We Are... Safe And Sound Emergency and Disaster Community

We Are... Safe And Sound Emergency and Disaster Community » Ice/Snow Storms https://wearesafeandsound.com/community A Free Emergency And Disaster Communications Service And Community Helping You Stay Prepared Thu, 25 Aug 2011 17:22:55 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Practical Steps to Preparing a Family for TEOTWAWKI, by Mitch D. http://www.wearesafeandsound.com/comredirects.php?comid=sblog_prefamily051810 http://www.wearesafeandsound.com/comredirects.php?comid=sblog_prefamily051810#comments Thu, 29 Apr 2010 23:53:38 +0000 Guest Blogger Y2K and urged others to prepare. I thought they were “nuts.” I did respect them as Christian men, however, and prayed for guidance. Looking back, I was a squared away 24 year-old but was still spiritually immature. At that time in my life, I felt no urging by the Lord to prepare for Y2K. About ten years later in the middle of a bitterly cold 2009 winter night, the power went out in my newly-built home. My home, at the time, ran completely on electricity with no form of back-up heat. I was lucky to have in-floor heat on both levels of my home, but the wind was howling that night, as the temperatures outside kept dropping and eventually hit 30 below zero. With the wind chill effect, it was probably near 60 to 70 below. My kids didn’t like how dark the house was, even though we had flashlights on hand for each of them. I put my four children to sleep early and piled on some extra blankets. At 7:00 p.m. it was 60 in the house and I wasn’t worried as my new home was well-insulated and built tight. I went to call my parents, who own the 20 acres bordering the western boundary of our place. Our phones in the house, however, all depended on electricity so I decided that my call could wait until the morning. When I went to bed at 11:00 p.m. it was now 50 in the house and I just assumed the power company guys were having a hard time in the wind and cold. I woke up in the early morning and noticed that it was about 40 degrees in the house and still no electricity. I was now a little uneasy as I didn’t need pipes freezing up on me. At 7:00 a.m. I bundled up the kids and took them next door where I knew my dad had a gas fireplace. To my surprise, his electricity was up and running. To make a long story short, it was just my place without power as the wires from the transformer came loose when my box moved from winter heaving. I called the power company and they had my box fixed within the hour. Nothing bad had happened, but it did get me thinking about a few questions: Read the remainder of Practical Steps to Preparing a Family for TEOTWAWKI.]]> https://wearesafeandsound.com/community/2010/04/practical-steps-to-preparing-a-family-for-teotwawki-by-mitch-d/feed/ 0 Amazing Survival Story or Need for Preparedness? http://www.wearesafeandsound.com/comredirects.php?comid=iceb_amazingsurv10 http://www.wearesafeandsound.com/comredirects.php?comid=iceb_amazingsurv10#comments Thu, 18 Feb 2010 16:31:00 +0000 Guest Blogger

http://tinyurl.com/yhx6ufw

It is always difficult to criticize as an armchair quarterback but the only way others learn sometimes is by example.

This story on Fox News 2-18-10 about a fellow named Jason Pede on a business trip stranded 73 hours on a snowpacked Colorado road because of a wrong turn or bad directions is a good example. We are relieved he made it out alive....let us use his example to help others.

Some background:
Pede was operating a Lincoln Navigator - A large SUV with plenty of room. He was a professional driver by trade. He was admittedly out of shape and only had high sugar content soda and sugar wafers in his car for food. He was given directions on the road that may have been wrong and his GPS may have provided incorrect directions as well.

Pede was 7 miles away from any assistance when he became stranded and no one knew where he was. His wife lost contact with him as his cell phone battery may have died out or was out of range or both. He got his truck stuck in hood high snow when he tried to turn around.
His decision to not walk out (ok decision actually) was because Mr. Pede was out of shape (not a good decision). He managed to make fire "during the day"which melted his truck panels.

He "survived" by drinking Mountain Dew and eating Sugar Wafers until he ran out of gas for his truck. He then decided to walk out to seek help. Was he lucky?

As we have repeated here for 5 years....knowledge in an emergency is critical. More so than high tech gear.

He admitted now if he knew to only run his vehicle 10 minutes per hour to stay warm he would have conserved fuel and could have stayed in the truck.

Critique:
Ok. What might YOU have done differently?
Some of these items below may have been in play already. We have detailed these in a training memo last year which is on the website.....

Some suggestions:
Notified someone (wife in this case) of your new route via cell phone.
Mark Route on paper so contact knows it - and so rescuers can start an effective search
Carried at least one emergency evacuation/survival kit on board.
Flares/Lithium Powered LED FlashLights or Headlamps
Spare Batteries/Chargers
Aerial Flares/Rescue Strobe Light (Marine or Military- not toy versions)
Survival Food for 3 days - minimum
Water 2 1/2 gals - not sugar loaded soft drinks
First Aid Kit
Alternate Heat/Cooking Gear - Alcohol Based OK
Survival Candles - Long Duration High Density - Can be used for Cooking /Heat
Backpack
Sleeping Bag or Mylar Reflective Blankets - 1 per occupant
Parachute Cord
Survival Knife
Spare Warm Clothing Appropriate for Inclement Weather - Hats/Gloves
Portable Shelter (aka Tent/Tarp)
Snowshoes/Boots
Shovel
Tire Chains as required by State Law in many instances
Road Map
Firearm for Protection if licensed
Been in Better Physical Condition
Don't rely on your phone as your only survival tool.
Left an emergency survival manual in this large vehicle.
This would have been an actual bonified good opportunity for using OnStar (GM still knocks those of us who can't afford it and are personally prepared using ICE)

We will add more as we go forward...... He could have stayed put with this gear.]]>