DISASTER PREPAREDNESS; BACK UP PLANS

 DISASTERS CAN MEAN POWER OUTAGES.

ARE YOU READY?

By Del Albright

Whether fire, flood, hurricane or tornado affect your world, the key is to be prepared with back up and escape plans.  Power goes out often depending on where you live.  Will your freezer and food survive a long outage?  Will your pets and critters still get water?  Will you survive?

Service and test your backup generator. Do you have spare fuel nearby?

Do you check and maintain your smoke detectors?  Change the batteries every time change?

How about a supply of assorted spare batteries for all your flashlights?

The key here is to NOT wait until the last minute.  Do it now.  And please review this comprehensive piece on preparing for and surviving wildfire:

https://delalbright.blogspot.com/2018/07/wildfire-house-and-life-saving-tips.html

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Del

DISASTER PLANNING AT HOME

DON'T BE LEFT IN THE DARK!

Plan, Prep and Practice.

by Del Albright

Disaster planning and prepping are key to surviving major messes in today's world. Fire, flood, hurricane, you name it, the lessons I learned in 30 years of fire service, including "strategic planning and responses to disaster management" are simple -- but usually neglected by most of us. It's never too late. Here are my (past Fire Chief) suggested 10 things to save your life (and help you recoup) in disasters:

1. PICS: Take pics; lots of them. Videos too. Of your house, your prepping, your current/before condition and save them for insurance purposes later, especially before a fire or flood evacuation.

2. INSURANCE: Make sure your insurance DOES in fact cover the messes you might face.

3. HOMEWORK: Talk to experts who have lived thru whatever disasters are common in your area -- or like floods that only happen once in several decades. Ask what lessons they learned. What about pets like horses, dogs, cats, etc. Where do they go?

4. GO-BAGS: Have go-bags that include medical supplies, water and food -- in every car/rig. Get a good first aid kit as part of this -- not a $20 blue light special. Get Water treatment kits that let you drink collected water without worrying about virus/bacteria -- cheap kits readily available nowadays. Learn to use the items that will save your life from infection, bleeding, etc.

5. TABLE TALKS: Discuss evacuation planning with your family and friends nearby. Especially with kids when it comes to fire. "Table Talk" scenarios and role playing are great ways to be ready for anything. you'd be surprised at what you come up with if you sit down, spouse to spouse and ask "what would you do if we were separated and a disaster of major proportions hit?"

6. COMMUNICATIONS: If you are a HAM radio person, carry it and a charger -- even if you don't use it (Go Bag) -- especially during fire season or flood season. But for sure, keep a charger with your phone in every car. And speaking of that, car batteries can be killers if they are in bad shape and don't do their job when you need them.

7. FEMA: Get the free material in your area from folks like FEMA, your fire department, OES, whatever. Read it and use it.

8. PLAN: Make a Plan! Red Cross has a sample template (there are others as well):http://www.redcross.org/get-help/prepare-for-emergencies/be-red-cross-ready/make-a-plan

9. WORST CASE:Hope for the best, plan for the worst. Your
"what if" planning should include worst case scenarios and what you would do. Hospital ER rooms might be full; evacuation centers may not be adequately organized; cell towers could be down; and you may lose contact with family members. Ouch. Now what?

10. COMMON SENSE: Never lose sight of your common sense, and STAY CALM. Like in the old days of the Boy Scouts -- BE PREPARED; be alive.

Hope this helps.
Del.

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HAM Radio -- Off Roaders Dream

Several members of my club, the Motherlode Rockcrawlers, just passed our HAM license test (yesterday). That's Stacie and me in the middle. Yea, I know, I have on the wrong hat. :)

HAM is THE way to go in radio communications if you want to be prepared for an emergency, or just ensure you have good commo over long distance where your CB just won't cut it.

Now don't get me wrong, I'll still have a CB because I believe they are better suited for convoys and bs sessions. I'll run both in my rigs. CB's have no rules, so yea, that is a drawback when an idiot gets on line. But for the most part, the CB is a good tool for 4x4 rides and club events. However, if you want to up it a notch, take the time to study for the test, ensure you can have emergency commuications (enough to bring in a medivac helicopter), then HAM is the way to go. Add it to your inventory.

HAM radios can hit repeaters that allow you to literally talk all over the world pretty much.

You can get a dual-band handheld guy for a couple hundred bucks and do most everything you need to do. There are plenty of websites to help you choose equipment. And a good place to start studying for the test is http://www.qrz.com/. We spent about a week studying, a couple hours a day.

Del -- the new HAM (my call sign will be issued in a few days).