By Felicia Teiken

Special to the Forum

The fires in California have been relentless. For over a week, I’ve been in and out of one the evacuation warning zones, caught between home and work. I packed my first ever “in case of an emergency” bag which is now known as my fire bag. I threw it together in minutes on Thursday when the Kenneth Fire started. From my backyard, I could see the smoke rising. Panic set in hard.

In that overwhelming fight-or-flight moment, these were the things I deemed important to take:

Fire bag contents:

• 2 oversized Fred Again t-shirts

• My Minnesota sweatshirt

• My favorite comfy jeans

• 2 pairs of leggings/sweatpants

• Sleeping shorts

• 9 pairs of underwear

• An 8-pack of socks I got for Christmas, still in the package, along with 4 additional pairs (I guess I really like my socks)

• A folder with all of my important documents

• 128 Post-it notes from my 2024 gratitude jar

• Passport

• Every single Polaroid photo I have

• A Christmas card and letter from my great-grandma and grandpa

• Written notes and birthday cards from friends

• Power bank and charger

• Polaroid camera

• Toiletry bag, which included sunscreen, face moisturizer, toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, tongue scrapers, chapStick, claw clips, a handful of bobby pins and ponytail and a lighter

Friends of friends have lost everything. One of my favorite Thai restaurants is gone. This week has been hell. And yet, I feel incredibly lucky. Lucky because we still have our home and everything in it. Lucky because our water is still safe to drink. Lucky because if we need to evacuate, we have somewhere to go. Lucky because we have incredible firefighters and first responders. I’ve never felt attached to material things, but the bag reminded me of what truly matters. I have the time to pack more but don’t feel a need.

The devastation you see on the news is real. So is the way Los Angeles has come together to rebuild, support, and love each other.

The fires are still burning, and my fire bag is still packed.