Beau Taplin Wildfire
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| Sometimes it's not just a match that starts the fire. |
I was nine years old without a care in the world, until my friend and I found a box of "safety" matches. We lived on the edge of an agricultural area which was being subdivided into lots, the year was 1959. It wasn't long after the end of World War 2, it was still fresh in the minds of all of our parents. We entered the cornfield, it was early fall there was no snow on the ground in Minnesota yet. Taking out the matches we started lighting them and flipping them over our shoulder, apparently without a care in the world. One of us, I don't recall which, said to the other, "what would you do if we turned around and the field was on fire?" Well, we turned around and it was, a huge wall of flames was eating the dried corn stalks and husks. We ran for our lives, the fire was spreading rapidly, saying we were dumb kids is an understatement. The fire department (all volunteers) came and put the fire out, then it was explained to us how badly we screwed up. This was not just one match, it was probably around 5-6, but that didn't matter. What mattered was and as explained to us is that we did not kill anyone, or burn down any of the houses which were under construction. I don't remember the punishment I received from my parents, the "talk" with the fire chief was 10 times worse, I remember it.
I did not during my young years realize the impact fires, in general, would have on my life. I am not a fireman, but I have received extensive firefighting, rescue, and first response training. My training to fight fires began in the Navy, I was a Plane Captain on the flight deck of the USS Ranger, an aircraft carrier. We had a lot of fires on that ship, many planes burst into flames in the South China Sea. After my discharge, I was trained by numerous companies for a variety of circumstances. Spontaneous combustion, Barn fires, Machinery fires, as well as confined space rescue. Industrial and home fires are not the same as a fire burning out of control in a densely wooded, or grass plateau in the blazing sun. In this article, I talk about "Wildfires", and what precautions we can take before they happen to lessen the impact on our lives. I'm not talking about getting behind the wheel of a truck and heading for the hills with a ton of equipment. I am talking about saving our own lives and the lives of our family's, friends, and neighbors. It's the time of year to raise our self-awareness a few notches, and lean on our self-reliance skills, and realize the responsibility we have to our communities.
It's never too late to start making plans involving the entire household, everyone must have input, it encourages ownership. The first item we should address is the degree of the threat, do you live in a deeply wooded area or a grassy plain that is bone dry? If so the threat would be pretty high, making early planning a necessity. Talking and thinking about the different threats one may encounter is an important step. Fema has templates available online, free to all interested, for family, business, and group preparedness. (Follow this Link to look over the forms.) Choose the one that addresses your situation the best.
When a plan is written down and practiced, in fact, "training" ourselves through practice and discussions. In the chance, a fire does occur we will have a tendency to fall back on what we have practiced, and studied. We may not recognize that while we are walking through it the two or three times in practice, but it will be remembered when it is needed. We each may not remember every detail, but as a group (the family) we will remember most of it, bolstering our confidence in ourselves, and each other. With a written plan we will be in a position of being more of a responder than a victim.
Sometimes as we saw during the Santa Rosa fires in California, for example, the fire was moving rapidly, burning acres in a matter of minutes. People were aroused in the early morning by loud banging on the door and voices of desperation. Many times when the door has opened the residents were confronted with a wall of rapidly moving fire, affording them mere seconds to escape. Many people escaped with their lives, leaving all of their belongings behind to be consumed by the towering beast. With not one second to spare for gathering important documents, photos, or cherished belongings. Practicing for a raw escape is important for our survival as well, just being mentally prepared for that situation could be the difference between surviving or not. It is prudent to plan on having no more than one minute to evacuate the home.
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| "Courage we don't understand" Bruce Springsteen The Boss |
Start today by actively thinking about the preliminary steps that need to be taken, have the first family planning meeting. Gather all of the ideas from all members, talk about the threats that may be encountered and who will be affected. Talk about what should take place if someone is away from home, what to do if the children are at home alone, and talk about what needs the neighbors may have. If there is an elderly neighbor, inviting them for input may be important, they may need help. Start a discussion about what should happen with pets, livestock, and the chickens. Plan a preliminary meeting place, some local governments have pre-appointed areas for people to gather during evacuations, check with them.
Get a form or make one for yourself, the notes from the first meeting will be put to good use. There is a story of a mother that made a plan, it was a perfect plan for every aspect of the word. One problem arose with it, she asked for no input from any other family member. Indeed, no one in the family knew it existed, when the event took place she ended up being the resented "boss" shouting orders. She wrote an article afterward enabling others to realize her mistake. Fill out the form, don't leave an empty space, in fact, more information is far better than not enough. Include everyone, they will buy in.
Communications during such an event are of the utmost importance. One of the first things many people do in an emergency is to get on the telephone and start making phone calls, but during an emergency such as a Wildfire, the lines will be jammed up solid. Adding to that is our natural tendency when we receive a busy tone to immediately redial, another mistake. An alternate strategy will be to set up a contact in an out of the area town, ours is one of my brothers in Minnesota. All of the local lines will be in use, texting may be more successful, but our best bet is long distance no one will be using those lines. They won't be used because we want to check on people in the local area, it makes sense to call them direct. In our plan a directive should be added for each member to call the contact number giving their location, and how they are fairing. After the first call, another should be made no sooner than 3-4 hours after first reporting in. The contact will relay messages to each person calling in. (Follow this Link for more information on communications during a natural event)
Pets disappear during fires, it's instinct and a great deal of fear. Cats have a tendency to remain close to where the residence is, many survive due to that reaction. Dogs, on the other hand, are normally lost forever if they run off, running far and long many die during the escape, many end up in shelters. Take a good quality photograph of the family with the pets, make sure everyone's face is clearly visible. If the pet is lost most people are more likely to recognize your pet and connect it to the owners much easier with a picture. Be certain each person in the household has that photo, making flyers including it may be accomplished prior to the event. If flyers are made include your contact person's telephone number.
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| This will make a fine emergency plan photograph. |
Upon completion of the family emergency plan make a copy for everyone involved and include it in a package. Included in the package along with the written plan should be the photo of the family and pets, contact information, meeting places, and instructions on what to do if someone is either at home alone, or away from the house.
We will get thirsty, I am an advocate of having a weeks water supply on hand during most catastrophic events. A rapidly moving wildfire dictates to us at best we will have the time to simply grab something and get out of Dodge. Make up an escape kit, it should be mostly water, one gallon weighs 8-1/3 pound. Five gallons is just under 42 pounds, a family of four will need 2-1/2 gallons to escape. Include in the kit some money, important paperwork, your emergency plan, and medications. Load it with the basics, there will be help for us however it may take up to a day for that to happen. It is prudent for us to plan and strive to be as self-reliant as we can be as it takes a long time to coordinate a government response. Supplying ourselves with an adequate supply of drinking water will go a long way to ensure our survival. We are able to survive for longer without food than we are water. Without water, we will die on the fourth day, 1/2 gallon a day is the FEMA recommended amount, however that doesn't mean we can't survive on less. We could each carry our own water, a gallon or two, then each of us would have to be able to grab a kit set up by the door. That is debatable if in the limited time everyone would remember to grab it, there is less than one minute to escape. I prefer to load one pack, leave it by the door, and assign one person to grab it. It's a roll of the dice, which door should it be left next to? Would a better spot be next to the responsible persons' bed? Is it best to leave one in the trunk of the car? All of those need to be thought out.
(This Link will lead you to a FEMA paper pertaining to food and water during disasters)
The best time to start is right now, the most opportune time is during the rainy season, but don't wait. Completion of the plan, practice, and talking it over will pay it's dividends to us and our families. Every part of the plan may not be able to be executed, how many plans work out perfectly after all. Enough of it will be accomplished to help us in our escape to safety. The plan is a living document, it will never be finished, every 3 months it needs to be reviewed. Contact numbers change, people move, kids leave home, we live in a dynamic society and we should expect changes.
This is not by any stretch of the imagination a comprehensive account of Wildfire preparedness, but as usual, my goal is to heighten awareness to spur the thought, "yeh, I really do need to take a look at that." Thanks for reading and sharing.
As Benjamin Franklin said: "By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail".
jacquesandkate emergencykitsplus.com
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