Suffice to say that spring has come and gone and summer is officially upon us. With summer comes a very harsh reality to most of us: fire due to drought.
California has seen intense drought this semester despite the rainfall we’ve experienced in this last month. The closest reservoir to Chico (located in Oroville) is 14 percent lower than its historical average, according to the California Data Exchange Center. At the same time last year we were 12 percent from capacity.
Given the heat and lack of water, summer fires are becoming more of a guarantee than a possibility. While most fires seem to take place away from large areas of population, there is always a risk.
What happens if a disaster hits Chico or wherever you live when you leave Chico for vacations? What is in your emergency go bag?
What do I mean by emergency go bag?
I am not referring to the bag you keep with the water and spare pair of clothes with some power bars to get through a few days of chaos. I am talking about the metaphorical bag you keep with your five or six items you cannot live without.
For instance, my emergency go bag would have my computer and subsequent charger, a sketch book, the pearl necklace my mother made for me on my 20th birthday, my Nikon camera and the typewriter key necklace my sister gave me for my high school graduation.
This is not a bag you would normally think about, most of the time nothing bad will ever happen. But when you have to get out of the house quickly, it is a good idea to know what is in your emergency go bag before you have to assemble it.
So with the warm weather here and temperatures only to rise, what is in your emergency go bag?