Emergency Supplies Blog

I think a great tool to have around is a auto power inverter that plugs into your car’s cigarette adapter.  You can run a couple of  lights or a refrigerator.  I use mine when I travel to charge my laptop computer and other accessories.  Also, the power inverter works to power simple electrical hand tools.   You’ll get lots of use out of this tool.

Accidents do occur and sometimes when we are least alert. Surviving under such situations often blur the thin line between life and death. It is only after falling in such situations we realize the importance of life but find ourselves helpless to cope with such miseries. This happens due to being less informed about how to handle such emergencies and ignorance in using the adequate emergency supplies when it is highly required. Another important cause behind a disaster becoming worse is that either at that time we so not have access to disaster kits or the disaster supplies appear inadequate.

As in an emergency some medical supplies like antibiotic cream, insect repellent and bandages are essentially required, similarly situations may also appear where the use of emergency lighting and heating materials is equally demanded. A layman whose basic idea about a first aid kit is preparing a first aid box with basic medical supplies, may doubt the forget the need for emergency lighting and heating products in a disaster kit.

Emergency lighting and heating supplies are generally required as an essential item for outdoor first aid kits. Generally people who go for long outdoor excursions need emergency lighting and heating supplies which include emergency lights, solar blankets and solar sleeping bags. There are situations when you need lighting and heating equipments in your disaster kit to brave adverse climactic conditions.

Situations like your house becoming frost laden on cold winter nights or your car breaking down in the middle of nowhere on a windy winter night are the ideal examples when you direly need a lighting or heating solution. Hence, it is good to keep solar heating blankets and bags to fight the cold. Suppose you are in a place where the decreasing temperature is weakening your nerves, the use of solar blankets and solar sleeping bags is highly recommended.

A good solar blanket retains about 90% of body heat. You can feel the warmth by wrapping yourself in a silver solar blanket. Solar blankets can also be used as a cooling medium, but also during sunny days when you are out on a trip. Using the solar blanket you can deflect the sun and keep your vehicle cooler by putting it in the windows directly facing the sun.

Portable water heaters are available and can be useed to quickly heat water. The pumps used in the water heater run on a rechargeable battery. So it is necessary to have a supportive infrastructure to recharge the battery anywhere, anytime. Other emergency heating products available in the market include hand warmers. These are very handy and can easily be kept in the first aid kits. These are only used to provide heat. Though candles are readily available for emergency lighting requirements, they need to be used with great care and only in places with proper ventilation. Therefore high powered flash lights and lanterns are best recommended for emergency use, with the newer solar flashlights and shack flashlights being very popular.

Your emergency lighting and heating products and the emergency supplies you select should be designed for your unique situation and use. Pre-planning is always the key.

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.  

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.

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.