A business associate of mine who has a similar store in a different town - still in the Sierra Foothills recently found out first hand what happens when things go ugly quick.

His community had a large forest fire brake out causing the evacuation of the town. He could not believe how fast the community broke down. All routes out of town were grid lock, all local gas stations ran out of gas within a day, vehicles ran out of gas on the road further backing up traffic - and cars, trucks, rv's etc were littering the side of the road where ever they ran out of gas.

He is now quickly realizing why everyone should have a 72 - 96 hour BOB and ample gas reserves.

He also realized how timing is everything - had he chose to go at the early end of the fire starting he could have been well away from the gridlock by the time the masses decided it was time to leave. As it was, he was very lucky. He was stuck with little supplies, 1/2 a tank of gas, and no way out of town. Winds died down, humidity went up, and the fire was 85% contained yesterday. His home was saved, his business too.

He is now looking to become prepared - and with a nudge from me, he will hopefully be a member of this site soon.
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While I have long believed that I will never get old, I have come to the realization that sooner or later there will be more people younger than me.