A FIRE STORY

By Edie Alderette-Sellers
PR-CERT

Many artists lost their homes in October's Wine Country fires. Among them, cartoonist Brian Fies. 

Brian's account of his story — his family's evacuation, the realization that their home was destroyed, and what it's like to move forward after losing everything — is not only poignant  but also hugely informative. 

NOTE: This video contains some brief foul language.

In his video, hand-animated and voiced by the artist himself, he outlines what he grabbed to leave his home, not knowing it would be the last time. This list is an excellent one. 

While not specifically about emergency preparedness, it's worth a watch if only to hear his testament of his experience of being evacuated and to truly understand that an emergency can happen at any moment. Had he and his family not been as prepared, no doubt due to his wife's job as a director of Sonoma County Human Services, the story might have been much worse. 

Key points to take note of:

• They had an evacuation pack with the bare necessities to get them through the evacuation;
• They chose a place to go that they knew would have services;
• They stayed calm and evaluated the situation, worrying less about material items they might lose and more about safety.

An excellent work of art and well worth a few minutes to watch.

Thanks to NPR, KQED, and Brian Fies for making and distributing this deeply personal account of this disaster.