As You Wish

I love this story. A large forest fire in BC is threatening to destroy a swath of homes and an evacuation order has been given in the area. In wicked matter-of-fact Canadian fashion, those who are refusing to evacuate have been asked to provide "tombstone" data on themselves "which includes, date of birth, next of kin to be notified in case of death and the name of their dentist".

"B.C. RCMP have asked seven residents in the path of a growing central B.C. forest fire for their dental records after they refused to leave the area earlier this week.


RCMP spokesman Cpl. Dan Moskaluk said Friday the move was not a scare tactic.


"It's just the fact of the matter. We use dental records to identify charred remains," he said. "This is done all the time.""

Maybe it's wrong to laugh, but I find it hilarious! If you don't want to leave, that's fine, but you're going to die so please provide us with the information necessary to identify your body.

I know that many people have stayed through previous fire-related evacuation orders and have been safe, however I think that it is better to be safe than sorry. If people paid any attention to history, even very recent history, they might think differently. Do you recall the people of New Orleans who decided to stay in their homes in defiance of the evacuation order because they had stayed through plenty of storms before without issue? I remember lots of them dying horrible deaths when the levees broke.