The First Word #19: Having an Evacuation Plan Means More Than Grabbing Some Binders

We have all been affected by the Four Mile Fire in some way or another. Whether directly, such as Mary Ann and Doug Looney’s loss of their beautiful home in Sunshine Canyon, or indirectly, like those of us who waited and prayed for our dear friends in the mountains. Having a natural disaster hit so literally close to home was a wake up call for many of us.

There is a group of us who go out for coffee after BGS meetings and discuss genealogy and other happenings in our lives. We’ve been doing it for many years now and have loosely dubbed ourselves “the coffee clutch.” Among us is Mary Ann Looney, so those of us in the group got even more detail about what it is like to have to evacuate at a moment’s notice. I know that all of us sat there thinking about our offices, binders, computers, photo albums and other paper items and wondered what would we grab if we had to leave in a moment’s notice.

At this moment in time, I would be, how shall I say it … well, screwed. My family history stuff is everywhere, in binders, folders, filing cabinets. Some of my documents have been scanned and are on my computer but less than half of them and definitely not a fraction of all of the photographs I just inherited. There are items spread over each of the 3 floors of my house! So, what are we to do?

I’ve decided to look at the bright side of Mary Ann’s loss. I’m not trying to make light of her situation, but how fortunate to have this glaring example of why we need to be more organized! (Probably Mary Ann would say that she’d rather have her house than teach the rest of us a lesson, but, let’s work with the hand that was dealt.) I know we have all heard about the importance of backing up our data or having a plan for distributing our research but here are my ideas:

• Disseminate your research to cousins, aunts, children each time you get a portion researched so that they have copies you can reclaim should something terrible happen.
• Create a website or blog documenting your research so that it is “out there” rather than in just your computer which could be destroyed.
• Scan all of your documents, photographs and other papers so they are on your computer or external hard drive that is easy to grab if you need to.
• Back up all of your data and store off site. You could put everything on CDs and give them to your genealogy friend or a relative who lives in a different town or state. Better yet, put them in a safe deposit box. I prefer to back up my computer with an automatic online backup service such as Mozy. Then you don’t have to remember to do the back up and the files are stored in “the cloud.”
• Have all of your genealogy in a centralized location, maybe in binders that are easy to grab if necessary. (I’m thinking a fire-safe filing cabinet or better yet, offsite at a bank vault, but that might be a little impractical.)

These are just some of my thoughts brought on since the Four Mile Fire. I know that I am going to try to digitize as much of my paper items as possible over the next several years as time permits. I’m definitely going to write more of it up and send copies to interested parties, so that my research is “out there” where I can get to it someday. I’m also thinking I may put those irreplaceable photo albums in a fire safe. (Seth, put a “large fire safe” on my Christmas list.)