Same here. I just did the first major revision on the evacuation checklist/procedure in about three years last week. The checklist is organized by priority, location, responsibility, and "functional group" which is who/whoem the item is for.

In addition to the usual stuff, there's lists of friends and family who could take us in, pet friendly hotels, previous evacuation sites that took pets, maps of alternate routes around chokepoints, etc. Stuff that may be needed during the evacuation, but you may not have time to look up. I'd like to say the list has had a trial run, but I'm the only one who seems to care that we're only a 1/4 mile from the brush. And, the last evacuation was before the kids and still took 2.5 hours to load up.

Normally fires here start well to the east and move to the west. A fire that popped locally would be small, still a threat, but not huge and with the proximity of local FD should be put down quickly. Fortunately the ravine I'm in is built up to the east so there will be a high priority on stopping it before it gets near.

Still, after seeing how a few of these fires move, I do not assume it can't get here. Once a fire is big enough it starts to develop its own weather system and anything can happen; nothing should be taken for granted. Embers can jump large distances and with the dry conditions present, things can turn very bad, very quickly.

The "pack early" thing is something some folks just don't get. When a fire threatens they need to (but often don't) get that critical step out of the way while stress levels are low. When time is short stress rises and things are forgotten.

After the truck is packed I'll walk through and see if anything that should have been on the list was missed. There's lots that could be on the list but there's limited room so priorities are set. What things are important that cannot be replaced?

One thing that definitely goes with is my digital video camera. It will have done the walk through with me documenting everything that was left -- inside and out.

After I've finished my walk-through and everything is packed I'll take a walk through the neighborhood. Once one of the neighbors was bugging out to a relative's home on the back-side of the fire, Since they needed to drive through the smoke, which was everywhere, I gave them a few N-95 masks. During the same fire one of the neighbors who had been fighting the fire showed up at home for a long break. At that point I knew at least near term we weren't threatened.

The truck stayed packed for a week.

I have no idea where the OP lives, but another way to test BOB gear is to join your local SAR outfit. My SAR bag contained everything I needed to cope with the local conditions for at least a couple of days. I adjusted the contents for local conditions. Sometimes you might have an hour or so to eat and pack your gear, but just as frequently you grabbed your bag and got underway, with barely enough time to lace up your boots. You would often be out overnight and sometimes longer. You quickly picked up on what was critical and what was superfluous. Best of all, emergency conditions became quite common and you developed ways to deal with the stress and strain.

You are right Hikermor, the only way to test is to use , and that is a good use for it.

Hmmm, dunno about that. A BOB is one set of gear with a purpose in mind -- get to a bug-out location, it may contain no food. A 72 hour kit is designed to survive for 3 days -- doesn't take much to do that, doesn't even require a backpack, but necessarily contains three days of food and water for however many people the kit is designed to support. A SAR kit is another animal altogether.

That said, going through the steps building a SAR kit would better educate the user on what is needed and what is not required in a BOB (the classic BOB based on a backpack, not a truck). Using the SAR kit would also give a person experience in what he needs to have and why. Education and experience combines to knowledge. The most important of all is to know what else you need to learn.

Hear! Hear! Get out there and use your gear. It's the only way to know your gear and trust that it will serve you as intended! The more familiar you are with it, the easier a time you should have if the S really does HTF.

I like to do bug in and bug out tests. start small and work your way up. Take a nice weekend and go out in he back yard with your gear and stay there all day. Cook out on the firepit, practice making fires, whittle some and sharpen the knives, etc.

Now do a bug out day trip, grab your gear and go to a local/state/national park/forest. Cook out however your allowed to there (some places you can only use a grill and can't make your own fire). Put the fishing poles in the water and just hang out for the day.

Do some short hikes with your gear. My wife laughed at someone on the 1 mile city park trail with a huge backpack until I told her thats how people practice for a long hike. You put on all of your gear and walk the short trails back and forth until your sure you can do the long trail.

Now start with overnight camping, car camp or rent a cabin. Do a hike in between, etc.

Using your gear, being active with it, hiking and living out of the bag, is good regardless of the contents. Walking long distances and across rough terrain is a good way to test a backpack with a realistic load. Actually using all of your gear in realistic conditions and determining what is durable, what is useful, and eliminating unnecessary items, is a fantastic test. If you are testing it on a SAR (not the actual rescue gear, though some may determine that they need some of that as well) is a good way to get out there and conduct a realistic test. SAR personnel need to live out of their bag while on an operation for multiple days.

For me, I am never out there without others for whom I am responsible. My BOB always has some basic rescue necessities, like rope and carabiners. Nothing serious, just the basics.

I also do not have just one BOB that remains packed at all times. I am out often living out of a backpack and traversing rough terrain (Just in the last year: Death Valley, the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Linville Gorge, several mountains over 10,000 ft) and I adjust my gear according to the situation. The number of people with me, the terrain and weather, the amount of time out. But these are great exercises for you and your gear. You gain a bit of new knowledge every time. I do always repack upon my return and my family all have a 72 hour BOB close at hand.

the bag we are developing, whether it be termed BOB or SAR, or whatever, needs to be elegant just the right items in the appropriate quantities - squarely in the goldilocks zone of just right. As Montanero says, it has to be adjusted for the environment and prevailing conditions - a continual process.

For me, the great thing about SAR was that, from time to time, one was called out to do unreasonable things quickly and effectively at random, unforeseen times. In that situation, you find out fairly soon what really works dependably and what is essential. In mt estimation, the main difference between SAR gear and BOB gear would be he specialized communication items and specialized medical items commonly found in SAR packs. We all agree that actual use of critical items is essential (and besides, it's fun!).

I have been experimenting with a BOB/GHB bag in my vehicle for the last two or three years. It's completely empty.....

I travel for work (25 years on the road) routinely thru several biomes and in all 4 seasons, and ending up at hotels several nights a week. Traveling from river and ravine country in SW Wisconsin to the boreal forests of the northern MN/Canada border and thru the northern boglands over to the plains and prairies of North Dakota often on secondary roads, no one bag would work. My personal travels aren't too much different, except I'm in my truck and I end up in the woods.

Rather than re-doing my bag for each biome, scenario, and activity, I carry it empty with a 20 gallon tote in my vehicle with everything I need for water, repairs, fire, first aid, shelter, cooking, and emergency food for any biome, any season, walking or driving (OK, I admit that not everything fits in the tote, but I'm working on it). I also carry season-appropriate extra clothing and extra hiking boots.

The advantages as I see them are that I don't have to choose in advance, I just pack what I need on the spot. I can easily access the supplies if I want to stop along the way somewhere, and I can quickly pack the bag if I have to walk in a remote area for any reason including recreational .

When I change vehicles for a backwoods trip, I just toss the tote and empty backpack into the truck with my regular camping/hunting gear. Everything gets handled and used on a regular basis, so no surprises. Not having to choose in advance between a small portable kit and a 'truck kit' has been the best of both worlds for me.