We took our kids to the San Diego Wild Animal Park last week. Audrey tried to convince us to let her ride a lion, but no luck. We did, however, let her try to pet a duck. (No luck with that either.) At any rate, to get there from here, we had to drive through one of the areas burned by last fall’s wildfires. There were no buildings nearby, but the hills were blackened in both directions; weeds poked through here and there. These reminders of disaster, they freak me out. This spring and summer have been milder than last year’s, but we’ve still got drought conditions–and when the Santa Ana winds pick up in the fall, who knows what will happen.

California has a new disaster preparedness website to help you think through what your family would do in an emergency. I hadn’t given this nearly enough thought before last year’s wildfires. Sure, we live in earthquake country, but we’re not especially close to a fault line. And wildfires usually stay far to the east. But last year, neighborhoods all the way to the coast were evacuated. If Dane hadn’t been helping pack, I would have forgotten to bring food with us. (Though in my defense, I was nine-plus-months pregnant with Sadie and did manage to think of bringing kid things and baby things and birth things. Go me!)

So here’s what I should have done ahead of time. I should have had a disaster kit, including supplies, any medications your family members take, and other special needs items (for example, some of my kids have allergies, so my kit should include an antihistimine). Ideally, I would have one kit at home and another in the car.

I should also have a disaster plan, and make sure my kids know what to do in an emergency. Around here, the most likely emergencies are earthquakes and wildfires. My kids know how to drop and cover in an earthquake, and where to be in each room of our house; they also know how to get outside from each room if necessary. Should an ice storm or a hurricane hit, we would have no idea what to do. But for earthquakes and fires, we’re set.

The state of California offers a free customizable children’s book to help talk your kids through emergency preparations, though I used their guide to teachable moments more than the book itself (it’s part of the download, after the book). The book is more a guide to preparedness than a story; a mother and child tell a friend how to make a disaster plan, how to put together a disaster kit, etc. But talking it through helped me to answer questions my kids had, and let me reinforce the idea that we make plans to keep safe when unexpected things happen. It’s a good thing to remind myself of too, from time to time.