Getting Out Alive

My friend Steve raced over the ridge toward a sky filled with smoke. When he topped the summit and headed into the valley, he stared in horror at a wall of flames consuming his town. It looked like a war zone after a bombing strike. Blackened skeletal remnants of houses stood amid smoke rising from piles of glowing ashes. Dead trees extended charred limbs as if issuing a mute cry for help. Somewhere in the chaos were Steve’s wife and children, and he had no way of knowing their fate.

That’s the essence of survival in an urban environment. The place is crowded with humanity running to and fro trying to escape the crisis, and some of them might belong to you. Turmoil surrounds them, and they are all terrified. You might not even know where they are, but the chaotic scene convinces your mind that they are all in serious trouble and need help. It can turn your heart upside-down in a split second, spawning a sense of despair and panic. With lives on the line, this is not a time to be unsure of what to do.

In many ways, trying to stay alive and keep your loved ones safe in an urban disaster can be more difficult than survival in an empty wilderness. There are extremely serious hazards that threaten our survival in “civilization” that are not a factor in the wilds, and understanding these challenges can make all the difference. 

One of the primary challenges in an urban survival situation is a direct result of the masses of unprepared population that are suddenly without the normal services they depend on — food, water, shelter, medical care, communication, transportation. 

When the system breaks down, some people become like a deer caught in headlights; they just stand there and stare, not knowing what to do, hoping for someone to come along and save them. Others face even greater danger, as panic sweeps through them like a shockwave, sending them running aimlessly toward exhaustion and despair, and often into injury and death. 

After the immediate and perhaps short-lived physical dynamics of the initial calamity — be it an earthquake, a hurricane, a flood, tornado, tsunami, etc. — have ended, the residual impact on the populace takes over and continues the carnage. It’s what follows the storm or the fire or the quake that is the real monster that swallows up huge populations in utter ruin. 

Unlike a wilderness survival incident in which one person or perhaps a small group of individuals is involved, an urban survival situation can affect millions of people and destroy everything for hundreds of square miles, resulting in billions of dollars of damage. But, believe it or not, the worst is yet to come. 

Even though the earth has stopped shaking, the floodwaters have subsided, the wind has stopped howling, the smoke has cleared, the sun is out and a gentle breeze is blowing, the wreckage left behind will last for a long time. Broken sewer pipes, contaminated water systems, downed power lines, crumbled buildings, homes flattened by trees, cars strewn about like broken toys, collapsed bridges, toxic waste flowing through the streets, disease, injury, and the dead and the dying and the homeless — that’s what is left behind for survivors to deal with. And it might be a long while before anyone comes to help you. 

But it doesn’t have to be that way. Although we can’t stop natural or manmade disasters from happening, we can reduce the prolonged human suffering if we take some proactive steps. If we’re willing to become educated about the nature of the challenges that follow urban catastrophes, and then follow up with individual planning, and preparation in our own homes, the panic can be averted, at least on the personal level. 

If we extend that effort to our neighborhoods and then to our communities, so much the better. By doing that, we take ourselves out of the category of being part of the problem that needs to be solved (part of a populace that needs to be rescued), and places us in a position to be part of the solution. 

There will always be those who fail to make preparations to be self-reliant during a crisis, but at least you can do something to make life more manageable for yourself and your family when the worst happens. 

Because you are reading this today, you are taking a positive stride forward in your personal education and preparation for keeping yourself and your family safe during tragic times of catastrophe.

No More Water

A knock came at our front door this morning. It was a guy from the City. He said there was a problem with the water main and that we had 15 minutes before the water was going to be shut off for the next 4 to 6 hours.

So, what would you do if you knew that you had just 15 minutes until the water was going to be shut off for the next several hours?

What would you do if you turned on the tap and there was no water at all, and you were not given a 15-minute warning, and there was no telling how long the water would be gone?

That's how it happens in a real disaster. No warning. Suddenly the world collapses around you and the services you once took for granted are gone. No water. No electricity. No communication. No transportation. No police protection. No fire department. No hospital or ambulance service. No gasoline at the station. No food stores open. Maybe even no place to live.

Right at this very moment, in various places around the world, there are major catastrophes happening that are leaving hundreds of thousands of people without a place to live, without utilities, without food, without water — and sometimes without hope.

Why does it always seem to happen someplace else around the world? Will it always be that way? Or will we find ourselves in another Katrina situation one of these days?

• Hurricane season is upon us and Danielle is building in the Atlantic. 
• Scientists are saying California is way overdue for "the big one" to hit and tear everything down. 
• More than one "enemy" nation is flexing nuclear muscles.
• Stay tuned; the headlines are a constant rotation of similar news.

There is no time like the present to make preparations to handle whatever comes along to disrupt your normal life. Whether it's a knock at the front door announcing a temporary inconvenience, or the sound of sirens letting you know it's time to bug out, you need to be prepared. Being prepared isn't only for the Boy Scouts. 

After The Crash

I have a friend who has been involved in a few airplane crashes. No, he's not a pilot, just an unlucky (or maybe he's lucky - I guess it depends on how you look at it) passenger on many, many small plane flights in Alaska.

Anyway, he told me about one group of people who all survived a crash landing in which one of the plane's wings was torn off the fuselage. The weather was blizzard conditions, and naturally all the survivors wanted to take shelter and get a fire going so they could stay warm until rescue arrived.

The wreckage of an airplane might be able to offer some opportunities for shelter material. In this particular case, the survivors decided to use the dismembered wing as part of their shelter, moving it into a position overhead and then hunkering down to stay out of the weather.

Then they built a fire beneath their newly-constructed lean-to. The problem was that the wing housed the fuel tank, and unnoticed by the survivors was the fact that the fuel was leaking. It didn't take long before the thing erupted in flame, killing everyone.

How ironic is it for everyone on the passenger list to survive the airplane wreck only to perish in a fire caused by their own ignorance?

 Had even one of the survivors been aware that…

• the fuel tank was inside the wing
• that in spite of the wreck there was still fuel in the tank
• that it was leaking
• that the fuel was highly flammable
• and that they were all sitting in the puddling fuel

…they might not have died in the fire. 

The lesson here is that we always need to maintain situational awareness — an awareness of every aspect of the situation — and the ability to determine what the consequences of our actions might be.

On The Subject of Evacuation

Clearly, getting out alive sometimes necessitates evacuation. But sometimes it does not. The trick is to know the difference.

When to evacuate:

• When there is an evacuation order by local, regional or federal authorities. 
• When you personally determine that it is untenable to remain where you are, regardless of what the authorities are doing or saying. 

On the first point, the reason for adhering to an evacuation order is because the authorities probably know more about the situation than you do. They are coordinating with a variety of agencies that have eyes and ears scattered over a broad area, and a recommendation to get out of Dodge is based on a wide range of factors to which you might not have personal access. 

But as to the second point, it can be dangerous to leave your life in the hands of someone else by waiting to be ordered to evacuate. If you determine that the situation is getting sketchy and you would rather take yourself and your loved ones someplace else, go ahead and leave. In fact, if you leave ahead of the official evacuation order, you will probably have an easier time of it on the road. Once the order is issued, everybody will be trying to get out of the area at the same time, and that creates an instant traffic jam. 

When not to evacuate:

• When there is no official evacuation order AND you personally determine that you'll be fine if you stay put. 

Some folks are walking around on "red alert" just waiting for the moment when they should run to the mountains and start living off the land. In fact, I was talking to a guy like that recently and he asked me, "if everything starts falling apart, are you going to head into the mountains?"

My answer to him was, "it all depends." 

That wasn't a very satisfactory answer, and we ended up talking for another 45 minutes in an attempt to solve the riddle of when to run and when to stay. "It all depends" means exactly that. Yes, there might be a situation when it would be appropriate to head for the hills — but there are many reasons why that would not be the right thing to do. 

When would I go?

• When the threat of staying put becomes too great. And I don't need a government official to tell me when that is. 

When would I stay?

• When the situation does not pose a threat to myself or my loved ones. Notice I didn't say that the situation would not pose an inconvenience — I used the word threat intentionally. Life in a disaster zone is automatically going to be inconvenient, but it doesn't necessarily pose a threat. It all depends on how well prepared, informed, and experienced you are. 

Why would I decide to stick it out where I am?

• Sheltering in place (that's the official terminology for staying put) offers the advantage of having all my stuff — shelter, food, water, tools, medical supplies, building materials, clothing, blankets, a bed, etc. In other words, when you walk away you take what you can carry, but if you stay you have access to everything you own that has not been destroyed. 
• You also have access to your community, and familiarity with your surroundings. 

Don't misunderstand — there are times when having access to the community is definitely a negative. In a major disaster (like Haiti), I would get out of town to stabilize my situation because there was nothing worth staying for, and the threat caused by masses of people (some of them criminals who broke out of the crumbled prison) all in dire need at the same moment poses a risk. 

But there are other situations in which having access to the community is beneficial. If you are well prepared, you can help care for others who are in worse shape. In my book, survival is about a lot more than just being the last man standing — it's about helping others who are less well equipped, informed, or experienced to stand with you. If you don't use your knowledge and experience (yes, and supplies) to help others, then you aren't real survival material.

Begin by helping your family, your neighbors and friends, and your personal social group such as your church. By lending a hand, you help take pressure off the rescue agencies as you help stabilize others around you. By doing that, you become part of the solution, not part of the problem. 

The key is to know when it's more prudent to get out of the area to save yourself and your loved ones, and when it's okay to stay and shelter in place. In order to make those determinations, you need to maintain constant situational awareness and assess the shifting conditions. And you need to be prepared to go or stay, as you deem appropriate. 

If you decide to go, you need to have methods of travel, routes of travel, and desired destinations figured out in advance. And you need to have contingency plans in place, in case your primary mode of travel, route, or destination become impossible. 

Evacuation is not an easy process, so start working on your plans now. 

And on a side note — your evacuation plans should include when and how you will exit a building or an arena that becomes involved in a disaster scenario. Know the exits, watch for the signs of trouble that would lead you to want to get out ahead of the catastrophe. Be prepared to act immediately. 

None of this means you should go through life on "red alert" but it does mean you should go through life  with a high level of awareness about what's going on around you, and be ready to take appropriate action to suit the situation. 

Pocket Protection Against The Elements

Thanks to space-age materials, protection against the elements can fit right in your pocket. Since 1964, there have been various forms of lightweight, compact emergency blankets (sometimes called space blankets because they evolved from product development within the U.S. space program) that use a thin sheet of mylar coated with a silver or gold reflective surface capable of reflecting up to 97% of radiated heat. 

For outdoor enthusiasts, emergency personnel such as search and rescue teams, and paramedics, these blankets help save lives by reflecting an individual's body heat back toward himself, thus slowing the effects of hypothermia. And in a hot environment, the blanket can be spread as a shade shelter and the reflective surface can protect against the rays of the sun. 

The military uses "casualty blankets" that are based on the same principles but built to military spec to endure hard treatment in combat zones. 

A company named Adventure Medical Kits (www.adventuremedicalkits.com) makes my favorite emergency blanket. It's called the Heetsheets Emergency blanket, and the reason it's my favorite is because  it's built tough enough to take a lot of abuse without falling apart, but is still lightweight and compact enough to carry in a pocket.  The blanket is orange on one side and silver on the other, so it serves dual purpose as a brightly colored panel to attract the attention of searchers, and provides the reflective benefits already mentioned. The reflective side can also act as a huge mirror surface (like a signal mirror on steroids) to attract attention to your position.

The blanket is impervious to moisture, so it makes a great rainwater catchment system or a method to pool water grabbed from a stream or lake so you can let the water settle before filtering. The uses of this item of equipment are many and varied, including use as a fire reflector (maintain sufficient distance from the flames), a windscreen, etc. 

But Adventure Medical Kits has taken the emergency blanket concept to the next level with their Heatsheets Emergency Bivvy. Basically, they wrapped the blanket into the shape of a sleeping bag and sealed the seams to keep water out. Now, instead of fighting to keep a flat blanket wrapped securely around your body, all you have to do is crawl inside the bivvy and you're totally protected against wind, rain and snow. Body heat is reflected back toward you, so you retain as much of your own warmth as possible. 

The bivvy protects against three kinds of heat loss — convective (air movement), reflective, and evaporative. But a thin sheet of plastic cannot provide real insulation, so there can still be conductive heat loss where you are in direct contact with anything colder than your body temperature. For that reason, you need to take steps to provide insulation beneath you (dry grasses, tender tips of evergreen, pine duff, whatever you can find). And it's also a good idea to pile insulative materials over the top of you as well. 

The bivvy can be slipped down into a sleeping bag to increase the bag's cold-weather rating. I keep one of these for myself and my wife in our vehicle, and also carry one on my mountain bike and in my gear pack when traveling afoot in the backcountry. 

Good Comments

I received a good comment related to the previous post. Someone nicknamed BBC wrote to tell me about how he can sidestep the problem of a power outage shutting down his refrigerator and freezer. It's a great comment and brings up a point I failed to mention in the original post.

Many folks have some kind of Recreational Vehicle, be it a motorhome, conventional travel trailer, 5th wheel trailer, truck camper or even a tent trailer that is equipped with a 2-way (or sometimes a 3-way) refrigerator that can be operated on electricity or propane. While these units are small, they can be enormously valuable at keeping the most vulnerable foods at a safe cold temperature until the main power supply is restored for your residential refrigerator / freezer.

In addition to the RV solution, there is also the marine solution. Some boats are equipped with onboard refrigeration units that can serve the same purpose.

If you don't have an RV or a boat, you can always buy the same kind of refrigerator (popular models are made by Dometic and Norcold, available from an RV dealer) and set it up as a backup unit to be run on a 20-lb. propane tank. The propane solution totally isolates you from the grid, so you're independent during a power outage.

BBC also commented that ice is available at stores, but this is not always the case. Today, in fact, even with no emergency going on in our town, there is not a block of ice to be found. How do I know that? We had a Neighborhood Watch potluck meeting, and the host searched every source of ice in town and came up empty. What's happening that would reduce the ice supply to zero? Nothing more than it being a warm summer evening with lots of folks visiting from out of town. Now stack a power outage on top of that and try to find ice. Good luck.

It's better to make your own blocks of ice in 1-gallon water jugs and have them on hand when you need them.

I appreciate comments from readers. This blog is intended for normal folks, not exotic expeditioneers nor "colony" types who live on the fringe of everyday reality. The intent is to help spread information that is truly useful for the average guy and gal next door.

When The Power Goes Off

One of the things that will happen during a power outage is that the refrigerator and freezer will stop working. What you do then depends on a couple of factors — one being the duration of the power outage, another being the time of year and local climate, and the other being the physical shape of the fridge or freezer.

If the emergency situation last only several hours before the utility company gets the power back on, just leave the fridge and freezer shut and things will stay cold enough to prevent the food from spoiling. But if the emergency lasts more than a day (as happens in the aftermath of a hurricane, tornado, ice storm, earthquake, etc.) you're going to need to take some steps to save the food from spoilage.

• If your problem is caused by an ice storm that has torn down the power lines, you can probably move the food outside or use the ambient temperature to keep the food cold enough for safe keeping in your garage. But during warm weather, you'll need to use other strategies.
• Move perishable foods from the refrigerator to the freezer to prolong exposure to cold conditions. A chest freezer is far better than one with a door on the front, but use whatever you have. 
• You can help preserve the cold in a freezer by having blocks of ice inside that will keep the interior cold even after the power has shut down. We use 1-gallon water containers, filled about 3/4-full (to allow for expansion during freezing) to make contained blocks of ice, and we keep these in our freezer all the time. 

A note about appliance type:

• With an upright fridge or freezer, every time you open the door the cold air spills out as if it were water. So keep the door closed as much as possible. 
• If you have a chest freezer, the cold air will stay inside when the lid is lifted, just like water would stay in a tub. But that doesn't give you license to be opening the freezer lid more than necessary. Some warm air will invade every time the lid is lifted. 

If you have an electric generator, use it intermittently to provide power for the fridge and freezer. During an emergency power outage, you don't need to make electricity to run a blow drier, etc., so a better use is to run it only enough to keep the fridge and freezer cold, thereby conserving fuel.

If you simply can't keep the fridge or freezer cold, you're going to have to find ways to preserve the food as it warms up.

• Cook raw meats, poultry and fish and eat them.
• Consume diary products. However, you can immerse hard cheese in olive oil as a preservative method.
• Use "green bags" (they absorb the ethylene gas that promotes ripening) to keep raw fruits and vegetables fresh longer (www.greenbags.com)
• Boil eggs to preserve them for about a week. 
• If you have an abundance of raw eggs, cover them with a thin coating of lard or shortening and bury them in a bed of salt. This will keep eggs for months. 
• Alternate cool storage might be found in the crawl space beneath your house. 
• An evaporative cooler box can be constructed by building a framework over which you can drape burlap or other material that you keep wet. The evaporation process lowers the temperature inside the enclosure, but it will not match the safe 40-degree F. temperature of a refrigerator. Evaporative cooling works best in a hot, dry climate. 

After you have consumed the perishable foods from your disabled refrigerator and freezer, prepare food only in sufficient quantity to be eaten in the next meal, so you won't have left-overs to worry about.