Emergency Situation – What Would You Take?

This last weekend we ventured 5 1/2 hours away to go see my niece swim competitively. She is 10 and swims year round. She really is amazing! Anyways, our family ventured out of state to watch her, along with my parents and sister and her kids. Here we are cheering her on at the pool.

We stayed downtown in a Hampton, and were on the very top floor, the 11th. We got settled in the first night and went to bed around 11. At 1:30 am, some loud beeping sound started going off. I thought it was the alarm clock, and so did hubby. After realizing that wasn’t it, he started playing with the thermostat, wondering if that was going off. Then we heard a woman’s voice saying there was an emergency, to exit the building, and don’t use the elevator. It was some sort of recording, so she was repeating the information over and over. I panicked and started to race through my head what it could be. The first thing I thought of was that it might be a fire, my second thought was panic because were were on the 11th floor. Hubby and I had the same next instinct. Jackets and blankets for the boys and pull them out of bed. Oddly enough, they were both still asleep and we had to wake them. I started heading for the door and saw a lot of people already heading for the stairs, including my sister and her kids. I then realized I should probably grab valuables. The only thing that I thought to take was my purse. Granted, we were in a hotel, and I didn’t have a lot with me, but I did think about what I should grab.

We started the long journey down 11 flights of stairs. At one point, my mom asked if she needed me to carry Chan. He’s just under 40 lbs, but I didn’t think much of it, there was so much adrenaline going through me. We stood outside and couldn’t go back to our rooms for over an hour.

The fire fighters came and finally left.

Come to find out, the sprinklers had gone off in the parking garage. I’m glad that is all that it was. It got me thinking about what I would grab in case of an emergency in our home. Of course, my first reaction would be my children and husband. After that, what is really important? I have important documents filed together, but are there other things that would be easy to grab and I should think of? What would YOU grab in an emergency?

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Comments

Sat | 27.03.10

Nicole said:

First of course my daughter. But, if I had enough time I would grab my pug, Magoo and of course the irreplaceable stuff like pictures, etc

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Mon | 22.03.10

Jodi said:

Definitely grab the kids first. Then, if I had time, I would grab the things that are irreplacable – pictures and photo albums of the kids and my wedding.

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Mon | 15.03.10

Crystal Warren said:

I’d grab my 2 pups, Juno and Reese I really don’t even think I’d get out without them. And if I had time I think my memory box with all sorts of keepsakes and such.

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Sat | 13.03.10

Vickie Couturier said:

First as with you,the kids an hubby,an animals next.we keep my purse an his wallet near the bed,an our papers are in a fireproof safe,the rest would depend on time,I would never go back in to rescue a photo,thats one of the main causes of death is people going back in a burning building,as long as everyone else is out then the rest can just go .

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Thu | 11.03.10

Lauralee Hensley said:

People first, second the animals if they are calm enough to get, then hubby’s meds and our wallet/purse.

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Thu | 11.03.10

Jennifer B said:

oh my, after the kid the pets! Since I have four I don’t think I would have time to go after anything else. I want to get a firebox for our important documents.

I am so glad everything turned out ok.

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Thu | 11.03.10

Betty said:

I have asthma and that probably helps me remember that you can grab wet towels to breath thru incase of fire/smoke.
The question should be how much faster we can get out of the building. The difference of just a few minutes could let you escape the building instead of being one of those families hanging out the window. Yes, thats extreme but we all see fires covered on the evening news.
Glad that your situation turned out to be contained in the garage area. And congrats to your neice!

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Wed | 10.03.10

trishden said:

Boy, that’s a hard one. I guess I would just worry about the son & dog…but you got me thinking that maybe I should get some of our important papers, like birth certificates, passports and such and put it in a box that would be easy to grab. I know my husband would go for his 1957 Gibson autographed Les Paul guitar. That’s his baby.

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Wed | 10.03.10

jengd said:

If we were at home, as you said, hubby & munchkin first, and in our case, the cats. If there were time, important papers (luckily, most are in a safe-deposit box), an armful of clothes and blankets, and I guess photo albums/scrapbooks. I hate to think of losing all of my craft/stamping supplies but they’re replaceable. Painful but replaceable.

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Wed | 10.03.10

Janaca Cann said:

What a scary thing! I’m glad everything turned out okay though. I would definitely first think about my kids and hubby, then some cash, food, clothes, anything I could carry and quickly get out of the situation!

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Wed | 10.03.10

Jeralee said:

So good to see you guys Tiff! Moura thought that was pretty neat that so much family traveled great distances to see her compete. We did too!

The fire alarm in the middle of the night… grr. Just glad we were staying at the Red Lion

I think I would probably grab my kids, some photo albums and of course a harp or two, if I had a fire.

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