Today I am joined by Tori the Mom to talk about the wildfires that came within a mile of her home in Spokane, what it was like to watch evacuation zones move toward her neighborhood, and what she learned when preparedness suddenly became real. We talk about evacuation plans, knowing more than one way out, preparing kids and animals, cash, gas, communications, technology that helped her stay ahead of the fire, and the things she plans to do differently next time.
Featured Event
The Art of Containment: How to Contain Small Ruminants with Fencing
Saturday at 10 AM
We will cover how electric fencing works, running stranded wire for small ruminants, rechargeable systems when you don’t have power nearby, and our “graveyard of shame” of fencing ideas that didn’t work.
Sponsors
The Wealthsteading Podcast with John Pugliano InvestableWealth.com
Strong Roots Resources StrongRootsResources.com
Topics Covered
- Meet Tori the Mom and how she became part of the LFTN community
- Tori and her sister’s 20 acres of raw land near Loon Lake, Washington
- Her plans to build a retreat for wives and ex-wives of alcoholics
- Why making the big, hard-to-reverse decisions on raw land is different from cutting trails and experimenting
- Watching the Spokane wildfires go from “that’s way over there” to evacuation zones within about a mile of Tori’s house
- How high winds, dry conditions and flying embers allowed the fire to jump the river and move rapidly toward town
- What happened when Watch Duty and county emergency alerts suddenly started going off
- Knowing when it is time to stop watching and start packing
- Why camping is excellent practice for evacuation
- Teaching kids what to pack and identifying the few irreplaceable things you actually want to grab
- Keeping identification, important documents, cash and small irreplaceable items ready to go
- Why knowing multiple ways out of your neighborhood matters
- Practicing driving without GPS and learning how to navigate when familiar landmarks or street signs are gone
- How Tori’s habit of taking different routes around Spokane gave her more options when evacuation traffic became a problem
- Planning meetup locations in multiple directions when family members may be separated
- Why your relatives living nearby doesn’t necessarily give you somewhere to evacuate
- Gas, cash and snacks: three simple preps Tori realized she needed to have ready before an emergency
- Starting with some emergency cash instead of getting stuck because you can’t immediately set aside the “perfect” amount
- Why Tori needs to practice actually loading her dogs and cats into the cars
- Having enough animal carriers and figuring out what will actually fit in your vehicle before you need it
- Desensitizing yourself to stressed, noisy animals so their reaction doesn’t derail you during an emergency
- How Tori turned emergency practice into the “zombies” game when her kids were young—and why they still remembered it when the wildfire came
- Debriefing with kids after an emergency and giving teenagers responsibility for part of the family’s preparedness
- Why practicing your plans matters more than simply thinking through them
- How community helped Tori stay calmer, troubleshoot problems and know that people were watching out for her
- The value of having community outside your immediate geographic area when everyone near you may be dealing with the same emergency
- Watch Duty, regional emergency alerts, weather forecasts, FlightRadar, Facebook groups and a police scanner as sources Tori used to follow the fire
- Using wind direction and future wind predictions to decide whether it was safe to sleep or whether conditions might change overnight
- Watching firefighting aircraft and listening to scanner traffic to understand what was actually happening
- Ember guards for attic vents as something to investigate for homes in wildfire country
- Knowing the specific risks where you live and building your preparedness around them
- Why Tori’s biggest takeaway is simple: practice packing, practice loading the car and know what absolutely has to go with you
Reference Links
The Wealthsteading Podcast InvestableWealth.com
Strong Roots Resources StrongRootsResources.com
Living Free in Tennessee LivingFreeInTennessee.com
Watch Duty
FlightRadar
HipCamp
Tori’s Property
Shielstra Braehaven on HipCamp 20 acres of raw, forested land near Loon Lake, Washington
Holler Roast Coffee
HollerRoast.com
Make It A Great Week!