OK, now I am awake

At 4:42 this morning, I was in the midst of a nice, deep sound sleep. At 4:43 this morning, I heard a persistent beeping noise. After ruling out my alarm and cell phone, I realized it was the smoke alarm. If you ever want to go from groggy to AWAKE in 0.3 seconds, the smoke alarm does a great job.

I found no smoke, only water dripping from the ceiling of my apt (I live on the 2nd floor of a 3 story). It was dripping right into the smoke alarm, which must have set it off. I call the 24-hour building matainance number and the guy comes over, looks at my ceiling, runs upstairs and finds my neighbors gone and their toliet running (thankfully it was clean water coming through my ceiling).

But the experience got me thinking. In the rush when it could have been a fire, there was nothing that I thought "I gotta grab that and make sure it is safe." The only item I made sure to grab was the phone so I could step outside and call. But I own nothing so irreplaceable that I would be devastated if it was destroyed in a fire. I do have a picture album, but if it was destroyed, I could find similar pictures at my parents house. I don't know if I should be happy or sad that all of my possessions are so replaceable. Thoughts?

 

Sounds to me like you have all your priorities in the right order. May it always be so. Glad you're safe.

 

Make a list anyway. It'll help you prioritize.

Grab your important identifying documents (and keep them in an easy place to find in an emergency) -- SSN card, birth certificate, driver's license, insurance cards, medical history, etc. Yes, all of those are replaceable. But if you really have to grab-and-go and all your stuff is destroyed, it's a lot easier to rebuild if you have proof of who you are.

If nothing else, grab your computer/hard drive/flash drive -- especially if you have any important documents there, too. Or back up your important files to a flash drive or external hard drive, and grab that instead.

Anyway, make the list. Trust me, you don't want to be thinking of this stuff at 4:43 a.m., trying to make rational decisions on what to bring and what you can afford to lose.

 

This is a very good threat, Pope, and a very good response by buck.

The same thing happened to me about two weeks ago, and before I was completely awake, which took maybe 30 seconds, I found myself running around the bedroom trying to find what that noise was and the largest object - a driver - to "fix" it.

I never thought it was a fire and knew it was a dead battery. But if it was, I'm not sure what I would have grabbed.

 

I own nothing of Holy shit, it's a fire! significance. My only worry would be getting my dogs out.

Of course, as a son/brother of firemen, I've heard a million times: "You know what you do if there's a fire? Get the fuck out!"

 

Not pics?

 

Huh?

 

I've got a cardboard file box of stuff in a closet by my door - documents, papers, family things that are from so long ago it would be impossible to replace. It really makes you think about what you would save if you could only leave with only one box.

 

Really?

 

Laptop and external hard drive. I have every piece of important document (passport, birth certificate, title to my car, etc.) in a special envelope and I know exactly where it is. And my cat, who would probably be out the door before me.

That being said, I had a similar experience when I lived in the dorm in college. I'm a notoriously heavy sleeper...they have not built an alarm that, if I'm completely dead to the world, will wake me up. I once beat my alarm clock senseless in college, then realized it wasn't *my* alarm. Got out of bed, ready to kill whomever's alarm was going off, then stepped into the hallway and realized that no one was around. Thankfully, it was just a drill (even though I don't know who thought it would be funny to have a drill at 9 in the morning) but after that, my friends realized that if the fire alarm was going off, they had to come and check on me to make sure I wasn't in my room before getting out.

 

The kid in my avatar would top the list.

I keep most of my important stuff in a safety deposit box at a bank.

My wife, though, would be throwing scrapbooks out the window.

 

We have a fireproof box. Hopefully, when needed, it will work.