Go-bag

Wildfires have been a going concern in Colorado for a long time. When I was in elementary school, we had to evacuate and stay with friends for a couple nights because of a fire up Waterton Canyon. I’ve watched fires burning from my apartment windows while I packed bags in case we were given the order to leave. And it’s getting worse as we warm the planet; fire season seems to last all year now—the most destructive fire in Colorado’s history happened in December of 2021 (about a dozen miles from my house).

Despite having grown up with this danger, I’ve only just gotten around to keeping a permanently packed go-bag that we can grab if we need to bug out.¹ And since an awful lot of the world is seeing an increased risk of some kind of disaster that might require evacuation—flood, fire, hurricane, tornado—I thought I’d share what’s in my go-bag, and some of the resources I used to put it together.

Inventory

• Important documents
• Phone chargers
• Cash
• Change of clothes (for each person)
  • 1× trousers
  • 2× underwear
  • 2× socks
  • 2× shirts
• Water
• Food
• First-aid kit
• Emergency blanket (for each person)
• Flashlight
• Radio (with support for the NOAA weather band)
• Multi-tool
• Whistle
• Matches in a water-proof match case
• Tampons/pads (enough for one cycle)
• Masks (KN95)
• Garbage bags
• Toilet paper
• Water purification²
• Rope³ (well, paracord)
• Needle and thread
• Lightweight jacket
• Pack towel
• Duct tape

Maintenance

The go-bag requires a little bit of maintenance. At an absolute minimum, you’ll probably want to switch out the change of clothes that you keep there with the seasons. The spare clothes we want for summer in Colorado are not what we’re going to want come December. And you may need to periodically check to make sure the documents you keep in the pack are ready to go, if you keep things like insurance policies or passports in there.⁴

I plan to change out the spare clothes every week or two when I’m doing laundry. That way we don’t have to completely dedicate a set of clothes to the go-bag forever, plus that makes it easier to make adjustments as the seasons change.

At the same time, I’ll probably change out the water in the two 48 fl. oz. Nalgenes I keep some drinking water in. Either drinking it or watering some house plants so that the water in the bottles is relatively fresh. Also a chance to check the bottles and see if they need a wash. I also plan to cycle out whatever food we keep in there periodically so that it doesn’t become too stale.

Resources

Here are some websites I was using to help me put all of this together.

• https://www.livingwithfire.com/preparing-for-wildfire/prepare-for-wildfire-pack-a-to-go-bag/
• https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/29/climate/emergency-go-bag.html
• https://www.ready.gov/kit
• https://coloradosun.com/2022/01/04/how-to-prepare-for-a-wildfire-in-colorado/

Put together what you have

At this point, I’ve got most of the stuff on that list in our bag, but not all of it. I’ve been slowly adding things to this list as they occur to me, and I’ve been slowly adding things to the bag as I have time and ability to collect them.

Pretty much everyone can probably collect their important documents, a change of clothes, and whatever you need to charge your phone, and then stuff those in a spare backpack that you leave somewhere convenient for you when you’re leaving.

That’s a pretty good start.