I had a very brisk and uncomfortable start to the weekend. A fire broke out in my apartment building.
I took an early walk in the morning, enjoying the crisp winter weather. As I got back and entered my apartment building I caught the smell of smoke. I took the elevator up to the top floor, where I live and as I opened the door I stepped into a hallway completely filled with white smoke. Immediately I ran into my own apartment making sure that nothing was on fire.
Not finding the source of the smoke I started rousing up my neighbors trying to get a grip of the situation. A few of us gathered outside my door, there was no fire in any of our homes, but it was evident that something was burning somewhere.
We then opened the hatch to my garbage disposal and heavy black smoke rose from the opening. This was not good. My neighbor quickly called 112 (the Swedish equivalence for 911) and reported the fire. Fortunately the fire-department is located only a few minutes away so in the time that it took all of us to descend the eight flights of stairs we were met by three fire engines, two police cars and three ambulances.
With the professionals on the scene it did not take very long before the fire had been put out and we were let into the building again. No one got hurt and the only sign right now of the adventures of the morning is the lingering smell of smoke in my apartment.
From the second I first smelled smoke and until we were informed that everything was under control, my mind was already working hard to create an emergency plan centering around one question: What do I save?
If the worst thing happens, and the building is on fire and everyone quickly evacuated, what do I salvage from my apartment?
The answer was surprisingly easy: my two computers, a bag filled with old video tapes filmed in the 80′s and all my hard-drives. Not because I’m a tech geek, but because these things contain my entire digital life, all my pictures and movies throughout the years, everything. Yes, my heart would bleed should I loose all my other posessions, but pictures are invaluable, priceless.
Once my pulse returned to normal I started to think about this. Why would digital assets, which are so easy to create copies of, be the first thing I choose to save in case of an emergency? I got a wake up call today. It is time I start making a plan to create a backup of my digital life. A solution which ensures that should the worst thing happen I can rest assured that the ones and zeros which has become so important to me are not lost forever.
Do you have a disaster plan in case of an emergency?
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