If your house was on fire, besides yourself and any other family members or pets, what would you grab as you ran out of the house?

After all living beings are moving safely out of the house, the next thing I'd want is my set of keys. This way, the animals could immediately be put into the larger pickup and we could all get out of the driveway and away from the house together, and protect one of our vehicles at the same time. An advantage of this is the fact that my keys and my wallet are almost always in the same convenient place, so I could easily grab both at once.My cell phone and the cordless phone are both nearby, and obviously it would be great to be able to grab them and call the fire department myself as soon as we were all out of the house.

Then we'd still have our own vehicle to get back and forth from the hotel we'd have to stay at, hubby's work, etc. , while the house was being repaired after the fire. We might even have both of our automobiles, because I keep keys to each one together, so if there was time I'd get the other one out of the carport next to the house. Another advantage of this is that the laptop is in the same room, not far from the keys, wallet and phones, so that would probably be the next thing to grab if I thought I had the opportunity.

We have a couple of fireproof and waterproof safes which contain many of our important papers, computer discs and other such things, so I feel that I could leave those behind and hope for the best. The safes would be too difficult to get to, anyway. flickr.com/photos/crazyneighborlady/ / CC BY-ND 2.0 flickr.com/photos/crazyneighborlady/355232758.

Photographs. All the other things can be replaced, but photographs cannot. I have so many very old pictures of my family - great, great grandparents, great grandparents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, parents, cousins, etc.They contain so much love - so many memories.

Many of those in the photos are people I no longer have in my life as they've passed on. I would feel lost without these treasured photos. I actually have a place for all my photos and were my home to catch fire and all the "living" beings were out safely, I'd know exactly where to go to save them.

A few are even in a fireproof safe with legal documents. I've been considering buying a larger fireproof safe that I could store all the photos in. Luckily, I've been able to transfer many of them into digital format and they're uploaded online.

It's less of a worry to me since I've done this.

Cash and credit cards, my wallet, as I would need a place to stay and eat and get clothes, etc. My cell phone would also be by my wallet.

I agree family photos would be the thing I would want to save. I have my mothers very old photo album with pictures of all of my family so it's very important to me.

Interesting question as my prized possessions are usually scattered all over the house and who knows how much time I would have to grab stuff. Since you said people and pets first, that is definite. Next would have to be the laptop or at least my backup drive, since both have the same information.

All of my work from the last few years is on this thing and losing it would be really bad. All of my photos are on it too. Other than that, I think everything else is replaceable.

My purse, which contain my cards and IDs. Without it I will have really hard time withdrawing my money from the bank, and considering that my house has just burnt, I would really need it ASAP. If I have more time, I'd grab my laptop because all of my work is contained there and I can't work without it.

I really don't have many mementos and I am not very sentimental over things. I guess I am a more practical kind of girl.

Besides my purse, of course, I have a huge rubbermaid bin full of pictures. I'd grab that, and my lock box (which sit side by side in my closet) if I could get to them. If not, I would grab the family pictures out of the living room.

I actually had a kitchen fire a couple of years ago. Luckily, I got it put out with the fire extinguisher, but my first thought was for my animals (I have no kids at home). My cockatiels are very sensitive to smoke, and even though they were in a cage on the back porch, I was concerned about pulling the smoke away from them.

There is a reason they sent canaries into mine shafts. Birds are very sensitive to smoke and fumes.

The most important things to me are my family and my pets. If I had the time, I would grab my purse because it has all my IDs and important cards.

Laptop with all of my pictures on it. And my favorite painting...hopefully I am wearing my favorite outfit that day.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.