Emergency and Disaster Prepping
When the ‘Blizzard of the Century’ Comes, Will You Have Emergency Heat?
The power is out and the ice left behind by the “blizzard of the century” encapsulates every branch of every tree, every power line, every car. The first 24 hours, you hear generators fire up all around the neighborhood. But then, one by one, they stop running: fuel has run out. And the lines at the gas station are startlingly long. You find out, too late, that the gas fireplace in your new home only heats one room of your house, and the storm has knocked out the natural gas lines so you can’t run it anyway. Drat.
Now, I know some of you have wood stoves and cords upon cords of wood stacked and at the ready. 🙂 But for everyone else, have you assessed your preparations to make sure you’ll be able to stay warm? Do you have sources of emergency heat? Here are some ideas to get you started:
Pet Alert Decals – Free and Important
A fire burns in a suburban home while Sara and her husband are at work. An overloaded electrical cord shorted out (here’s a link to the news story). And while the people were fine, their beloved dog and cat, sadly, were overcome. In the event of a fire, such as this, rescuers may not know […]
Preparing the Unprepared: 5 Ways To Help Your Loved Ones
Many of us have loved ones who are rigidly unprepared. To us, they seem to have their heads in the sand and anytime you share with them what you are doing and where you are with your preps, they roll their eyes (figuratively, if not literally) and bury their heads even deeper. Outside of an honest, straightforward conversation on the topic, what can a prepared person do for those he or she loves?
Survival Blankets – 7 Ways They Can Save Your Life or Your Sanity
It’s 45 degrees and raining. Your last backpacking trip of the season has run into a snag – the weather was supposed to be fine and mild, but instead is dripping and cold.
The boots you wore for the weather you expected have sprung a leak and your right foot is shriveled and contributing to an overall feeling of soggy malaise. You make camp and start a smokey, barely-there fire, but you quickly realize that you did not pack the rain fly for your tent. And it’s already leaking.
Now what?
6 Ways to Survive and Be Found After a Car Crash
It’s the first rain after a long dry spell, and the roads are a slippery mix of water and built-up road oil. The road you’re on is a narrow two lanes. It has tight curves and sudden drops. Suddenly, you’re hit in the face with two bright lights from an oncoming car. You swerve to miss and you find yourself flying. There’s no more road.
Crap.
You wake up and find that you’re at the bottom of a ravine in complete darkness. Alive. Stunned, yes. But alive. Thanks be to God.
This actually happened to a man named David Lavau. In 2011, he lost control of his vehicle in a situation similar to this. His family thought he was a goner. But five days later, the local police traced Mr. Lavau’s cell phone to the general area of the crash and his family went in search of him. They found him six days into his ordeal. He had survived by eating black ants and drinking dirty creek water.
In 2011, I read his story and realizing that I did not have jack in my car to survive, I took some lessons from it and got my car outfitted. Here’s what I learned →