G'day Cares - Thanks for sharing this.

Pretty spot on - you still have memories, they are always carried with you no matter what.
'Things' are replaceable.
The 'thing' that would be the worst is the time and effort of years and sometimes - a lifetime can be gone in minutes.
When I was in NSW in a VERY fire prone area and involved with the RFS for 30 something years - I've seen a lot.
From legislation being passed that borders on being ridiculous to What!!!!!!!

I have seen the heartache of those that have lost a lifetime of 'things', or a dream they were living, devastated, and all gone in minutes, yet they are resilient enough to go on and rebuild from scratch. Sometimes this is due to natural events - but often as not it has an assistance from man, accidentally and on occasions deliberately.

I have thought to myself what would I do in this situation? (This applies wether your a 'Townie' or a 'Bushie', we all face the same when we loose our home).
Well I still have the memories, the history and all those around me.
All of us that have lived in small bush communities or within a shire that wont let you cut a tree down on your property that is a hazard, leaves many to face this same fire-hazard every summer, as the urban sprawl encroaches our native bushland. Our resources are stretched to the maximum season after season. In many cases, common sense clashes with bureaucracy.
Yet I am amazed at how fast these areas regenerate after these incidents, I shouldn't be though, as the Australian Bush has had a millennia to fine tool this ability, and a lot of our bushland needs a regular burn to thrive, and we often take little consideration of this fact when we build. Or in many cases local council/government has interfered to the max' with it's ever increasing arsenal of local/state laws and local by-laws for what you can and cannot do on your property. Trees that should be removed as they are an excellent combustible material are so close to houses in some instances you could reach out and touch them.

So we had a couple of boxes of important documents and papers - always packed - always easily accessible - always ready to be grabbed at a moments notice - the rest, are just 'things' that are replaceable. We are now in a Cyclone prone area, and find our boxes remain in the same state of readiness - the threat of fire now replaced by another threat from nature.

I am a strong believer in keeping important documents, photos and the like in digital form in my EDC on a jump drive. Also, hard copies of documents are kept in a fireproof safe. In the event of a fire, the "irreplaceables" are always safe. You can always sift through debris to find the safe, and photos etc. can be replaced from the digital copies on the jump drive. Other than that, yes, things are replaceable.