Ask HN: My house might burn down in the next 24 hours. Suggestions?
Food&#x2F;water, clothing(warm weather and cold), phone chargers!!! <i>if</i> you have time (<i>never ever risk for this</i>), mementos (not photos, they are a waste - I lost all mine to a fire previously),now only <i>if</i> you have a <i>lot</i> of time (do <i>not</i> even think about it it you don&#x27;t ). Hard drives -pca&#x2F;laptops are a waste of time.<p>The most important rule. IF YOU CAN SEE THE FIRE AT ALL, GO.<p>I&#x27;m an Aussie, from the country, we saw a lot of fires when I was growing up. It moves soich faster than you can imagine. In good condition ditiona it can go faster than you can drive.<p>Be careful, gods speed buddy.<p>Edit, as mentioned : <i>if safe</i> turn off gas.<p>2nd edit as techjuice said: legal documents and video, but this is the last thing. Documents won&#x27;t help your family if you don&#x27;t get out.<p>Look I&#x27;m not kidding about how fast fire can move, if you can see it, it&#x27;s panic time.<p>Also, I emailed you, if you need to ask a question, drop me a email with your skype, I&#x27;ll call and answer anything I can.<p>Edit: email I sent to op, for anyone else&#x27;s info:<p>Okay, now I&#x27;m sorry if some things sound like I&#x27;m talking down to you. I&#x27;m just going to explain as I know it (also forgive typos I&#x27;m on a phone).<p>Driving through a fire- even on a road is not a plan. Ever. It starves the engine of oxygen and the vehicle will stall. Bad place for it. Only ever do it if it&#x27;s an emergency.<p>Fire will move faster than you. Yes it takes days sometimes to move a few hundred feet, but Murphy is an arsehole and fire can move faster than you can drive, if the conditions are right.<p>Clothing; hot and cold, you don&#x27;t know where you will be, pure cotton is better than synthetic, synth melt if your in fire, melting is worse than burn.(you have to take it <i>out</i> of the skin if it melts).<p>Water, lots.<p>First aid kits: if you have it bring it, alovera plants are an amazing treatment for burns, snap a small part off and run the juice over the burn. <i>If</i> there  is a burn with a melt(eg clothing, plastic etc), <i>and</i> if it&#x27;s safe, do <i>not</i> pour cold water on, it will set the melt, try and remove as much as possible (without touching the burn), before applying water.<p>I&#x27;ll write more after this email.
If you are forced to drive through fire, a)very. Fucking. Dangerous. 
B) all windows up, clothing(cotton) around mouth and nose. Be. Careful.(gods I hope you don&#x27;t get into this)<p>Again. If you can see the fire, get. Out.<p>I don&#x27;t have much more for during the fire,  some people recommend sprinklers, watering roof etc, I believe that&#x27;s an edge case. Yes if you have time, it may help, but there is no reason to risk your family for it.<p>Lives can be rebuilt, life cannot.