The sky glowed bright orange on the night of July 26, three days after the Carr Fire started in Shasta County. It was the same night the infamous firenado ripped through parts of West Redding, and I was on the east side obsessively checking for fire updates and hastily getting stuff together in case we needed to evacuate. Trying to find calm in the chaos of preparing for a disaster has its challenges.
Having two kids with special needs means needing to throw more than the usual “stuff” together. We have medical equipment, supplies, and prescriptions – lots of them. Our medical equipment is fairly portable, but our daughter is on a specialized nutritional formula that is delivered on a monthly basis and comes in several heavy cardboard boxes.
As we lugged those boxes to the car, I kept thinking of families that have even more medical gear than we do, or people who have cumbersome equipment that wouldn’t be easy to pack up on short notice. If anyone is in a situation like that, I would highly recommend a call to your medical supply company to find out their policies in the event of a disaster and put your mind at ease regarding replacements. Another tip I have learned is to keep copies of medical records on a flash drive if you can and keep that drive in a safe place.
Despite all the preparation and packing, we were not ready for the emotional toll the fire would take. Our daughter Lilly, who is on the autism spectrum, became extremely agitated because we had packed bags sitting on the kitchen floor, but we weren’t going anywhere. The notion that we had packed up “just in case” wasn’t something she could easily grasp. The uncertainty we faced left all our nerves frayed, and we found ourselves “winging it” to get through the days.
In the end, we didn’t have to evacuate, but it took a week before I felt safe enough to unpack anything. The community will be feeling the emotional and physical effects of the fire for a while. We went through every emotion known to man: fear, sadness, thankfulness, and survivor’s guilt just to name a few. I learned that no matter how prepared you are for a disaster, there will be many things that you cannot prepare for and it’s ok to improvise to find some calm in the chaos.
Posted in: Uniquely Us
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