If your house were on fire and you could only take one thing

seeker

Thu, Jun 03 2021, 9:46 pm

... don't. Just leave.

I have heard this question posed theoretically and it's crazy. I just had to get it out of my system because we had a scare last night that drove the point home.

B"H we are all ok. There was an electrical fire somewhere else that was quickly contained, but we evacuated because our power went out and I smelled smoke and could not have known in that instant that it wasn't in our home somewhere. One of my kids started looking for shoes and I was like NOPE. OUT. I must confess I did grab a snood, by instinct, which was literally on my way. But even that is questionable when you don't know how many seconds count.

Anyway. I guess I just felt like sharing that lightbulb moment. No more sappy essays on what your most important object is, please. Focus - danger; go. Period.

Probably this doesn't need to be said. It just happened to strike me as I was lying in a kind neighbor's bed trying to unwind, thinking things like "is there anything I should have taken?" and answering "nope."

BTW the smoke is gone and the power is back, B"H. Still pretty rattled and definitely sleep deprived... but happy to be not only alive but even back at home almost as if nothing happened.

HeartyAppetite

Thu, Jun 03 2021, 9:49 pm

I was bathing the kids one Friday when I heard fire trucks on my block. My husband checked and saw the firemen entering our building.
I quickly took the kids out, and I pulled a tshirt and pants over each of them and then we ran out.
I knew the fire was not directly in my house, but was wondering. Should we have run out with just towels?

OneSource

Fri, Jun 04 2021, 4:14 am

I've actually spent some time thinking about this. Assuming my husband and kids could all save themselves (big assumption but hey...it's a what if scenario)... I would save the 4 foot tall portrait of my mother. It's in oil and since she's niftar, irreplaceable.

yo'ma

Fri, Jun 04 2021, 5:25 am

My mother had a store and by law she had to have a fire extinguisher. Once when a fireman came to check it, he told her that if g-d forbid there is a fire, don’t use it, just leave. It was a fabric store, so if there was a fire, that would have been really bad.

We had a fire in our house when I was 5. It was burned down. Bh no one was hurt.

imasinger

Fri, Jun 04 2021, 5:31 am

Our house feels to me like a firetrap, I always argue with DH about parting with anything, no matter how small. Several DC are like this, too.

I'm not terribly well organized myself, but a few years ago, I got concerned enough that I organized all our most important papers into a single red folder that has passports, birth certificates, etc. Financial stuff is saved in a file online (double protected with a very safe pw)

It lives right near my tichels, so I'd grab the folder and a tichel in an emergency.

Last edited by imasinger on Fri, Jun 04 2021, 5:33 am; edited 1 time in total

Stars

Fri, Jun 04 2021, 5:32 am

OneSource wrote:

Take a few pictures of it and back it up in two places. A good artist can recreate it.

simcha2

Fri, Jun 04 2021, 5:38 am

imasinger wrote:

We have a fireproof lockbox for those documents. That way don't have to worry about grabbing it!

happy chick

Fri, Jun 04 2021, 5:45 am

simcha2 wrote:

We have a fireproof lockbox for those documents. That way don't have to worry about grabbing it!

This! Passports, birth certificates, SS cards, marriage certificate, a bit of cash, some silver coins and some other random irreplaceable stuff.
Just to keep in mind not to keep it on a high shelf, cuz in case of a real fire the shelf can break and the box will fall. And they're very heavy. It can be dangerous.

avrahamama

Fri, Jun 04 2021, 7:08 am

I once lived in a building when the alarm went off just as I was getting out of the shower. I didn't use robes then. So I quickly tossed on clothes and grabbed my cell and jacket as I ran out the door. I kept those things right by the door so it wasn't even an effort

I'm so glad I did. There was a young brother and sister who were in the lobby. He had nothing but his underwear on. In February. His sister was watching him and they lived on the 28th floor. I put my jacket on the child and insisted the girl use my cell instead of the cordless she ran out of the apt with. I couldn't believe that in a luxury building I was the only grown up who went to these two children. A week later this lady knocked on my door with flowers and tears in her eyes. I opened my door and she leapt on me and hugged me crying. I didn't even remember what I'd done lol.

I definitely have nights when I'm about to sleep and I account for all my kids in my head and then remind myself of what we would do if chas vshalom we needed to run out fast. I live in a ranch and we need to get a bigger house. But the idea of having a second floor really does scare me.

zaq

Sun, Aug 15 2021, 12:05 pm

banana123 wrote:

YOUR KETUBA.

People. You cannot live in the same house as your husband without it. Make sure you grab your ketuba, or that it is somewhere fireproof.

A ketubah can be reissued. A life can't.

banana123

Sun, Aug 15 2021, 12:08 pm

zaq wrote:

A ketubah can be reissued. A life can't.

She said "if you could only take one thing."

Obviously that assumes that under the specific circumstances, you can get the people out safely.

The question is what is the one THING you would take, IF time and circumstances permit.

I've run to a bomb shelter too many times, and I know exactly what it means for every second to count. One of the times this past May not all feet had shoes on them. BH there was nothing sharp.

(BTW, other people wrote items like a portrait, sifrei kodesh, financial documents, etc. Why you responded davka to my post is unclear.)