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Happy October
Monday, October 1st, 2012 07:32 amSeptember was National Emergency Preparedness Awareness Month. I didn't hear a whole lot about it, so I'm not sure the message got out very well, but the good folks at the Red Cross have some tips on preparedness at their website. You can get checklists and advice on disaster planning, and it's pretty good stuff. At least it makes you think about what might happen and how you might react.
First off, you're supposed to think about what kind of disasters could occur in your area, and what you should realistically prepare for. Back in SC, tornadoes, hurricanes and subsequent flooding were the biggies, even though we were on the very edge of geographical likelihood. Here in WI, it's possible a tornado would come this far - the front 3 houses of the subdivision were taken out by one about 20 yrs ago. More likely, I think, is being snowed in without power for a chunk of time.
They advise two levels of preparedness. 1: Three-day evacuation kit and 2: Two-week shelter in place supplies.
So for #1 (tornado or the house burns down), we've never had anything specific pulled together. We've talked about it before, but never got around to it. But now I've got an actual list, and a plan for how I'd pack the go-bags, once I acquire them. I figure one bag per person, and sure you'll have some duplication, but that's got to be better than missing something because you got separated or you lost a bag.
For #2 (trapped in place), we've also never had anything specific, but in reviewing what's here, we're actually in pretty good shape. We use natural gas for heat, the stove, the water heater (and the dryer). they all need a spark to get started plus most require electricity to keep running. We've got a great propane-fired grill, but we don't always keep propane on hand, so that will change. We've always got at least two-weeks of people food on hand, so we just need to bump up the pet food/supplies we keep on hand, and make sure there is an appropriate quantity of B's meds here. One thing that we don't do well is keep wood for the fireplace stockpiled. Even if we got the furnace fired up, it wouldn't help without the fan to circulate the warm air, so fireplace heat would be required. So not only do we need the woodpile for our decorative winter fires, we need enough to keep us from freezing for a 14 day stretch. That's alotta wood. We've discussed the order we would empty the refrigerator and the freezer for power loss both in warm weather and in winter.
The one thing that we fail on for both scenarios is our supply of fresh water. And since we have a well, it's an issue. We can't get water out of the well without electricity. Red Cross advises 1 gallon per person per day (this covers all uses). We've got 4 pets, so I'm assuming another gallon per day combined, based on the frequency we fill their water station. If we get this in the 5-gallon bottles (we have a dispenser), that makes 3 bottles (~50 lb each) we'd have to load up to evacuate 3-4 people and the 4 animals. Or, we could get purification supplies to carry with us. But 14 days worth is a lot of water to store. That's 56 gallons or 11 bottles on hand at all times. That's a pretty big commitment. I could see making space for 5-6 bottles, and hoping the disaster comes in winter so you can melt snow. B says we can also drain down the pressure tank for some of the water. I'm just not sure it's realistic to ask everyone to stockpile that much water. A single person would only need 14 gallons or 3 bottles max, unless they had pets (and most of my single friends do). But most single people also occupy a limited space, so the ratio of space you'd have to commit to for this level of preparedness is similar. And there's the practicality of keeping that much fresh water on hand. You need to rotate the stock every 6 months or so, which will become time and energy consuming.
All in all, I'm glad we live on the top of a hill in an area with few known natural disasters. We've been lucky so far, but people just one town over got hit hard by tornadoes a couple of years ago, so we can't count on luck forever. I don't really have the survivalist mindset, but it's good to think about these things from time to time. That way, even if you havent' got your go-bag together, you'll at least know what to grab when the evacuation call comes.
First off, you're supposed to think about what kind of disasters could occur in your area, and what you should realistically prepare for. Back in SC, tornadoes, hurricanes and subsequent flooding were the biggies, even though we were on the very edge of geographical likelihood. Here in WI, it's possible a tornado would come this far - the front 3 houses of the subdivision were taken out by one about 20 yrs ago. More likely, I think, is being snowed in without power for a chunk of time.
They advise two levels of preparedness. 1: Three-day evacuation kit and 2: Two-week shelter in place supplies.
So for #1 (tornado or the house burns down), we've never had anything specific pulled together. We've talked about it before, but never got around to it. But now I've got an actual list, and a plan for how I'd pack the go-bags, once I acquire them. I figure one bag per person, and sure you'll have some duplication, but that's got to be better than missing something because you got separated or you lost a bag.
For #2 (trapped in place), we've also never had anything specific, but in reviewing what's here, we're actually in pretty good shape. We use natural gas for heat, the stove, the water heater (and the dryer). they all need a spark to get started plus most require electricity to keep running. We've got a great propane-fired grill, but we don't always keep propane on hand, so that will change. We've always got at least two-weeks of people food on hand, so we just need to bump up the pet food/supplies we keep on hand, and make sure there is an appropriate quantity of B's meds here. One thing that we don't do well is keep wood for the fireplace stockpiled. Even if we got the furnace fired up, it wouldn't help without the fan to circulate the warm air, so fireplace heat would be required. So not only do we need the woodpile for our decorative winter fires, we need enough to keep us from freezing for a 14 day stretch. That's alotta wood. We've discussed the order we would empty the refrigerator and the freezer for power loss both in warm weather and in winter.
The one thing that we fail on for both scenarios is our supply of fresh water. And since we have a well, it's an issue. We can't get water out of the well without electricity. Red Cross advises 1 gallon per person per day (this covers all uses). We've got 4 pets, so I'm assuming another gallon per day combined, based on the frequency we fill their water station. If we get this in the 5-gallon bottles (we have a dispenser), that makes 3 bottles (~50 lb each) we'd have to load up to evacuate 3-4 people and the 4 animals. Or, we could get purification supplies to carry with us. But 14 days worth is a lot of water to store. That's 56 gallons or 11 bottles on hand at all times. That's a pretty big commitment. I could see making space for 5-6 bottles, and hoping the disaster comes in winter so you can melt snow. B says we can also drain down the pressure tank for some of the water. I'm just not sure it's realistic to ask everyone to stockpile that much water. A single person would only need 14 gallons or 3 bottles max, unless they had pets (and most of my single friends do). But most single people also occupy a limited space, so the ratio of space you'd have to commit to for this level of preparedness is similar. And there's the practicality of keeping that much fresh water on hand. You need to rotate the stock every 6 months or so, which will become time and energy consuming.
All in all, I'm glad we live on the top of a hill in an area with few known natural disasters. We've been lucky so far, but people just one town over got hit hard by tornadoes a couple of years ago, so we can't count on luck forever. I don't really have the survivalist mindset, but it's good to think about these things from time to time. That way, even if you havent' got your go-bag together, you'll at least know what to grab when the evacuation call comes.
