Guides
Wildfire Season Readiness: Is Your Household's Go-Bag Ready?
A wildfire go-bag is only ready if its contents are current: water, food, medications, documents, and masks, all in date and packed where you can grab them in minutes. PrepCompass tracks each item's expiration and reminds you to refresh the bag before fire season, not during it.
The go-bag test
Ask one question: if you had ten minutes to leave, could every member of your household grab what they need and go? If the answer involves searching closets, checking dates, or guessing where things are, the bag is not ready — even if you bought everything on the list once.
What belongs in the bag
Water, food, and medications for every household member; copies of important documents; masks for smoke; a flashlight; and a phone charger. The exact list depends on your household — children, pets, and medical needs change it — which is why PrepCompass builds the list from your household profile rather than handing you a generic one.
Why bags go stale
Food expires. Batteries die. Children outgrow clothes, prescriptions change, and documents move. A bag packed two years ago is a bag of guesses. The fix is not a better bag — it is a system that reminds you to review it: PrepCompass tracks each item with review dates and alerts you before supplies go bad, so the refresh happens on a calm weekend instead of during an evacuation warning.
More reading: How to build a household emergency plan · Cascadia earthquake guide · What is PrepCompass?