I volunteer with the Red Cross and turn out every few weeks on a Disaster Action Team primarily for home and apartment fires across the county, after hours and on weekends. Although we show up at the invitation of the FD based on the occupants needing assistance, its a steady business, averaging a call every 30 hours. We offer food, clothing and lodging, in the case of my team at least until the following day or Monday when the local Red Cross office opens and regular client case workers can meet with clients and work out details of additional assistance. All American Red Cross assistance is free, the gift of a generous American Public. There are a few things about home fires that stick out to me after leading about a hundred of these calls:

- Thirdpig is right, if everyone gets out, everything else is gravy. Its when someone doesn't make it out of a fire that things get bad for everyone. Its so involved, I can't even cover it here. Make a plan NOW, practice it, GET OUT. Get everyone out. If that happens, you'll do ok.

- Most folks are in shock, at least for a while. Everything they own has just burned up. They also enter the fire with every foible they had before it - drunk boyfriends, girlfriends on drugs, bad relationships. That complicates a fair number of fire scenes.

- prescription meds. Those can be recovered too, either with a call to a 24 hour pharmacy or a trip to a local ER. Computers are wonderful - there are generally accessible records that can get you your meds. We do alot of medical referrals. Also prescription equipment - nebulizers, CPAP machines and the like.

- Red Cross gets involved on fires mainly with low income clients. They're usually renters. They don't have alot of resources to recover with. The comments from folks who document their losses and know how to deal with insurers are dead on - I wish everyone had insurance. Sadly enough, you would also not believe how many people can't afford insurance, both renters and home owners.

- You would be surprised how many people have insurance and don't remember it, not right away - they're mostly in shock. But when we show up, one of the first questions is on insurance, and suddenly they remember, but they don't have the account number. Sometimes, especially renters, they won't remember the insurer either. In ~100 fire calls I have had one client pull out their insurance paperwork saved from a fire. Its not terribly important to do that, not right away anyhow. Just try to remember the name of your insurer. We carry a list of major insurers and their 24 hour contacts, and whether you remember your account or policy number, don't worry, they can look it up. Contact your insurer first thing. Not only are your recovery expenses covered by them, they'll book your room, show up with a check for immediate expenses - everything that the Red Cross does.

- a fair number of folks come away with their cell phones, but not as many with their charging cords. Not enough, to the point where we've started collecting a box of ad hoc charging cords that we rumble through and donate to folks who need a way to charge their phones. You can always buy one yourself when the stores open, but if you're on the phone with your insurer for a couple hours or with relatives to tell them you're okay, or if you're like me and the phone you saved just doesn't have alot of juice at 2AM. Me, I always buy multiple charging cords for my cell phones, and keep them in my go kit, in my car, at work etc.

- depending on the fire, you'll get a chance to go back inside the residence with a fire fighter escort, and maybe recover your wallets, keys, phones, and a change of clothing. Its a trip of course. If you want to expect to recover something, keep it on the floor. If the fire is hot enough, everything is charred from the waist up. Often though you won't get in, there are enough dangerous gasses built up that they can't let you in.

- boarding up and securing your smoking hull of a house: your insurer will have the name of a company that does this 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They'll generally contact them and get them to your fire before daylight, so you won't feel compelled to stay around and guard your belongings. The same thing goes for smoke and water damage (ex. apartments with sprinklers). I could give some names, or so could any fire fighter, but talk to your insurer, they have to pay for it anyway.

- firearms: you'll have to self-evacuate those. I recall a client who pulled a dozen semi-auto rifles out of their front door and put them in their car. If you have a number of firearms, you should also have a plan on where to secure those if your house is no longer viable.

- take care of your kids. Get them out of course, but also take time to talk to them about what happened. At fire scenes most adults congregate in one area and start dealing generally with the process of recovery, kids tend to gather on their own and deal with, well I don't know. Maybe they start rationalizing the fire with other kids. I see them mostly doing kiddish things. If the fire was large and the exit was traumatic, they are mostly still in shock, like the adults. As follow up we see a fair number of PTSD like issues associated with kids afraid to fall asleep, nightmares, being hypersensitive to smoke and flames etc. Its only with a bit more experience that I pay more attention to kids than I did earlier on, but you have to check in with them and talk to them - tell them they did a great thing getting out, that everything is going to be okay. Early intervention seems to help with kids, they're mostly made of rubber and will bounce back given the opportunity.

- a note for renters: even before insurance, the #1 thing I'd look for in a place is overhead sprinklers. Usually this is only on newer construction or if the fire code requires it for multi family units, but the difference in damage and survivability is amazing. My #1 daughter is moving into her first apartment this fall, the only thing I insisted on was sprinklers. I am even putting sprinklers as my #1 home upgrade if I go through with a kitchen remodel.

- turkey fryers, bad idea. In one week I recall 3 fires started by turkey fryers. Its predictable, and doesn't always follow the Thanksgiving season. Turkey fryers and beer is a bad idea too.

- neighbors who care are a beautiful thing. I say that not just because it can save the Red Cross a night or two of lodging, but a neighbor who gets out of their bed at 3am to console you and tell you everything will be alright is the kind of person to keep around. They'll take you in and keep you warm and dry on a cold and rainy night. They'll put your kids back to bed while the fire scene works through the aftermath. They give me a place to work out of the elements too. Take my advice: stop by your neighbors this weekend with a pie or cookies or a couple beers, and have a nice chat. Get to know them. Right away on any fire, I can tell where people have those kinds of close relationships - spare clothing and shoes magically appear from homes and garages, blankets if its cold, everything. It matters not your income. Neighbors can usually out Red Cross the Red Cross.