San Francisco Emergency Kit: What California’s 151 Federally Declared Disasters Actually Tell You to Pack

California has recorded 151 federally declared disasters since January 2016, according to FEMA’s official disaster declarations database. One hundred twenty-one of them were wildfires. Earthquakes accounted for two. That single statistic should rewrite how you think about building an emergency kit in San Francisco, not because seismic risk doesn’t exist here, but because the threat that has actually triggered federal disaster declarations in this state, over and over again, is fire and its downstream consequences: smoke, power outages, infrastructure collapse, and prolonged displacement.

The most recent declared events in California include a chemical release on May 25, 2026, and back-to-back wildfire declarations in May 2026, the Bain Fire and Sandy Fire. Before those, the January 2025 Eaton, Hurst, and Palisades fire complex forced mass evacuations across Southern California and pushed smoke across the entire state. The pattern has been consistent for a decade. A kit built only for shaking is a kit built for the least likely thing to hit you first.

Fire Is California’s Dominant Emergency, and SF Residents Breathe the Evidence Every Year

San Francisco’s dense, mostly non-combustible urban core sits at low direct wildfire ignition risk compared to the North Bay or the East Bay hills. That distinction matters less than people assume. When the Kincade Fire burned in Sonoma County in 2019, San Francisco’s air quality index cracked 170, well into the “unhealthy” range. During the 2020 fire season, the city recorded some of the worst particulate readings ever measured there. Residents who didn’t own an N95 mask learned, in real time, that surgical masks do not filter PM2.5.

Smoke events have become a near-annual emergency for Bay Area residents whether or not a single flame crosses the city limits. The gear that protects you from a regional smoke event is also the gear that protects you after a chemical release, the single such federal declaration logged in California’s recent history came in May 2026. Shelter-in-place for airborne hazards follows the same physical steps regardless of what’s in the air. That overlap is the organizing principle behind a well-built San Francisco kit.

The Air Quality Shelf: What Most Earthquake Guides Skip Entirely

Start here, because this is where most SF emergency kits are weakest.

• N95 or KN95 masks, at minimum 10 per person: Store them sealed in a zip-lock bag inside your kit. Heat and humidity degrade the electrostatic filter layer over time; a mask that’s been loose in a drawer for two years may not perform to spec when you need it. Surgical masks do not filter fine particulate matter. This is not a preference, it’s physics.
• Plastic sheeting and painter’s tape: A 10×25 ft roll of 4-mil sheeting covers the windows and door gaps of most SF apartments. Sealing a single room from smoke intrusion takes under five minutes if you’ve practiced it once. FEMA’s shelter-in-place guidance for both chemical hazards and wildfire smoke recommends having these materials on hand and knowing the steps before an alert fires.
• Portable HEPA air purifier: Look for a battery-capable or low-wattage unit rated for your room’s square footage. When you can’t run HVAC, because power is out or because running it would pull contaminated air inside, a HEPA unit running on a power bank buys meaningful protection for hours.

Water: The 1906 Lesson That Still Applies

The 1906 earthquake didn’t destroy San Francisco on its own. It ruptured the water mains. Firefighters arrived at burning blocks with no water pressure, and the city burned for three days. The same municipal water infrastructure crosses the same fault zones today. A Hayward fault rupture, which USGS estimates has a roughly 33% probability of magnitude 6.7 or greater in the next 30 years, puts those lines at risk again.

• One gallon per person per day for seven days: FEMA’s minimum is 72 hours; Bay Area emergency managers consistently recommend seven days given the peninsula’s density and how long utility restoration has historically taken after California’s major disasters.
• Water purification tablets or a gravity filter: Stored water runs out. Municipal distribution points that Cal OES and FEMA establish after a major declaration typically take 48–72 hours to stand up. A filter bridges that gap.
• A collapsible 5-gallon container: Useful for filling at distribution points. Flat when empty, which matters in a 600-square-foot apartment.

Power and Communication: Every Declared Disaster in This Dataset Cut Both

Across California’s 151 declarations, loss of power and cellular congestion have been consistent secondary effects regardless of the primary event type. Wildfires take down transmission lines. Storms do the same. Post-earthquake utility restoration in a dense urban environment takes days, sometimes weeks.

• Battery-powered or hand-crank NOAA Weather Radio: weather.gov broadcasts remain active during disasters when apps and LTE do not. For the Bay Area, program 162.400 MHz (San Francisco) or 162.550 MHz. This is not a backup for your phone, it’s the primary alert channel when your phone is dead.
• Two 20,000+ mAh power banks: One for your phone, one to rotate or share. Keep both fully charged and replace them every two years, lithium cells lose capacity even in storage.
• Headlamp with lithium batteries: Lithium cells outperform alkaline in cold and in extended storage. Hands-free light matters when you’re moving through debris.
• Physical map of San Francisco and the Bay Area: GPS functions on most smartphones without cellular data, but not when the phone is dead. Know your evacuation routes from your specific neighborhood to the nearest high ground and the nearest Red Cross shelter before you need them.

Earthquake-Specific Gear for SF’s Actual Building Stock

San Francisco has a significant inventory of pre-1980 unreinforced masonry buildings, apartment buildings, commercial ground floors, live-work spaces, that perform poorly in major seismic events. The SF Department of Emergency Management has been working through a mandatory retrofit program, but a large portion of that stock remains. If you live or work in one of these buildings, your post-quake environment may involve broken glass, displaced rebar, and blocked exits.

• Leather or cut-resistant work gloves: Non-negotiable for moving debris. Pack one pair per person.
• Pry bar and gas shutoff wrench: The SF Department of Emergency Management specifically recommends knowing how to shut off your gas meter and having the tool to do it. A gas fire igniting in the hours after a major quake is the city’s worst-case secondary scenario, it’s what turned the 1906 earthquake into a conflagration.
• Whistle: Three short blasts is the international distress signal. If you’re pinned under debris, a whistle carries farther and requires less energy than shouting.
• Emergency sleeping bag rated to 20°F: SF nights are cold. If your building is red-tagged and you’re sheltering in a park or parking lot, a mylar emergency blanket is not adequate for an overnight stay in January.

Documents, Medical, and Cash, the Category People Skip Until They Need It

• Waterproof document pouch: Insurance declaration page, renter’s or homeowner’s policy number, a copy of your photo ID, and any prescriptions. After a FEMA disaster declaration, documentation is what separates a fast assistance application from a months-long dispute.
• Seven-day prescription supply: Pharmacies in affected areas close or run out of stock quickly. Refill to the maximum allowed before any predicted high-risk period.
• $200–$300 in small bills: ATMs lose power. Card readers lose connectivity. Cash works when nothing else does.
• Trauma-rated first aid kit: Include a tourniquet, hemostatic gauze, and an ACE bandage in addition to the standard supplies. After a structural collapse, EMS response times extend significantly. The ability to control bleeding matters before paramedics arrive.

Local Resources That Belong in Your Contacts Before a Disaster, Not After

The San Francisco Department of Emergency Management runs NERT. Neighborhood Emergency Response Team, a free training program that covers post-quake triage, search basics, and fire suppression at the neighborhood level. It’s the practical skill set that most kit guides skip entirely. Cal OES publishes real-time disaster status updates and coordinates state resource deployment after FEMA declarations.

Sign up for AlertSF at sf.gov. It is the fastest channel for shelter-in-place orders during smoke, chemical, or seismic events, faster than social media, faster than news alerts.

For more on the hazards driving the bulk of California’s federal disaster record, see our guides on wildfire preparedness and flood preparedness.

Frequently Asked Questions

California has had 121 wildfire declarations since 2016 but only 2 earthquake declarations. Does that mean I should deprioritize earthquake prep in SF?

No, it means you should build a kit that handles both, starting with the higher-frequency threats. Federal declarations are triggered when a disaster exceeds state and local response capacity. Most moderate Bay Area earthquakes cause damage that stays below that threshold. USGS puts the probability of a magnitude 6.7 or greater earthquake on the Hayward fault alone at roughly 33% over the next 30 years. The declaration count measures government fiscal exposure, not physical risk to you. The gas shutoff wrench, work gloves, and water storage in your kit are earthquake-specific. The N95 masks and plastic sheeting pull double duty for smoke and chemical events, which is exactly the kind of kit efficiency this state’s disaster record argues for.

The May 2026 chemical release declaration is on the list. How does that change what I keep in my kit?

It confirms that shelter-in-place for airborne hazards isn’t a hypothetical for California residents. The physical response to a chemical release, seal a room, put on a respirator, monitor official channels, uses the same materials as smoke shelter-in-place: plastic sheeting, painter’s tape, N95s, and a NOAA radio. FEMA’s guidance on chemical shelter-in-place recommends being able to seal a room within 60 seconds of an alert. If you haven’t physically practiced taping a door and window frame, do it once so the steps are automatic.

How do I decide when to rotate supplies?

Every six months is standard. A practical anchor for California: wildfire season ramps up in late spring and again in early fall. Use those transitions to check food and water expiration dates, test power banks, and verify that stored N95 masks are still sealed and structurally intact. If you pull anything from the kit during an actual smoke event or emergency, masks, water, batteries, replace it immediately rather than waiting for the scheduled rotation. A depleted kit is worse than a mental model that says you have a full one.

Disclaimer

This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional engineering, medical, or legal advice. USRiskRadar.com is not responsible for any actions taken based on this information. Always consult with local authorities and FEMA guidelines for official emergency procedures.

Get real disaster prep, decoded from FEMA, NOAA & USGS.

One short email when something actually matters for your zip code. No spam, ever.

Subscribe →