all those affected!! May God's grace and peace be with all in those difficult times.

Living in a rural community, bugging in and hosting my group has always been our prefered option, but we also realize that sometimes a bugout will be the way to go. Mind you, the list of reasons to bug out is quite short, but fire is not only on it...it tops it.
This is one of those scenarios that we get to organize what we call a "heavy bugout" meaning that we have time to prepare for it, pack accordingly over the course of a given time period and leave before the evacuation order is given with both 4 x 4s, camper, and trailer in tow.
Now, I know that there have been accounts all over the television that people were give a mere 30 minutes or less to pack and get out, but this is a great example of what the term "situational awareness" really means. It was no secret that the fire was burning, and in which direction it was headed, and this information was widely available since Monday.
Helicopilot had some great suggestions for a bug out bag...clothing, memory stick, water...all great ideas and much more useful than your fire kit and bushcraft knife.
Hopefully, some people can learn from this...realizing that this could happen to them and begin to at least plan for the possibilities...that is after all the beginnings of becoming a prepper!
Now, with all the points I've made about preparing and situational awareness, I want to make it clear that I in NO WAY blame anyone affected. Our hearts truly go out to these people. Over the past couple of days, we have been watching as peoples' homes are destroyed, taking along almost everything they own with it and it has literally brought tears to our eyes on more than one occasion.
These events have sparked some serious conversations in our house and raised some questions that were much harder to answer than we initially thought. So pray, sympathize, donate, or do whatever you do, but also watch, discuss, question...learn.