Hello fellow peppers. I'm new to this site from Alberta, Canada. I'm also really new to prepping as recent forest fires that ripped through my home town causing the whole city to be evacuated made me reevaluate a lot in my life. You see we got the order to evacuate while I was at work. I had nothing in my vehicle causing me to have to drive through chaos towards the raging fires to my home to grab a few items and my cat. I had nothing packed in the form of bug out bag there either. I always felt confident that in case of emergency I would be able to grab it and go. I was wrong. With only minutes to get stuff your head really isn't thinking about what is needed. I grabbed my cat threw her in the vehicle, grabbed very few clothes right out of the hamper figuring I could wash them when I got to where I was going even though I had no idea where that would be. . Some cans of food, no way to open them and a bag of chips. . No water, no papers, no cat food..just a cat and some old sweaty gym clothes. It was a long drive through raging fires only meters away. There were times I thought the flames would jump right on top me. .but I couldn't move faster, the whole city was in line on the only highway out. Slowly but surely we got further from the flames. . As we did get closer to the nearest town (200km away) gas pumps were running dry. Farmers in the Area were kindly giving their fuel to people in need. And I was in need, along with many others. And when all the farmers ran out there were communities from all over the province trucking fuEl and food to the area. There was evacuation areas set up in the capital city where I ended up going. I tell you the feeling of Having to be totally dependent upon other people's generosity is somewhat humbling. .. but I Also felt helpless amongst a whole lot of other feelings. . The uncertainty was the worst. So I told myself never again am I gonna be caught with my pants down. . Next time there may not be generosity and helping hands. Then what?
