Tactical Wisdom: Wildfire Story, Part 1

A group of us went “up north”, which is Michigan-speak for getting the heck out of the cities a week or so ago. We went to a friend’s cabin for a weekend of manly activities like fishing, boating, kayaking, and drinking adult refreshments. There were campfires and grills involved, a great time. On Saturday night, though, we began to see smoke and learned that we were adjacent to an area that had been ordered to evacuate due to a wildfire. We did what most men would do, we opened another bottle of whiskey and carried on with our evening.

Before this, I had received a DM from a Twitter mutual who told me that he lived inside a fire evacuation zone in Alberta but was staying behind. I asked him to keep a log so that we could use his experience to better prepare others. Over the next couple of weeks, we’re going to present a recap of those notes, with some analysis on how you can be better prepared. While his experience is a wildfire, the principles apply to many other situations as well (like a hurricane evacuation).

On May 3rd, he received an alert about a wildfire. The first thing our partner did was reach out to his network and find out who was where and begin gathering information. This is solid – intelligence gathering should shape all of your decisions. After gathering what he could, he decided to put together the bug out bag that he had never quite gotten around to building. This is an important point. We all talk a good game, but most of us have our gear strewn about in various states of readiness. You don’t know when something is going to happen, so get it in order. Yes, I know my gear room is atrocious. How’s yours?

In fact, God, through Jeremiah, COMMANDS you to have a bug out bag:

Gather up your belongings to leave the land,
you who live under siege.

Jeremiah 10:17

The next morning, he saw smoke trailing behind the house all day. It was hot with no rain forecast for at least 4 days. He stayed in touch with his family and friends all day and tracked the fire’s progress. Since there were no alerts, he stayed put. Here’s a solid lesson – Don’t wait on alerts IF you are going to leave. If your decision is to get out, get out EARLY, and beat the panic crowd. You can always come back. The opposite may not be true. Your route may be blocked or closed.

At about 10:30 PM, he got a text message about the entire nearby town being evacuated. The evacuation zone stopped just 6 km from his house. Our friend’s next action was to immediately pack the vehicle and bug out bag, just in case. This is a solid idea, even if you decide to stay. If you eventually have to leave or if looters come, your vehicle is already prepared to make a quick escape.

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