Emergency Supplies Blog

There are many scenarios in which you may find yourself in need of heating in an emergency situation.  From your house’s heating going out on cold winter’s night to your car breaking down in winter and leaving you stranded for hours, the need to create heat to ward off frostbite and hypothermia is of paramount importance. When you find yourself in need of emergency heat you will need to come to a decision about what to do. Keep safety in mind. If your home heating goes out and is not likely to be repaired within a few hours, you will want to take into consideration not only the ambient temperature but the age and health of your family members. Perhaps it would be wisest to seek shelter elsewhere.  One of the most efficient ways of heating in an emergency situation is through the use of solar blankets and/or solar sleeping bags. Solar blankets are aluminized and are handy in many situations. Not only can a solar blanket keep you warm in a pinch, but if you are stranded in your car on a hot day you can use the solar blanket to deflect the sun and keep your car cooler by putting it in the windows that the sun is directly hitting. In cases of extreme cold, a solar blanket can keep you warm by storing your own body temperature. Just wrap yourself up in the silver blanket and let it’s nearly magical properties keep you warm and toasty. Also available for your heating in an emergency situation needs is a portable water heater. Portable water heaters connect to your garden hose and heat the water in a matter of seconds using propane. This can be useful for many reasons, but think of the hot cocoa producing capabilities on a cold night without heat. The pump runs on a rechargeable battery, so make sure you have the ability to recharge.  If your lighting is also compromised at the same time as your heat, you will want to make sure you have several high powered flashlights and lanterns on hand. Candles are good, but can be dangerous. Instead, stock up on battery powered lighting for your emergency lighting needs. Further products available for your heating in an emergency situation needs include hand warmers. These handy little gadgets work much like the ice packs you find in first aid kits. Emergency heating products definatly need to be included in your emergency preparedness plan.  

It is the time of year to transition rotate your emergency kits and gear for colder weather. This is important since there are different survival requirements for cold weather. It is also a great opportunity to out your supplies and make sure that you keep your food fresh and ready to eat. You should switch out your clothes from summer clothes to winter clothes. Be sure to include several pairs of heavy socks, a heavy sweatshirt, warm pants and a coat. It is easier to stay warm if you dress in several layers of clothing, so you may want to plan to do that. winter clothes take up more room than summer ones, so you may need to adjust accordingly.  You may want to blankets to your emergency kits. This includes your car kit as well. You can buy blankets, which are stored in plastic zipper bags to keep them safe from the wear and tear.  Take a quick stock of your cooking and heating resources. Many winter emergencies involve a loss of power, so it is important to have a plan to keep your family warm. Eating warm food is also more appealing the winter so you will want to have cooking resources available as well. Here is more information on alternative heating and cooking sources.  You should teach yourself and your family how to survive out in winter weather. One fun way to do this is take a winter survival course as a family. This can be a fun family activity, and you will learn important skills to protect yourself.      Be prepared to deal with the first aid emergencies that can come with winter weather. Frostbite, chapped lips, and hypothermia are all conditions that can occur in cold weather. Know how to deal with these and when to get help.

The thing we found out when we did a practice complete building evacuate was that we were missing proper traffic control people and tools, both in the building and out in the parking lot.  If it had been dark the sitauation would have been even worse.    People tend to panic in an emergency situation and proper crowd control in the building and in the parking lots is key in a total evacuation situation. 

What we did was to enlist more floor captains and we supplied each floor with emergency wands and lantern flashlights.  The wands work great for directing people and cars and really what you want to get is the biggest flashlight or lanters you can find.    Get your emergency lighting before you need them.

According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), more than 1.6 million fires were reported in the United States of America in 2005, and they caused about 3,700 civilian deaths and 18,000 injuries. In addition, for years from 2002-2004 an estimated yearly average of 166 deaths from unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning exposure that had nothing to do with fires.I think one of the most important emergency preparedness ideas is to get a good carbon monoxide detector combined with the smoke detection feature and replace your batteries annually.  Approximately 97 percent of U.S. homes have at least one smoke alarm—according to a national telephone survey.  Nevertheless, without fresh batteries the alarms won’t work when it is time to sound a life-saving warning. Another potential problem, and another good reason to check smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms annually, is that environmental contamination and age will cause the sensors in alarms to degrade and become less effective over time.   Its a fact that millions of Americans are without adequate protection from fire and carbon monoxide because the alarm’s battery is dead or the alarm is too old, alarms don’t last forever, and old ones need to be replaced.”

Tips to Help Prevent Fires and Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
The CPSC advises all consumers to remain vigilant against fires and carbon monoxide poisoning, and recommends three simple tips to help you protect your life, your loved ones, and your home:

Emergency lighting is as important as food and sanitation in times of disaster and other unpredictable circumstances. Just imagine how hard it is to locate mountain climbers who fall through traps or slip down deep ravines if they do not have a shake flashlight or emergency light wand. Do you think people who live in high-rise apartments will be able to properly evacuate in case of fire or disaster if their building’s stairwells do not have emergency light? Indeed, people take the importance of light or electricity for granted. They only realize its significance when they are in a tight and dark situation.

Emergency lighting devices are useless if they are just kept in places where they are inaccessible. Even if you do have a lot of flashlights lying around in your home, but you placed them inside storage boxes in the attic or, worse, you do not know where they are, then these things would not be of any help to you under urgent situations. So, aside from making sure that everyone in your family has their own handy flashlight, you also need to make sure that these lighting gadgets are located or kept in places that are accessible to every member of your household, including your five-year-old kid. Moreover, your housekeeper or babysitter should also know where emergency supplies, including flashlights, lanterns and rechargeable lamps, can be found even if you are just going away for a few hours.

Another important thing to remember is to provide extra batteries for your emergency lighting system. There is no use having a lamp or heavy-duty flashlight if they do not have power. Thus, you need to regularly check these gadgets and make sure that they are charged or they have batteries. It may also be a good idea to keep a shake flashlight or emergency light wand in your car, RV, and even in the office.

See our “Lighting and Heating” category on our web site and you will learn that emergency lighting is also an important travel device. If you love to go camping, fishing, spelunking and even when you sleep in a hotel or rent a cabin, you need to prepare yourself and your family for any eventuality. It is wise to invest in fuel tablets, solar blankets, dynamo flashlights and radio whenever you are visiting a place or area that is new to you or is located in far flung areas. While traveling overseas, bringing a small or handy flashlight or mag light is also a very good idea.

Candles were essential years ago in America.  Emergency candles like the ones pictures above last for 120 hours.  Candles can be used for lighting, cooking, and a little heat, in an emergency situation.

If you have a propane outdoor grill or a camping stove that is the perfect emergency cooking arangement.  Just make sure to use these items outdoors.  Also, you may want to look at emergency heating products getting an indoor propane heaters with a built in sensors that will let you heat our home safely.