Let me ask all of you, especially the family caregivers out there, a question: What would you do if you received an evacuation order from your county emergency services office? You’re told you have 15 minutes to get yourself and the loved one you are caring for out of harm’s way. Do you have a plan?

Throughout my more than 25-year professional career as a broadcast news journalist, I have covered a wide range of disasters and chaotic events. Some were man-made. Others were natural disasters like devastating hurricanes, flooding and large wildfires that destroyed hundreds of homes and claimed dozens of lives. 

When my work role shifted to primarily that of family caregiver for my elderly, now deceased, mother, it was through disaster-colored lenses that I crafted part of her care and well-being.

My mother lived in Northern California with me from 2016-20. By the time she passed away at age 90, her health and physical condition had deteriorated to needing full assistance for all mobility and personal care. 

I would often ask myself, “How will I get Mom to safety when a wildfire breaks out?”

Notice, I said “when” not “if.” I’m not a doom-and-gloom person, but instead, I have been shaped by those professional experiences and hard data surrounding disasters.

The late Nellie Pearl Yarbough, left, poses with her daughter, Julia Yarbough, an AARP Washington volunteer.

| Courtesy AARP Washington

In 2018 alone, CalFire (California’s state fire agency) reported 7,948 wildfires. Fourteen of those were in Butte County, where we lived. One of those, the Camp Fire, destroyed the town of Paradise, located about 30 miles from our home. 

One of the most poignant stories I covered during that fire was about a husband and spousal caregiver. He had just enough time to hoist his bedridden wife and her wheelchair into a van. They narrowly escaped with their lives. 

Washington state is not immune to disasters. Think of landslides, tsunamis, earthquakes or wildfires. In 2024, data from the state Department of Natural Resources indicated that there were 826 wildfires within their jurisdiction. The primary causes? More than 300 were considered undetermined, 78 were from lightning and 443 were human-caused.

I always knew I needed to have a non-negotiable approach to keeping my mother safe. If you are a family caregiver, I encourage you to do the same. Plan for the absolute worst, hope it never happens, but know you are ready if it does. 

Here are some of the steps I took:

1. Prepare and pack a go bag for each person. My mother’s bag included two changes of clothes, a week’s worth of underclothes, a package of adult underwear, personal toiletries, a week’s worth of her medications, toilet paper, body/hand wipes and copies of her important documents, including insurance/Medicare cards, passport, AARP card, military identification and contact information for her doctors.
2. Make hard-copy copies of important documents, upload digitized versions to the cloud and email them to other family members and/or yourself.
3. Know your evacuation routes. Not sure? Contact your local police or sheriff’s department.
4. Rehearse your emergency plan. When a life-or-death situation arises, it can be easy to lose focus in the moment. 
5. Sign up with local emergency alert apps. 
6. Keep our car’s gas tank filled. You might find long lines or stations that are already closed. 
7. Is your loved one living at a professional care facility? Ask administrators in advance if they have an emergency evacuation plan and what that entails.
8. Research area hotels in advance that can accommodate your loved one.
9. Make time to digitize irreplaceable photos or family keepsakes.

Thankfully, I never had to evacuate my mother under emergency orders.

However, those emergency go-bags and a rehearsed plan? Well, it came in handy. In July 2024, I watched the Park Fire in Northern California consume my home. Sadly, I did not do step No. 9. 

Learn more about preparing in advance for disaster events. Go to: aarp.org/disasterprepwa. 

Julia Yarbough of Bellevue is an Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist, communications consultant and freelance writer. She is the creator and publisher of Keeping It REAL Caregiving, a Substack newsletter and website.