If there was a fire and you had to quickly evacuate your place of residence, what would you grab?

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

This is something I've thought about a lot during boring lectures, and I've always been sure that in an emergency, I'd have the presence of mind to scoop up all my most cherished possessions and carry them to safety.
On Wednesday, there was a fire in my building. Once safely outside, I realized that I had not rescued my wallet, my notebooks, my guitar, or even my coat. Instead, I had half a pack of Marlboros and a wet towel.

― kirsten (kirsten), Friday, 2 April 2004 18:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Anyone else in the room, my cat, wallet, mobile, jewellery and a bottle of rum, so I could toast the flames.

― badger Kitten (badger Kitten), Friday, 2 April 2004 18:37 (twenty-one years ago)

ipod, theremin, guitar

― Felonious Drunk (Felcher), Friday, 2 April 2004 18:41 (twenty-one years ago)

gf, cats, box of photo negatives, laptop, artwork

― kephm, Friday, 2 April 2004 18:43 (twenty-one years ago)

. Instead, I had half a pack of Marlboros and a wet towel.

Very Douglas Adams of you.

Me, in order: girlfriend, retarded cat, normal cat, cymbal bag, laptop.

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 2 April 2004 18:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Probably ... one hand: iMac. other hand: wallet, keys, glasses, iPod.

― dean! (deangulberry), Friday, 2 April 2004 18:45 (twenty-one years ago)

I have an old valise with tons of old love letters, photos, ephemera and lucky charms, etc. There are some old OOP books I'd toss out the window and hope they survive... and I'd drag guitars out if I could.

Laptops?! You guys are loco, ese. Let em burn. They'll be worthless in a year.

― andy, Friday, 2 April 2004 18:53 (twenty-one years ago)

kitties! everything else takes care of itself.

― Donna Brown (Donna Brown), Friday, 2 April 2004 18:55 (twenty-one years ago)

cats, purse if time

― Ask For Samantha (thatgirl), Friday, 2 April 2004 18:57 (twenty-one years ago)

I wavered for a second about the laptop, but it is expensive and so easily grabbed.

Maybe I should start putting my rare/irreplaceable cd's in one place.

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 2 April 2004 18:58 (twenty-one years ago)

(Here's where I admit to quickly scanning the page of threads and reading this as "something-something quickly ejaculate something something.")

― Jeanne Fury (Jeanne Fury), Friday, 2 April 2004 19:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Definitely laptop, then.

― Tep (ktepi), Friday, 2 April 2004 19:03 (twenty-one years ago)

I think part of the reason I grabbed the towel was that (horror of horrors) I was in the shower when I heard people shouting to get out of the building, but I managed to pull on a pair of flannel pants and a hoodie. I just picked up the towel again and ran out the door with it. Once I got outside and was standing in the cold with wet hair, I really wished I'd grabbed the bottle of whiskey that was on the coffee table. I am definitely going to remember that.

― kirsten (kirsten), Friday, 2 April 2004 19:07 (twenty-one years ago)

i think i would just grab the hose and try and put that sh*t out

― kephm, Friday, 2 April 2004 19:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Toddler, wife, dogs, cats if I could lay hands on 'em. The rest is just stuff.

― Lee G (Lee G), Friday, 2 April 2004 19:43 (twenty-one years ago)

My bass and my wife, who would most assuredly have already grabbed the cat.

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Friday, 2 April 2004 19:46 (twenty-one years ago)

i think that my bag and a coat were the only things i took out of my apartment when the house caught on fire. a lot of my stuff (books, musical equipment, records) was in the living room, which was clearly totally engulfed. i was glad that i had time to dress myself before busting out of a window, unlike one of my roommates who had to crawl out in a tshirt and nothing else.

― lauren (laurenp), Friday, 2 April 2004 20:02 (twenty-one years ago)

anything i could i love all my stuff but my dog b4 anything

― Emma williams (Emma williams), Friday, 2 April 2004 20:04 (twenty-one years ago)

When I was a little kid, my brother's baby bottles caught fire and filled the house with black smoke when the water they were sterilizing in boiled off; my mother told me to get out of the house, and that we were going to the neighbors. She was worried about smoke inhalation; I thought the house was on fire. So I ran upstairs, grabbed my green felt cowboy hat and my wooden clothespin-powered gun that shot Nerf bullets, and ran outside.

― Tep (ktepi), Friday, 2 April 2004 20:06 (twenty-one years ago)

In order of priority: purse (or at least wallet); jewelry box; crate of rare and sentimentally prized vinyl.

Does anyone here have one of those fire safes that is supposed to be able to withstand half an hour at 1,000+ degrees?

In the meantime, I'm pleased to see the priority so many of you give to your pets.

― j.lu (j.lu), Friday, 2 April 2004 20:07 (twenty-one years ago)

thinking about this now, my relative calm at the sight of lot of my stuff going up in smoke must have been due to knowing that i was covered by renter's insurance. that, and total shock.

― lauren (laurenp), Friday, 2 April 2004 20:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Leaving aside the living (I think my animals would be smart enough to make a break for it) - I'd grab my cameras (Leica first, then Canon and last my ancient Bronica) and my Ruger .357. That's basically the only things I own of value that I could grab in the process of putting on clothes and running for my life.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Friday, 2 April 2004 20:14 (twenty-one years ago)

"Laptops?! You guys are loco, ese. Let em burn. They'll be worthless in a year"

but what about all the valuable information on them.
I have lots of thinks on my computer I wouldn't want to lose (like saved emails to and from friends for example)

As for things I have a crate full of notebooks and drawings and stuff that have tons of memories. I'd go for that and probably leave all my cds.

― A Nairn (moretap), Friday, 2 April 2004 20:34 (twenty-one years ago)

I said cats here:

what is the first thing you take with you if you're house's on fire?

Sadly though, I now only have 1 cat. Still would be the first thing. Probably the guitar after that.

― Broheems (diamond), Friday, 2 April 2004 20:39 (twenty-one years ago)

my wife, her inhaler, a coat. anything else and we'd be toast.
fuck the CDs/ipod/photos/guitar/jewelry/flatscreenTV

― paulhw (paulhw), Friday, 2 April 2004 21:38 (twenty-one years ago)

cat, laptop, photos, fridge

― s1ocki (slutsky), Saturday, 3 April 2004 00:02 (twenty-one years ago)

I would rescue my puppy, a stack of booklets/other stuff I currently have on display, some vinyl, a box of photos I have, and my computer -- the actual computer itself, vs. the other stuff (monitor, speakers, etc.). Oh yes, and certain videotapes. If I could.

― Many Coloured Halo (Dee the Lurker), Saturday, 3 April 2004 00:15 (twenty-one years ago)

deez nuts

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Saturday, 3 April 2004 00:17 (twenty-one years ago)

My Stockhausen records ............. pretentious, moi?

― Dadaismus (Dada), Saturday, 3 April 2004 00:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Hm. Wallet and some of the legal/personal papers I guess.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 3 April 2004 05:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Pets and Robots.

― jel -- (jel), Saturday, 3 April 2004 08:08 (twenty-one years ago)

My cat, assuming he was inside and I could find him quickly enough.

When I was at university, I became far too accustomised to false fire alarms, and bored of standing on the street in my dressing gown and pyjamas at 3am because someone had left their toaster on. I'm not sure that I'll ever treat a fire alarm with urgency again, so would probably not bother to grab anything.

(Unless the fire was visible, of course)

― caitlin (caitlin), Saturday, 3 April 2004 09:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Having actually had to quickly evacuate my place of residence once, at 3am down a fireman's ladder from a 2nd floor window, I can assure you that you don't grab anything at all

― Dadaismus (Dada), Saturday, 3 April 2004 09:53 (twenty-one years ago)

yr first ans was v pretentious 4/10

yr second wasn't, but its too much realism for sat morning 8/10

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Saturday, 3 April 2004 09:56 (twenty-one years ago)

I wouldn't take anything deliberately je crois. I think the idea of having nothing would be quite good.

― Robbie Lumsden (Wallace Stevens HQ), Saturday, 3 April 2004 10:51 (twenty-one years ago)

kitty and poor, stupid gerbil, then purse (assuming bf could get out on his own). Then madly start flinging cds and records out the window until the fireman drags me away.

― stolenbus (stolenbus), Saturday, 3 April 2004 15:06 (twenty-one years ago)

if you don't like your cds so much why not just get rid of them now when you have time?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Saturday, 3 April 2004 15:07 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm so glad I don't have cats as you guys are losing all kinds of valuable shit while you've got your hands full of pussy.

― Markelby (Mark C), Saturday, 3 April 2004 15:56 (twenty-one years ago)

hmmm.

it's not so much that i do want rid of everything, it's just that i'm such a hoarder of things that losing everything would be liberating. to a point.

― Robbie Lumsden (Wallace Stevens HQ), Sunday, 4 April 2004 16:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Having actually had to quickly evacuate my place of residence once, at 3am down a fireman's ladder from a 2nd floor window, I can assure you that you don't grab anything at all

OTM. so very, very OTM.

― lauren (laurenp), Sunday, 4 April 2004 20:14 (twenty-one years ago)

pants.

― hstencil, Sunday, 4 April 2004 21:07 (twenty-one years ago)

An empty purse and shove my cd case with my favorite cds, money, and guitar pedals in there. Then I'd grab my left handed guitar and amp. If I wanted to, I might get the right handed guitar, but that depends on how bad the fire is.

― Aja (aja), Sunday, 4 April 2004 21:15 (twenty-one years ago)

probly first i'd grab stuff i got from girlfriend

then clothes and shoes
cds I can buy again

I dont really care about my computer and a fire would be a great excuse to buy a new one.

― sunjam, Sunday, 4 April 2004 23:21 (twenty-one years ago)

My coat.

― Lil' Won Jilliams (ex machina), Sunday, 4 April 2004 23:29 (twenty-one years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.