I prepared for a utility outage first, the rest just fell into place, here's a blog on getting started to be as self reliant as possible

A utility outage isn't so bad if we prepare for it. 

   I generally write my blog around one word, such as carbon monoxide, water or another word or two .that is able to be related to my survival niche.  The reason for this is that we are more prone to suffer a utility outage during a severe storm than we are facing a total collapse of society. I have oriented my business around preparing for the first 3 days, then get set up for a month. In fact when we are prepared for the first 72 hours it is actually more like a weeks prep if we don't not have to evacuate our homes. That's due to the supplies we have in our pantry's, cupboards and refrigerator/freezers. We would be able to live for quite a while, 5 days maybe, without touching our survival packs. If we adopt the practice of using the 5 gallon water bottles in a water cooler it is easy to keep 5-20 gallons of water on hand at all times. A gallon of water cost 30 cents a gallon, if your tap water is potable the 5 gallon jugs can be filled with it. A gallon or two in your freezer will play double duty, drink it when it thaws and while it's frozen it will increase the length of time the frozen food will stay frozen. The foods such as noodles, oatmeal, pancake mix and canned food will all be usable unless it's been corrupted. If the canned goods are expanded and look as if they are going to explode, they are no good, give them a toss in the trash. The food items that touch flood water or are contaminated by fire must not be used as well. There is a lot of preparation to set up a successful emergency plan, it is very involved to plan for a 3 day event. That's another reason I focus on the short term preparation, get all set up, then move on to the longer term preparation. I am an advocate of being as self reliant as a person possibly can be, in fact to the point of being so well prepared for the first three days it ends up being a set up for a week. My idea of survival in an emergency evacuation situation is to prepare for the short term emergency first, then strengthen the long term. For a heads up on planning click here.
 

The field wildfires move as quickly as the ones in the mountains.

 In the case of an incident that does not allow us to return home, another emergency plan should be constructed. A good practice is to make a list of the natural events that have occurred in your area, then make a list of man made events that could strike. Mine is something like this, I live in the San Francisco Bay area on the delta, in a flood plain, in earthquake country, prone to wildfires. My emergency plan takes that all into account, my #1 threat is a utility outage, #2 Is an earthquake (taking out the utility's), #3 Levee failure (due to the earthquake) #4 Wildfire (the island I live on is peat). It's not a complete list of the events that may happen, I live near Hayward and Berkeley (40 miles distance) so civil unrest is a concern as well. It may be that several emergency plans need to be constructed, it's OK the more planning we do the more prepared we are.
   I read a number of blogs on survival preparedness, some are written for long term survival of which there is a need for sure. It seems some of the preparation is more of a "stuff" gathering exercise versus needed items to get us through the first week. When I worked as a millwright in a power production plant we would plan our own machinery repairs. Planning, ordering parts and manuals were part of the job. There are people who would order "stuff" making it appear (or they think) that is real work. We ended up with some shops full of new parts, and the millwright was ordering more. Sometimes I get the impression that's what some long term emergency preparation is, gearing up.
 

I would be cool to have a bunker like this, I'd have to live in
it, that wouldn't be bad.

I will continue to be a "stage 1" advocate, take care of the first 3-7 days first, figure out where we are and what we have, then move on to longer term planning and preparations. My wife calls it "tossing the stick", I've done it my entire life, it's the way to get a lot accomplished. I believe "stage 1" preps will naturally lead into "stage 2" prep which will lead into "stage 3" and well you got the idea. It will be a natural, logical flow and will make more sense one step at a time. The word I centered this blog around? Logical disaster preparation, OK that's three sometimes I do that and count it as one word.
   So what do you think? Am I all wet, am I thinking wrong? Leave a comment or a story, ask a question thanks for reading.

jimandkate                                                                                  EmergencyKitsPlus.com  

What would you do if you were the last person on earth? A few thoughts I've had about it, read this and see what I mean...

  I read a news article this morning in the lifestyle section of the local newspaper, I honestly didn't

I just don't see anyone else, all those people and it's down to
One, Me.

pay much attention to what I read. I forgot what the writer's point by point was, but it doesn't matter, I liked the headline. "What it's like to not eat fast food." The headline got me to remembering a mind exercise I did over a period of a few months. Please realize, I have time to do this, the mind exercise was brought on by the TV program "The Last Man on Earth." Have you ever given thought to that? I don't think it will ever happen, I don't know how it could happen however it was kind of fun going through it mentally.
   I came up with a few very important but fundamental questions
1) Where is the best place to live? Coast, mountains, inland valley or somewhere else.
2) Water, what would I do about water?
3) Electricity, hmm tough one
4) Meat preservation, another tough one. (The more thought I put into it the tougher the answers were.
5) Transportation, horse and wagon? Run around and hoard all the fuel I can find?
6) On the first day what would I do? Run around town gathering supplies?
   

Maybe move into the Castle, if there's no people left would
there still be ghost?

The list actually grows, every time I thought of a solution I would think of a reason it would not work, causing me to come up with another solution. In answer of where to live, I think on the central California coast around San Simeon would be a good place. It has a mild climate, good elevation in the case of storms, gentle sloping hills with no cliffs that could collapse. Lots of grazing area for the thousands of head of cattle that are there. With the choice of a location is the availability of water, primary concern so the location of a spring or fresh water stream on the living site needs to be established. I assume being that last person on earth I would have a choice of houses. I would like a spot on a hill overlooking the nearest road, just in case I'm not really alone. It gets complicated, just the location is tough when the idea of being alone is omni-present. At the end I thought I would just stay where I am until about October (the rainy season) I live on an island in a flood zone. So getting out of Dodge is important, I live downstream from dams, double whammy they will fail after a while with no maintenance.
    Electricity, I see it as a huge hassle, move into a solar house? Hijack a wind turbine generator and wire to the house? (Another location change, windmills aren't everywhere). In the end I would do without electricity, a bigger hassle than having it maybe. So no electricity which means no refrigeration.
    Preserving meat, would it be worth while to butcher a steer? 900 pounds of beef for one person, it's a lot. I eat 3 pounds of beef a year for health reasons. My doctor told me everyone in the world can eat beef, you can't, so I don't eat very much. A 900 stack of meat is a lot of beef jerky. So large animals would be out of the question, creating more work than they are worth. Chickens, turkeys, quail and other small game would be the answer. There's plenty of farms anywhere in California so vegetable for the first year would be fairly simple to scavenge, it's the second year that would be critical.
   Transportation, the question to ask is "Where will you be going?" So a truck, diesel, with extra fuel tanks would be the answer. A supply of fuel would have to be found, diesel will "spoil" so the vehicle would be of no use after about 1 year and I'm being generous. So first year a truck, second and every year after horse and wagon or walk.

Steam may just be the ticket, OK now how about tires.

   What to do the first day? Gather every 12 gauge shotgun shell I could possibly find, bird shot for small game. A 22 long rifle and a ton of ammunition. I would gather all of the clothes I could find, dry goods coffee lots of coffee, flour, sugar (really?) salt and noodles. So much stuff makes our lives enjoyable, indeed livable.
   It's an expanding mind journey, there is so much involved in our lives. It would be a complete and total revamp of every thing I had ever thought to be true about life. It would be an enormous amount of work, everything would have to be done by one person ME, or in your case YOU.
   I like thinking about things like that, if you give it a little time maybe you will agree it's something that sounds exciting and possibly fun, but I'm sure it would be a very trying ordeal at best.
   Thanks for reading the blog, I hope I took your mind off the every day trials and tribulations of modern day life. Leave a comment or idea, let me know your thoughts on this. I suspect at one time or another most people stuck in traffic 45 minutes from the city think "Dang it I wish I was the only person on Earth." Yep traffic would flow a lot better, but that's about it, it may be OK until I want a pizza or a Big Mac.

Thanks for reading jimandkate
EmergencyKitsPlus.com  

Most people that expire during a fire die from smoke inhalation, the big fire in the warehouse that burned down in Oakland California is an example. The news reports that most of the fatalities were upstairs and did not know a fire broke out below them, they may have never realized it. They were overcome by smoke, would a smoke detector have alerted them? I suspect it would have because smoke rises. Would a Carbon Monoxide detector have alerted them? Most likely not due to CO2 being heavier than air, it would not have risen to the top floors. However there are uses for both, neither are an all encompassing device.

The proper response to CO2 is correct the problem then
ventilate. 

  Carbon Monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas created by the incomplete burning of fuels. Gasoline, diesel, wood, kerosene and natural gas are some fuels. How a person is affected depends a great deal on their health, asthma, heart disease patients and people with respiratory illnesses have a higher risk. CO2 can be lethal in small amounts over a long period of time, or a large amount in a very short time. Either way it is very important to have a system that will send us an alarm when it is present. It is advised and prudent to install CO2 detecting instruments in your place of residence. Information on CO2 click here.
   To install a carbon monoxide detector be sure to follow all of the manufacturers installation instructions, yes read the instructions. When you choose your device be certain it has the label on it of a known reliable testing lab. Check your building codes and standards to be sure you are in compliance with local laws. Make sure to know what action to take if the alarm sounds after it is installed, determine this prior to installation, write the contact number in your emergency plan. Check the detector once a month, the manufacturers manual will have a section on how to perform the test. Call the manufacturer if you have a question on how to proceed, some alarms sound when the battery dies. Change the battery, if it sounds after changing it call the fire department and leave the house. Make sure all occupants are evacuated, do not delay.
 

Proper venting is seen here for some not all
combustion devices.

Never use a device that burns fuel of any type indoors unless it is properly vented out side. Low lying areas in the structure are most susceptible to gathering CO2 fumes however boxed in areas contain them as well. Garages, basements, inside some enclosed vehicles and cellars are just a few places the gas may accumulate.
   The symptoms of a person suffering from CO2 poisoning are nausea, shortness of breath, light headedness or dizziness, headaches and disorientation. Death can be rapid often resulting within an hour of exposure, at a level of 6400 ppm there is a danger of death within 10-15 minutes of exposure. Read here what the Mayo clinic has to say on the symptoms of CO2 poisoning.
   Where should a CO2 monitor be installed? Place them in a central location in the structure. Just outside bedrooms, several in the basement, in the garage, attic and enclosed rooms or other unvented areas.

   I hope there is something in this blog you learned by reading it, comment on it or tell me a story of an experience you've had with Carbon Monoxide.
Thanks for reading
jimandkate

EmergencyKitsPlus.com   Emergency Survival Supplies

At some point after a flood we can return home, oh boy! The work starts right away, can you imagine?

I will write today's blog around returning home after an evacuation due to flooding.
  When a disaster forces us to leave our homes, and after a time we are able to return home,

The heartbreak is not over, the work is about to begin.

precautions must be taken into account to keep safe. Especially in a flood situation the threat of mold, contaminated water, spoiled food and critters crawling around your house are all very real concerns. Here's some things we should pay attention to:
  * If you suffer an injury during the evacuation have it tended to medically. Dirty environments, rusty metals, slivers and wet foot issues are a few. The water will be contaminated and capable of harboring germs and bacteria's, wash your hands frequently, change your socks when wet, if you are cut get a tetanus shot. The dirty water will cause infections. For flood water precautions from OSHA click here.
  * Do not enter the structure if you smell gas, call 911, or your utility provider. Turn off your main gas shutoff valve, if that stops the odor there is a problem in your structure. If the odor does not stop there is a problem in the supply line to your dwelling.
  * Do not eat food that you are not completely sure is safe, in fact if the evacuation was due to a flood don't eat any food that was in contact with water, wrapped or not. Your water has to be treated as if it is also contaminated, if you have a well it most definitely is contaminated. The water in your tap is as well. Boiling all your water before consumption is the best way to make your water safe.

It's real, it happens and it gives me the creeps, walk your
house with a flashlight before getting comfortable.

* Don't go downstairs into a basement or other enclosed area prior to testing the atmosphere for poisonous gases and turning off the electrical power. Check for creepy crawlers with a flashlight after first entry, snakes, turtles and fish are a few we may encounter.
  * Wear rubber boots, don't let floodwater touch your skin. Do not deal with mold unless you have protective clothing on. Clean mold (starting as soon as possible after entry) with one cup of bleach in one gallon of water. Scrubbing with a stiff brush, rinsing with clear water then allowing it to dry completely. Wear rubber boots, rubber gloves and goggles, leave doors and windows open, ventilate the spaces with fans.
  * If you are using a generator, pressure washer, grills or any other piece of portable equipment locate them away from doors and windows. The exhaust can enter your space and create a deadly toxic environment. Remember, carbon monoxide is heavier than air it will find the lowest spot to gather. A basement or cellar are common areas, garages, sheds, crawl spaces and ditches or holes are some dangerous spots. It is best to have a working CO2 detector set up in your home as soon as you are able to enter.
  * If you heat your home with an alternate energy source like a pellet stove or a wood burning stove, check it out prior to starting it. Be certain it is venting out of doors properly, the smoke from them is deadly as well. Do not use a gas or kerosene heater if it is not vented outdoors, never use a
bar-b-que indoors as they cannot be vented out.  Iowa state university has an interesting web site on venting appliances here.
  * Avoid insects, wild animals and strays, they will all be stressed causing them to be more unpredictable than normally. Bury dead animals when you see them, or call the health department of your locality, cholera is a very real threat from contaminated water.
  * Exercise caution when driving (if it's possible to drive.) in a flood most cars will be in non working order. People tend to be more careless when under stress, look both ways before crossing a street and wear your seat belt when driving.
  * Use the first few hours after you return home to inspect everything in and around your home, use it as a discovery period. Keep a list and prioritize most important to least and work off the list. Do not

Some lines are 15,000 volts, if you are in your car don't touch any
steel parts, wait for help, don't touch the wires, don't step on them.

touch any downed wires, don't take someone's word "that's just a phone line." Don't touch it, I saw a teenage boy (in a training film) lift a power line while standing on a mobile home that was being moved. Some one on the ground hollered "it's OK it won't hurt you." Well it was the last thing he ever did.
   I've listed just a few things to pay attention to, it is not close to being a complete list or even close. The period of discovery will reveal issues you never dreamed could happen, that's why we look. Thanks for reading, I hope there is at least one item here you have never thought of before. Leave a comment or story of an experience in a flood or other disaster. Fema has an informative web site dealing with flooding disasters, click here.

Thanks jimandkate

EmergencyKitsPlus.com emergency kit supplies
 

Colorless, odorless what does Carbon Monoxide have to do with disaster preparedness? You may be surprised, or not...

   Carbon Monoxide, odorless, colorless and heavier than air, it's a stealth like invader we don't know it's there. It's poisonous to most animals and humans when it is concentrated in air greater than 35 ppm. Cattle produce it, most mammals do, in an enclosed space it is able to collect if there is no outlet.

Oh Oh, she's smiling. 

   Carbon Monoxide sinks, making ground vaults extremely dangerous, they have no vents and no air inlets or outlets. Any enclosed area is called a "Confined Space." Confined space training is mandatory for people who must enter these spaces. A confined space could be a tank, cargo trailer, processing machine or any vessel or room that has one entry, no vents, windows or fans. Most confined spaces hold a commodity, fuel or compressed gas.     Prior to entering a confined space the atmosphere must be tested to be sure it is gas free and the correct concentration of Oxygen is present. The confined space has an entry of some sort, normally it is an airtight and watertight type of "hatch" or a swing door that is bolted all around. Before entering a confined space for entry it must be set up, a person is assigned to watch the entrants, test the environment inside and keep track of the sign in and sign out list. The entry is typically called "the hole", the person assigned as the attendant is called the "hole watch". The hole watch must go through training, he has a lot of responsibility. No one is allowed in the hole without an attendant present, when the hole watch leaves everyone must leave the confined space. The attendant covers the entry with red caution tape, prior to that he takes a muster to be certain everyone is out. See what OSHA requires of attendants here. When the attendant returns he/she removes the caution tape, test the atmosphere of the space, makes sure everyone has their safety gear on, he signs them in the entrants must sign the muster sheet in and out. If an entrant collapses inside the confined space, everyone must leave, the injured person may be carried out if people are in there with him or her. If a person is inside the space alone and collapses, do not enter to help him out. There is a reason that caused the person to  collapse, it may be a deadly gas or all of the oxygen is gone for one reason or another. Many people have gone in a confined space due to someone being unconscious, many died with the originally stricken person. Do not attempt to "rescue" someone from a confined space unless you are a trained "confined space responder", a very organized and well trained group of people.
   

There are procedures for rescues, please don't take short cuts.

I worked in and around confined spaces my entire career, it's a dangerous situation that is made safer through training. If you come up to a compartment or vessel that is interesting, don't enter it unless proper precautions are taken. I worked in a plant where a man was killed after entering a confined space, everyone was on their lunch break. He went to the "hole" removed the red tape and entered, it was a very tall boiler firebox. The man climbed up four decks, the box was 110 feet high inside. A red hot "clinker" fell in a cyclone and filled the fire box with red hot ash, he did not live through it. A terrible avoidable tragedy, there is a lot more to the story but the gist of it is, don't enter without training and an attendant. But that's an industrial site, around the ranch, farm or home there are confined spaces as well, do not enter any space prior to checking the atmosphere inside.
    A garage is a confined space, a vehicle exhaust is carbon monoxide, if the car is running in a closed garage it is deadly. If there is a cellar or basement entry from the garage, CO2 will gather in the lowest places, your own basement could be a confined space. I've talked about industrial and outdoor confined spaces, there are dangerous spaces inside buildings and houses as well, that's best left to my next blog. The state of Washington has a great confined space website here.
    My intent is to raise awareness by mentioning some dangers of entering any unknown space, in three words "please be careful". It's extremely important that if you look inside a space and a person is down do not attempt a rescue, you will most likely die.
    Thanks for reading, commit this information to your memory, in a disaster evacuation there are many undefined enclosed spaces. Don't assume the spaces are safe, they are not. Please comment, tell me a story related or not, suggestions are welcome, I'm open to anything.

jimandkate  EmergencyKitsPlus.com  emergency kit supplies

Do I have a cell phone? Do I have a landline? We should know what "kind" we have will it work when it's most needed?

Communications during a catastrophic event will be unpredictable and intermittent at best, here are some things we can do to make communications more predictable. See a good write up on broadband here.
  We need to figure out what kind of landline service we have, some will not work without electric power. Some service over the internet is "voice over", powered over broadband or regular old copper telephone lines. If it's unknown if your service will work in a power outage call your provider. Telephones were in the early days powered with 12 volt power, they were designed to operate during power outages.

Yes Maude, tuxedo one five six two six
keep the party line off, this is a
personnel call. 

  If the telephone is battery powered, throughout the year the battery needs to be checked to make sure it is still charged. Learn how long the battery last, know how to replace the battery possibly keep a new one on hand charged. It may be an advantage to talk to our provider to determine what type of phone will work during a power outage. Some phones will drain the battery even if it is idle, remove the battery between calls then replace it when you need it. All cordless home phones will not operate without electric power, many traditional corded phones will work. If you have a corded phone check with your operating manual or contact the manufacturer's help line to find out if it will work without electrical power.
  Charge your wireless phone, every night replace it on the receiver, charge your cell phone every night and make sure there is a car charger in each vehicle. Charge your laptop and tablets, some are usable for charging cell phones. However if there is a loss of power your wi-fi will not work unless there is a off line charging system connected. When a storm is predicted, plug everything in to charge. Your only information coming in may be from an emergency radio, a solar powered or hand crank radio will also charge your phone, it pays to have one on hand.
 

Tell those kids to keep cranking that generator.

The local lines will most likely be jammed, making local calls will be unpredictable, establish a phone out of the area to call and make sure all family members have the number. My brother in Minnesota is our contact, instruct each family member to call the chosen contact and leave a message with the person. Check in every three hours or more if needed, the limiting factor will be your cell phone charge. Do not make any more calls than you have to make, the power may be out for days or even weeks. Try texting, it uses less power from your phone and when local lines are jammed up text will still go through. When redialing wait at least 15 seconds between wireless calls, it will reduce congestion, if it's an emergency use 911. Use call forwarding on your landline to your cell phone, you will get your house calls. We can use our car to charge all of our modern communication devices, an inverter will work to convert 12 volt to 110 volts, then coffee can be made. If you use your car be cautious, carbon monoxide in a closed garage will be deadly, make sure the door is open. Better yet move the car outside if possible, if not be careful.

One of a number of inverters available, most well under $100.00

  We are to the point in our society that we assume modern communications will always be available. It seems like it, we get text from the battle fields in fact. We can not assume telephone communications will be available during a disaster event, so we must take proactive measures. FEMA has a site here for more communication advice during a disaster.
  This is my take on emergency telephone service, I'd like your comments suggestions and story's. Thank you reading.

jimandkate  EmergencyKitsPlus.com  Emergency Kit Supplies 

A man died in the river this week, here's one thing you can do to make sure it's not you...

    A man drowned this week in the San Joaquin/American River north of Antioch in the California Delta. A determination has not been made what the cause was, this is a very disturbing incident. We have numerous water tragedies in our area, I live on an island in the middle of the Delta. This time of year, between Memorial day and Labor day a lot of people come to the water for recreation. I like to see lot's of people having a good time, loud music, laughing, BBQ, people on the water generally are extremely friendly and face it, they're on vacation. There are a lot of beaches, places to fish and enough restaurants and gin mills to satisfy all stripes of people, it's a great place to live.

Those ain't racing suits these ladies are swimming in.

     From the newspaper article the man's hat blew off of his head, most people here wear hats due to the intense sun. They anchored the boat near where the hat was floating, after stabilizing the boat, the man jumped in. Witnesses said he was in the water for less than a minute when he started to struggle. The boat was near the shore line, it is not however an indication of depth, normally at the edge of our levee's the water drops immediately to 8 feet or deeper. The water is frigid, it is coming from the mountains, held in a huge reservoir gaining very little heat. There are water layers in the river, I live on a backwater slough with a slow current. Jumping in the water the surface of about two feet deep is relatively warm, maybe as warm as 70 degrees F. Four feet deep the water is colder, it truly does get colder at four feet, around 60 degrees F, a little deeper and you are in frigid water. I don't know what happened to the man that tragically drowned, there are a lot of possibilities, I don't really want to guess. I do know I have jumped in the water in the middle of the summer, ambient nearing 100 degrees F and upon entering was shocked by how cold it was. I have jumped in and returned to the surface gasping for air due to expelling all of the air in my lungs upon contact with the water. Cramping is possible and very common and there is "stuff" that floats just under the water. Every once in a while there will be a report of a person diving in the current and not surfacing again, most are recovered, some never are. There are many tragic stories here of accidents.
   

A person needs to be in excellent health to attempt this.

So in the shadow of a tragic occurrence such as this most recent one I try to grasp a learning moment. In our water wonderland, where the birds are numerous, the raccoons and skunks own the place and rabbits do what rabbits do (all 10 million of them). I stress safe water practices, and the one action I can take, and hopefully everyone does is to wear a PFD. Personnel Flotation Device, a life vest, wear one whenever on a boat, we require the grand-kids and others under 15 to wear one on the dock as well. The dog has one, we have full body flotation swim suits for toddlers, water wings, self inflating vest, the big bulky orange ones everyone hates, we also have "special" vest that more or less the kids take ownership of. We can all increase our chances of surviving an accidental fall in the water or an intentional swim that goes wrong.
    The reason this accident alarms me so much, I am unable to not think about it, I have jumped in for a hat in much the same way. I have taken a dive out the back of a running boat, hey that is dumb, an disaster just waiting to happen. If you go on the water buy a good quality, comfortable PFD for each person, the $100.00 you spend is a lot less than a funeral.
   Thanks for reading my blog, I'd like to hear your comments and suggestions. Have a good time on the water, wear your life vest.

jimandkate
EmergencyKitsPlus.com    Emergency Survival Supplies