How To Fireproof Your Photo Memories During Fire Season In California
Photographs are a very important item in all our lives. From our first date and first vacation together, to the small, intimate wedding or one with 500 guests, the birth of our first child and helping them walk on their own, to sending them off to college and seeing them unite destinies with the love of their life. Each photo has a unique, emotion-filled story to tell. We document all that we cherish the most in life in photographs. Maybe it’s Frodo, our beloved pet that grew old by our side or that special place where we fell in love. Photographs remind us of old friends with whom we lost touch and loving grandparents that we visited during summer holidays.
What if all of those photo memories vanished? It all happened so fast, you barely had time to pack the essentials. The announcement was made that you have to leave your home and evacuate to safety. You have often worried about this exact scenario and now it’s happening - Wildfires! The devastating blaze that destroys everything in its path. Wildfires in California have no mercy, feeding on anything in their path. Unfortunately, that may include your priceless photo memories. We lose track of how vulnerable we are until something tragic reminds us.
In recent years, California has experienced patterns of wildfires that we now refer to as “Fire Season”. It often occurs during fall months because of Diablo winds in the north and Santa Ana winds in the south that blow down the hillsides and across forests and brush land that has dried out from the summer heat. According to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), approximately 4.7 million acres burned in 2019 nationwide. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protections (CAL FIRE) reported that 732 structures were damaged or destroyed in California alone. CAL FIRE also shared that Fire Season is starting earlier and ending later, with an estimated increase of 75 days.
Protect Your Treasures during Fire Season
When we flee our homes to escape a devastating wildfire, we are limited by how much we can pack and take with us. Your home is likely insured and you may even have an emergency bag packed and ready, but it will be difficult to locate and pack all of the shoe boxes of family photos, pictures hung on the walls, home movies and hard drives filled with memories. Get prepared now and avoid a tremendous loss later.
Here are 5 ways you can preserve your photos and memorabilia:
1. Inventory your collection of photos, home movies and memorabilia
Walk through your home and document the inventory of your photos, home movies and memorabilia. Start off with a general inventory that provides an overview of your collection, including the location in which they are currently stored. For example, “3 boxes of photos and slides in guest closet” and “drawer of thumb drives and memory cards in office”.
2. Review and consolidate inventory into groups
Now that you have an overview of your inventory, you can begin reviewing and consolidating items into groups. You might start with the “3 boxes of photos and slides” in the guest closet. Start by putting the print photos and slides into separate boxes. You will do the same process for the “drawer of thumb drives and memory cards”, putting items into boxes based on media device type. Label each box and continue to go through your general list until you’ve reviewed and grouped all of your inventory.
3. Transfer all of your digital photos and videos onto a formatted external hard drive
· Transfer all of your digital photos and videos (including those on online accounts) onto a formatted external hard drive. We recommend 1 TB of storage. Be sure to include online accounts and photos on your phone.
4. Digitize your print photos, memorabilia and slides & convert video tapes and film reels
Organize your print photos chronologically and by event. Remove duplicates, photos of people you don’t remember and photos of poor quality. Digitize your print photos, memorabilia and slides and convert video tapes and film reels to a format that can be included on your external hard drive.
5. Preserve your memories by backing them up
·We recommend you backup your collection of memories in three places. You now have them all on an external hard drive, so you’ve already got one covered! You can keep this in a fire safe when not in use. Be sure that one of the places you backup your collection is an online site. This will provide you with the ability to download your photos, if you lose those in your home, preserving them so they can be enjoyed for years to come.
Losing your life-long memories in a fire is something no family should experience. Making time for this project now will provide a sense of relief and confidence knowing your photo memories are safe.
About the author: Rachel Arbuckle is a 2014 Cocos Fire survivor, Navy Veteran and CEO of 2000 Paces Photo Organizing. She and her team work with clients to preserve photo and video memories before the fire season, and throughout the year.