What Did I Consider Important?
 

So, there I was, happily not really watching TV and surfing the internet and ...

The fire alarm goes off.

Not the normal little battery operated guys that warn me that I've burnt some toast ... oh no. At 2130 on a freezing cold night, that's never the kind that goes off ... the building wide system for my high-rise. I vaguely hear "the voice" in the hallway ... "There has been an emergency reported in your building. Evacuate immediately," it says, calmly. Over and over and over again.

So I grab some socks and shoes, but not the envelope of important personal documents that I should put in a safe deposit box. Those I leave in the dresser drawer.

What do I grab instead? My Kindle.

And before I dash out into the night to learn of the fate of my building ... I realize I have to nip back into the bedroom for my book light, since it's kind of dark out there in the parking lot, and I might need to pass the time reading.

There was damage to the building, but not my apartment, actually got cleared to return by 2300.

supprized you didn't grab yer War Bag with the Extra Ammo and the retractable Samurai sword , Mres , Gps , and First aid Trauma Kit .

Glad every thing is OK , But

Yer slippen Wolf !!!!!

That's cute how you assume that I don't carry a pistol in the house.

As for the rest, I took my purse.

EOTWAWKI ready.

I have a1TB book drive (looks like a book when sitting on a bookshelf) that has all of the raw video and memory-stick dumps that I have from when we got our first digital camera. That would be number one... Then my laptop and my guitars, i guess?

WTF this is the third townhomes/apartments fire I've heard of in the last two weeks, is there an arsonist running around?

I get what you're saying, Wolf.
It's pretty easy at work - you are told not to stop in order to get your coat or bag but they are right there in front of you.

But there are so many choices when you are at home - and it will take you unawares - that any reasonable decisions you have made in conversations just don't count. I would love to save my three photo albums, as they are irreplaceable. I think I'd be lucky to get a coat and a pair of sensible shoes to stand around in.

Hate to be bored watching your apartment burn...

Having watched this several times, unless you're putting the wet stuff on the hot stuff, there's not a lot to do ...

(This is the third trash room fire (that I'm aware of) since I've been in this apt. The other three evacuations were fried chicken, roast, and a fault in the sprinkler system.

The building is theoretically secure, and the trash room (and dumpster) are internal to the building.

More likely stupidity than arson.

She's got spares in her bunker

I was once told by a fire officer doing training that only thing that is irreplaceable in a house fire is family photographs, this would be the equivalent of that.
In our case all digital photos are stored on monsters laptop, backed up to other computers in case of hardware failure and some DVDs stored offsite ( including on another continent :p:), but that would be the grab n go item.

I recommend to family and friends that they upload family photo and video archives to Amazon S3, BackBlaze or Dropbox (or whatever).

We also have scans of most of the important documents on there......

I'd grab my two cats. They'd be such a handful, I doubt if I could take anything else. Which reminds me, I need to buy a cat carrier big enough for them both.

I'd grab my cat then lock the doors and bolt them from the outside so any hobos perish in the fire.

If you're smart, you'll get two carriers. Loading two cats into one carrier takes a lot of time, patience, and a pair of heavy leather gauntlets. I have helped my sister to do this.

There were a number of crated cats in our parking lot that night, and one massive ragdoll that got carried by her owner the whole time. And yowled.