Evacuation timelines are not negotiable and they are shorter than people plan for. This guide is split in two: what to do if the order comes tonight, and what to do this weekend so that night goes differently.
If the order has already come
Minutes 0–5: film everything. Walk the house with your phone recording continuously. Open every closet, cabinet and drawer. Narrate as you go — "primary bedroom, Rolex in the box, laptop on the desk". Audio narration takes zero extra time and turns footage into an itemized record. Cover the garage and any outbuildings.
Minutes 5–15: the irreplaceable box.
- Passports, birth certificates, social security cards
- Insurance declarations pages, deeds, titles, vehicle registrations
- Medications and prescription list, glasses, medical devices
- Hard drive or USB with the inventory and family photographs
- Cash, safe deposit key, spare car keys
- Chargers, power bank, laptop
Minutes 15–25: high-value, low-volume. Jewelry, watches, small heirlooms, appraisals, firearms if you can transport them lawfully and safely. Small, expensive, irreplaceable — in that order.
Then go. Nothing else in the house is worth a delay. Everything from here is what insurance is for.
What "prepared" actually looks like
The households that come through this well have three things ready before the season starts:
- A completed inventory with photographs, values and purchase dates. See how to create a home inventory.
- An off-site copy of it — a relative's house, an encrypted drive, a cloud archive. Details in where to store your home inventory.
- A packed documents box that can be carried out in one trip.
Ninety minutes of work in a quiet week replaces an impossible hour under an evacuation order.
Pre-season checklist
| Task | When | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Photograph every room and closet | Before fire season | Baseline record for the whole house |
| Complete the high-value inventory | Before fire season | The bulk of the claim value |
| Refresh the off-site copy | Twice a year | Captures recent purchases |
| Photograph the exterior and landscaping | Spring | Structures, decks, fences, mature plantings |
| Check the declarations page | At renewal | Confirms limits and ACV/RCV — see ACV vs RCV |
| Note your agent’s claim number | Anytime | It is not searchable when the network is congested |
The exterior matters more than people expect
Decks, fences, sheds, outdoor kitchens, hot tubs, mature landscaping and hardscape are frequently under-documented, and they are expensive to restore. A slow walk around the property with the camera in spring takes ten minutes.
After a loss
Do not throw anything away before the adjuster has seen it — even damaged items are evidence of what existed. Photograph the site before any cleanup. Start the claim by handing over the inventory rather than reconstructing it from memory; that single step is what usually separates a claim settled in weeks from one negotiated over months.