I attended a wonderful backyard dinner party in Santa Rosa last night, the first since the Tubbs Fire* devastated entire neighborhoods almost three weeks ago. I jokingly referred to the gathering of close friends as the "Evacuation Party" because everyone who attended was either evacuated during the fire, or opened their doors to evacuees. Needless to say, there was a lot to talk about.
One of my friends, who also happens to be a client, was devastated about one woman's reported death. The remains of the deceased were evidently found in her car in the garage. The consensus is that the home had already lost power, and the woman was unable to open her automatic garage door.
"Please ..." my friend pleaded with me. "Please ... whenever you sell a house from now on, teach the buyer how to work the garage door emergency release". I have never thought to show a buyer this possibly life saving "trick" before. I am now adding this as an item on my buyer checklist, right below "Get keys and codes to house, mailbox, gate, garage & alarm".
I'm sure that MOST folks know about the emergency release pull cord on their garage door, but would that little bit of knowledge come to mind quickly in case of an emergency? Maybe it would if we thought about it often enough. Remember your garage door emergency release.
* October 9 2017, Sonoma County Tubbs Fire: 36,807 acres burned. 6,600 structures including 5,193 homes destroyed. Twenty three souls perished.
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