(This article first appeared in 2014. As you can imagine, it has been updated since then — mostly because I have learned more about the ins and outs — or offs and ons and chirps — of smoke alarms!)

We remind everyone that when Daylight Savings Time comes round, it’s time to check the fire alarms.

So it’s now two weeks after the date, and I finally got around to practicing what I preach. Keep reading for what turned out to be an eye-opener!

Just looking up at the smoke alarm tells me nothing.

I seem to recall that my old alarms had a blinking light, but I see nothing like that on this one. My old alarm also once emitted a chirping sound — but I have heard nothing from this one.

Anyway, on with the test.

• I haul out my trusty step stool, position it properly and climb up.
• I look for the round test button (while being careful not to overbalance).
• Hey, look there! I discover a green light, deep in a recess. Is this what I was looking for?
• Well, since I’m up here . . .I press and hold the round button.
• Eeeeehhhh!

O.K., we know it’s working!

Now what about the other alarms in the house? Before I take a look at them, let me do some quick research.

I always thought fire alarms were pretty straightforward.

Here’s what I discover about the alarms in my house.

1. Code for fire alarms changes on a regular basis. My home is relatively new, so it has hardwired alarms that have a back-up battery. It’s that battery that we’re testing. (There are also alarms that operate solely on batteries. I used to have that kind.)
2. In my home, all the alarms all connected. If one goes off, so do the others. Still, I have to check each one individually to be sure about the batteries.
3. The requirement for alarms in California indicates that starting 2015 new battery-operated alarms must have a non-replaceable battery that will last for 10 years. After ten years, the whole alarm will simply be replaced. Some of those alarms are already on the market. So the question then becomes, do I have one of these models in my house? It’s back up the ladder. And the answer is no.

But here’s the discovery of the day . . .

I have always used the words “fire alarm” and “smoke alarm” and “smoke detector” pretty much interchangeably. It turns out that alarms are NOT all the same.

According to the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) there are two main technologies at work in fire alarms: ionization (alarm is set off when ion flow is interrupted by smoke) and photoelectric (alarm is set off when light is reflected off smoke).  (You can get the whole scientific description at http://www.nfpa.org/safety-information/for-consumers/fire-and-safety-equipment/smoke-alarms/ionization-vs-photoelectric

Ionization technology works best on a fast, flaming fire; photoelectric works better on slow, smoldering fires.

Logically, the very best fire alarm combines both technologies!

And also, logically, the combination models cost more.

So what alarm technology do I have in my home?

Ta da! . . .Looks like ionization smoke sensing technology! (This model seems particularly made for home builders, since it comes in a six pack.)

Where does all this take us?

1. Check your own fire alarms to be sure they are working.
2. Check to see how old the alarms are and if they are over 10 years old, get rid of them an install new ones.
3. Get the best replacements you can.I just added the best photoelectric/ionization model I could find at Amazon to our own list of recommended products. Here’s a link to that model.

Let me know how your alarm testing goes!

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

If you’ve been following this blog for the past several weeks you know that we’re big on coordinating Personal Survival Plans with Business Emergency Planning.

The reasoning is simple . . .

Businesses depend on their Employees and Employees depend on their Employers.

But it’s pretty well known that most small businesses don’t have adequate Emergency Response Plans.  (Only around 67% have any plan at all.)

The future of your business?

Worse, statistics show that following a catastrophe, half of the businesses affected NEVER re-open their doors!

Why are businesses at such high risk?

1. Owner attitude.

First is the attitude of some owners that they’d rather just cope with an emergency when it hits rather than make any plans to prevent or mitigate it. (We have to ask, if this is you or your boss, are you really a business person?)

2. Emotional impact.

A second factor to business survival is that a major emergency has a dual emotional impact on employees.

Beyond their direct experience at the workplace, with damage and possible injuries, is the safety of their family members who may have been affected, too – but are spread out in the community somewhere.

Since communications are likely to be disrupted, employees will want to leave the workplace immediately to check on their loved ones. Once they disappear, the business has little chance of maintaining critical functions.

Improve the odds: integrate personal emergency planning with business survival planning.

Anything the business principals can do to facilitate employees’ family and neighborhood emergency planning will work to the benefit of all concerned.

One way to begin is by making sure that all employees have adequate Personal Family Survival Plans. This includes:

• Personally-tailored survival kits at home
• Kits at work and/or in their cars
• Communication Plans for family members.

Take advantage of holiday timing.

Now might be a way to kick-start this by seizing on the holiday spirit.

Since we do not advocate buying pre-made, one-size-fits-all, survival kits — which typically include a lot of useless (or low quality) items – we strongly recommend that you consider getting them started with an empty backpack like this one from Amazon. It is big enough, but not too big, and has the advantage of opening from the top to give easy access to everything inside.  And if your company gift policy limits employee gifts to a maximum of $25, you’re in luck!  (Click on the image to get full details, price, etc.  Different colors have different prices.)

As a gift, the survival kit meets important criteria.

1. It’s meaningful.

Every step that an employer can take to help employees prepare their own personal disaster plan will be meaningful for both.

2. It’s personal.

Some people really like clothing with logos, or parties, but others don’t appreciate those gifts at all! Candy? Cheese? Wine? These all depend on people’s personal tastes.

The survival kit is a backpack waiting to be filled with items that the employee chooses!

How to add value to this gift.

The business can use the survival kit to kick-start a more in-depth discussion of preparedness. Setting up an emergency supplies fair at lunch or after work, for example, can improve the odds of employees actually building their kits.

The business can do even more by adding an item to go into the kit – for example, a flashlight or solar-powered or hand-crank radio. Here’s a link to our updated list of the top 10 survival kit items.

And an additional benefit. . .

If your business is one of the 37% of businesses without any business continuation plan at all, this whole campaign could be the impetus to get a company plan started!

If this idea makes sense, you can head directly to Amazon to take a look. Here’s the link: Fuel Top Loader Cargo Backpack (Black)

And if you want to talk over some ideas of how best to present the backpacks to your employees, or how to speak to your employer about providing them to the workforce — just give us a call.  We have a lot of good experience with “employee gifts” that we will be happy to share!

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

P.S. I mean that about the call!

Let’s face it. We are spoiled. We enjoy our creature comforts and we’ve come to expect them. From ambient lighting, ever-present refrigerator and freezer to air conditioning and the convenience of cable TV, wall-to-wall wi-fi and, oh yes, let’s not forget the electric toothbrush and hairdryer – we assume they’ll be there when we turn to them.

But when the lights go out . . .

and the power company says it will be 5-7 days before power can be restored, what now?

In our CERT community, the logical answer seemed to be to go out and buy a generator. A 6-8,000 Watt model would power a whole house; it seemed like a reasonable action to take. We voted on it at our monthly CERT-Leadership Team meeting and decided to purchase one generator as a pilot project. If, after testing over a 90-day period, the generator performed as well as we anticipated, we would put forth a plan to acquire additional units to be rotated among the more critical homes in the community.

Sounds like a rational plan, right?

Large enought to power a whole house

The generator we purchased came in a large box. There were images showing wheels and handles, but the thing required assembly.

I thought two of us could handle it. I was wrong. We managed with the help of a third person . . . barely!

When we got the wheels on we were at least able to move it, but still, only slowly. Much to our disappointment it was becoming apparent that our original plan was lacking. Actually it was turning out to be downright unrealistic.

To compound the challenge . . .

As it turns out, these generators cannot sit idle for long periods. Once fired up, they must be run at least every 30-45 days. To store or sit idle longer than 30 days, it is recommended that you follow specific storage procedures to prevent damage to the machine.

The warnings also make it clear that the 8kW generator can be dangerous to run if you don’t follow safety instructions. It can, for example kill you in a matter of minutes if you run it inside! Or it can start a fire if you turn it on with appliances improperly connected.

And, since most modern homes include a wide array of appliances, it’s really questionable that even an 8kW generator will be able to power an entire home.

Here, for example, are some typical running wattage requirements for a number of common appliances:

So maybe a smaller generator makes more sense.

If you look at this list of appliances a number of things become clear:

• A smaller generator/inverter can handle most critical tasks, just not all at once.
• If you run a high-output generator just to power a refrigerator/freezer for half an hour a couple of times a day, you’re wasting precious energy and using up fuel . . . fuel that’s expensive as well as difficult and even dangerous to store.
• Smaller, lightweight units are far more portable and economical to run.

What about price?

Now, many will argue that the initial purchase price isn’t all that different. While you will likely pay $400 – $600 for a quality unit putting out 2,000 – 3,000 watts and $600 – $800 for a unit that produces 6,000 – 8,000 Watts of power, it seems like the larger output machine is a better bargain.

Whatever “savings” you might enjoy, however, will quickly disappear and be overshadowed by the large quantity of fuel you are required to store, and the rate it is consumed by the larger unit. Those, compounded by the maintenance requirements and lack of real portability, make the smaller units far more flexible and economical to operate.

In our estimation, this is an excellent example of where less is more.

Interested in more on Generators?

• Advisory: https://emergencyplanguide.org/choices-for-emergency-power

Let us know YOUR experiences.

Joe Krueger
Your Emergency Plan Guide team

In earlier Advisories we’ve talked about how best to communicate during an emergency when the power is out. Here’s the likely drill:

1. First, try an old-fashioned landline; it may work when your rove-a-phone doesn’t.
2. Try your cellphone. But if lines are overloaded, you won’t get through there, either.
3. You’re down to option #3, a text message. Because it requires so little bandwidth, it may get through. But if cell towers are down, too? No luck.

So what’s the one phone that is most likely to ALWAYS get through?

You guessed it – a satellite phone!

The sat phone bypasses wires and towers altogether, shooting straight up to one of the satellite networks positioned 500 to 1,000 miles above the earth.  Given their position, the satellites are seldom affected by storms and thus won’t be impacted by whatever has hit your local community.

I thought I’d really only seen satellite phones in the movies. Typically, they were boxy and big, with an awkward antenna. And they seemed to appear mostly in the hands of the government, military or quasi-military, and usually on a ship somewhere.

Over the past few years, however . . .

sat phone technology has become refined and phones are now found in the hands of civilians around the world.  (So I may have seen one without realizing it!)

There are a number of companies offering the service, with phones that are now not much bigger than your cell phone. (You can see two of the most popular, the Inmarsat IsatPhone Pro Satellite Phone and the Iridium Extreme 9575 Satellite Phone at Amazon. Each looks to be about half-again as long as a typical cell phone, and to weigh about twice as much.)

Different services, high prices.

Although the different networks work differently, and have different coverage and quality, they do have one thing in common:  a relatively high price.

To buy the phone, expect to pay between $500 and $1500.  That’s just for the phone itself. You can pay more to get more features, like GPS, tracking, Bluetooth and WiFi capabilities. Most basic models allow you to send and receive text as well as email messages.

In addition, you need to pay for airtime.  You can prepay for the time or you can buy a monthly contract. Satellite airtime can be less expensive than cellular roaming rates, or a whole lot more (up to $10 a minute!), depending on which service you have. So, it’s back to knowing in advance just what you need the phone for!

Other things to keep in mind:

• A satellite phone won’t work inside a building. It needs access to the sky in order to “find” the satellite.
• The antenna needs to be extended, so you can’t put the phone in your pocket and expect to know when you’re receiving a call.
• Phone numbers seem to be more complicated. It reminds me of the work-arounds we used to see, where people dialed a local number to get to a trunk line and then another number to get to their desired party.
• There may be dead spots, depending on where you find yourself. Trees, jungles, buildings and mountains can block signals.
• Audio quality may not be as good as what you’re used to.

Even with all these imperfections, satellite phones have become standard equipment for business and for governments. A temporary rental (day, week or month) is easily managed over the internet, with the phone shipped right to you at home. Again, read carefully to be sure you get the accessories and the air-time bundle you need.

When it comes to emergency response, you may want a satellite phone for a particular period of time (say you’re going on a trip), for a season, or all the time.

It’s the ultimate in communications reliability.

As you consider your emergency communications needs, don’t overlook this technology. It could be the insurance you want. (Paying $6.50 for a minute of hearing your child’s voice – priceless!)

(My thanks to author Marc Weber Tobias, whose article in Forbes was the basis for much of what I have written here.)

Virginia

Your Emergency Plan Guide team

P.S. If you have used a satellite phone, let us know your experience!

f course, you hope nothing will ever happen.

And it’s painful to imagine yourself, a loved one or a co-worker buried in darkness under debris, fighting to stay alive long enough to be found.

Almost too painful to contemplate.

But if you’ve watched the news, you know that this has been a reality for dozens, even hundreds of people this year alone!

It’s also a reality that most lives that can be saved will be saved by neighbors or co-workers in the first 15-30 minutes.  In a big disaster, First Responders are simply overwhelmed.

In a big disaster, you and the people around you become the First Responders whether you like it or not!

When asked, about half the American public says they have considered all this and that they are prepared with a plan for disaster.

When questioned a bit more, though . . .

Even prepared families admit to a number of flaws in their planning.

How about you?

Flaw number one – Doing only the minimum.

. . . like storing some water and food at home and letting it go at that.

If this applies to you, perhaps you have the notion that bad things only happen to OTHER people???

The top three emergency supplies most commonly overlooked:

• Medicines for at least 10 days
• Emergency Communications for when phones are out
• Light to see by at night.

Remember, when the electricity goes, phones don’t work, your cell phone can’t be recharged, there’s no internet, no heating, no lighting, no gas for the car, no ATMs, no cash registers at the market . . . the list goes on. Water and food are just the start of what you’ll need.

Flaw number two – Not thinking about where you’ll actually be when the disaster hits.

Where will your children be, where will other family members be?  How and when will you make it home?

There’s a really good chance that when the disaster hits you won’t be at home where your emergency supplies are stored!

Take a moment to think about your day:

At 7 a.m., where are your family members? What about at 8? At 9? Have they arrived at work or at school? Are any of them on the road? When do they start heading home again? How will they manage if they get home and you don’t?

Flaw number three – Ignoring planning at your work.

Statistics show that 3 out of 4 small business owners don’t even have an emergency preparedness plan. Without a plan, after a disaster half those businesses will fail and take the jobs of their employees down with them.

Other stats are even more sobering:

“If the company can’t get back to work within five days, there’s a 90% chance you’ll all be out of work within a year!”

This applies to an at-home or part-time business as much as to a full-fledged enterprise with employees.

Does the place you work have a plan to . . .

• Take care of employee safety and survival?
• Help employees connect with family members?
• Maintain essential functions if the building can’t be used?

These are only three of the possible flaws in a plan. As you can imagine, every person’s plan is somewhat different.

What’s the solution?

Take it a step at a time. When it comes to emergency preparations for the family, start with one of the simple Top 10 Lists like this one. And make sure you have completed a Family Communications Plan. At work, get the conversation started using our simple flyer.

Follow up. Get these resources now and make sure you won’t be blamed for obvious flaws in your plan.

Or worse, hear one of your family members say, “Why didn’t you do something to protect us?”

When the emergency hits it will be too late to make any corrections.

. . . Goes Against Current Fashion

Every week survivalists and preppers spend millions of dollars on “survival gear” — including tents, flashlights, generators, radios, firearms and more. Do you ever think you should be doing this, too?

Your survival mentality?

But take a moment to consider this. If your efforts are all to prepare your family to “pull up the drawbridge” and “defend the castle,” you will be ignoring, if not actively alienating, the very group that will be in the best position to save you!

Who is that? It’s your immediate neighbors!

Remember Katrina, Superstorm Sandy, the earthquake and tsunami in Japan? It was hours or even days before official help got to many neighborhoods!

Lives were saved by neighbors helping neighbors.

Most lives are lost in the first 15-30 minutes.

Regardless of how prepared you are with emergency supplies, the first 15 to 30 minutes following a disaster are the most critical if you are trapped in a burning house, under fallen debris or in a mud flow.

And the only people on the scene capable of helping will be your immediate neighbors.

The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) trainings that are available in many communities around the Country teach citizens how to best protect themselves and help their neighbors.

But in most cases – especially in more highly populated areas – the CERT training falls short of organizing trained members into functioning neighborhood units.

It’s up to you to organize your own neighborhood groups!

What about the aftermath?

Yes, you can store water, food and medicine to tide you over for the days or weeks it takes for the government and support organizations to recover.

But what good is it if your neighbors don’t do the same?

Are you prepared to fend off neighbors at gun point to protect your own supplies? Or are you going to stand by and watch them starve or die?

This is a terrible situation that you need to think long and hard about, because it could easily happen.

Once again, it’s up to you to remind your neighbors to build emergency supplies.

How to get your neighbors involved?  You can start by asking yourself, and then sharing with them, these important survival questions.

In an emergency, wouldn’t it be better if you knew . . .

• The neighbors on either side of you, across the hall or across the street?
• Are they families or individuals?
• How many children do they have?
• Where are family members normally during the day?
• Are there any disabled members of the family?
• What part of the house do people sleep in?
• If people are missing at night, where would you look for them?
• Do your neighbors know what part of your house you sleep in?
• Would they know where to look for you in the middle of the night following an earthquake or tornado?
• How long would it take them to find you?
• Would you still be alive when they do find you?

In an emergency, you are your neighbors’ keeper – and they are yours.

Our current American emphasis on rugged individualism, our concerns for privacy, our worries about interfering – these views must be re-examined in the face of preparing for a neighborhood disaster.

Joseph Krueger
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

P.S. Share this post with your Neighborhood Emergency Response Team, to get their reaction.  And let us know how it is received!

Today is September 1. Today, in Japan, hundreds of thousands of people are taking place in a disaster drill on the anniversary of the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake. And this year, they are being encouraged to stockpile toilet paper.

Japan’s disaster planning may have started in earnest in 1923, when 140,000 people were killed in Tokyo alone. And planning has intensified as a result of the 2011 Fukushima tsunami and resulting atomic power plant catastrophe.

But why a campaign to . . .

Stockpile toilet paper?

It turns out that some 40% of all toilet paper in Japan comes from one region – a region that is earthquake prone. According to government reports, within a month after the 2011 earthquake, toilet paper shortages began.

“Along with food and water, toilet paper was among the first items to disappear from store shelves,” said Toshiyuki Hashimoto, an industry ministry official in charge of paper products.

As part of this year’s campaign, paper manufacturers have come up with a special, 500 ft. roll of tightly compacted toilet paper. Price? Around $5 for a six-pack, that should last a family of four for a month.

No toilet paper in your house?

And in the U.S.? What do you do when you run out of toilet paper?

Most people reach for a tissue.

The problem? Kleenex, or tissue paper, is designed to hold together when wet – so it can block your toilet (if you are lucky enough in an emergency to have workable plumbing).

What about baby-wipes?

These are great for your baby, and for your emergency kit – soft, strong. But again, unless they are specifically labeled as “flushable,” they too will clog the system . . . and really mess up a septic tank.

And even the flushable variety is creating problems in many systems, because they take too long to disintegrate.

Anything else at hand?

We’ve heard of people using other items as toilet paper in an emergency: paper towels, newspaper, the Yellow Pages (Who has a phone directory anymore?), Sears and Roebuck catalog (stopped being published in 1993) and even corn husks.  (Corn husks?)

The point is, consider how much toilet paper (or wipes) your family would need in an emergency. Flatten rolls so they will take up less room. This is something you really don’t want to run out of.

If you’re interested in buying something specifically for your emergency supplies, try Amazon for “compact” toilet paper.

Oh, and to get back to the . . .

Three P’s of what to flush?

Whether it’s every day, or in an emergency, the answer is the same: pee, poop and (toilet) paper.  Period.

Your Emergency Plan Guide Team — Virginia Nicols

Dear Parent,

Welcome to another exciting school year. Before we allow your child to come to school, we need to know that s/he knows what to do in an emergency.

We don’t have time to fit this information into the regular school curriculum. So if your child is to have a good chance of survival, it’s up to you.

Please sign and return this note so we know your child is properly prepared.

Sincerely,  Your School Administrator

Wow! What if you got this letter from YOUR child’s school? How would you react?

I bet you’d have . . .

Questions for that “School Administrator!”

Here are a few of them:

1. What should my child know about responding to an emergency at school?

2. What emergencies are we talking about?

3. What plans does the school have for protecting my child?

4. Has my child’s teacher received disaster training?

5. What do you expect of me if an emergency happens during the school day?

The sad truth is, many parents do NOT know the answers to these questions. And I wonder, how many school administrators could answer for their school and their teachers?! it’s worth some effort to find out more.

I was inspired to write this post by three things.

• My friend Russell sent me a copy of a booklet passed out at his kids’ school. You’ll see it in the picture. It is packed with valuable information, pulled from a variety of sources. Because it IS so packed, though, no child would ever start reading it. Even a parent would be hard pressed to get through it. The booklet could answer questions 1 and 2 above.

• For the past six weeks, the LinkedIn Group that I participate in has been discussing disaster preparedness in the schools. These are professional trainers and consultants. Their reluctant conclusion? With rare exceptions, schools ignore basic survival skills for students. Some schools would be able to answer questions 3 & 4 above.

• Are schools required to be able to answer our questions? In June 2013 the White House released a guide  for developing emergency operations plans for elementary schools. The guide “incorporates lessons learned from recent incidents, and responds to the needs and concerns voiced by stakeholders following the recent shootings in Newtown and Oak Creek and the recent tornadoes in Oklahoma.”

Here in California, other resources are available through the State Department of Education. As far as requirements, all I could find is that regular fire and earthquake drills are mandatory. Still, a school that takes advantage of the guides and resources mentioned would, in fact, be able to answer all the questions above.

So where does YOUR kid’s school fit? Which of the questions can your school answer? Which CAN’T it answer?

It’s September. Back to School Month PLUS National Preparedness Month. Could there be any better time to find out more?

Virginia Nicols
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

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At about 4:30 p.m. last Saturday, with temperatures hovering around 92 degrees, I was working at my desk when WHAM!, the power went off.

Before I could even get up from the chair a few things happened:

• My computer battery back-up started beeping.
• Our home alarm system started beeping.
• All our emergency wall lights went on.  (See the photo!)

I went into Emergency Response mode.

Step One: Size up the situation

1. My home assessment: nothing damaged, no danger.
2. I checked on the neighborhood: outage in all directions for several blocks; community gates automatically locked in open position; some traffic lights blinking red, others out altogether. Sounds of sirens in the distance.
3. I tested: cell phones were working, but not all home phones. (If people answered the phone, we could talk, but if there was no answer I was unable to leave a message.)

Step Two: Shift to full Community Emergency Response Team mode

1. As Division Leader I got on the radio and maintained walkie-talkie contact with our other local CERT divisions, shifting to Central Command frequency to make reports.
2. I reported the outage to the power company on their automated phone system; later, we got an automated report on that same number.
3. Joe monitored official city emergency response on his HAM radio. (Four of us have HAM radio licenses and radios.)
4. We kept neighborhood CERT members up-dated.
5. We contacted neighbors with news and recommendations, by phone and by face-to-face visit.

As it turned out, a fire in an electrical substation took out power for some 27,000 residents. (The fire engines we heard were responding to the fire itself.) Power was restored in phases; we got ours back about 7:30 p.m., others got theirs as late as midnight.

So here’s what we learned from the outage.

Something as simple as a power outage creates excitement.

At first, people were annoyed because they missed their air conditioning.

Then, they realized that they shouldn’t be opening their refrigerator if power was going to be off for several hours.

Then, some figured the thing to do was to go out for dinner – not realizing that traffic was jammed in nearly every direction.

Finally, as evening fell, people realized they had better come up with a flashlight or lantern because after dark they’d have no way to get around! Some of these people then decided to get into the car and drive somewhere to find batteries . . .

So once again, an “incident” serves as a reminder that emergencies WILL happen. This one didn’t develop into any kind of a disaster, but. . .

If it had continued for 24 hours

. . . imagine what would have taken place!

• People would have spent a night in the dark.
• Food in refrigerators would have started to spoil; after 24 hours some food would have spoiled completely.
• Frozen food would likely have thawed and had to be thrown out.
• Most cell phones would have run out of battery.
• Most computers would have run out of battery. Internet would have been unavailable anyway, since home networks were all down.
• Motorized wheelchairs might have run out of battery power.
• Back-up plans would have to be implemented for people using breathing apparatus, sleeping machines or dialysis equipment.
• The water supply may have become compromised. (See last week’s blog post on Boil Water Alert.)

Our U.S. grid is aging (like everything else) and while attempts go on to get the right balance between public and private ownership, the grid is increasingly outdated and increasingly vulnerable. Ever-growing demand and climate change add even more stress to the system.

So power outages are not rare, and their frequency is growing. They can last for a few minutes or for days, depending on the cause. A serious solar flare episode could cause whole sections of the grid to fail and be down for 60 to 90 days!

Quick poll:

1. Have YOU experienced a power outage in the past 12 months?
2. How long did it last?
3. What was the cause?
4. What did you take away from the experience?

Let us know. We’re all in this together, so the more we know, the better off we’ll all be!

Virginia Nicols
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

Do you have, anywhere you drive: levees, rivers, cliffs, oceans, lakes, docks, bridges . . . ? Some 400 people drown each year in the U.S. from being trapped in sinking cars. Don’t be one of them.

You can escape from a sinking car.

But you need to have a plan before it happens. Talk about your plan with family members.

Experts agree on four steps to survival.

Step 1. You have only one minute. Think then act.

What’s the situation? Is the car sinking nose down, or rear down? (The position of the motor determines this.) Who is in the car? What tools do you have?

Do NOT try to make a phone call. Do NOT try to save valuables.

You probably have about one minute to save yourself – make every second count.

Step 2. Unfasten your seat belt.

Unbuckle your seatbelt. If necessary, cut it off.**

Step 3. Get the side window open while it is still above water.

Leave the key in the ignition and you will likely be able to open the windows electronically. If they won’t open, use your heels or a tool** to punch a hole in the middle of a SIDE window. (You can’t break the front window.) You won’t be able to break the windows when the car is full of water.

Do not try to open the door against the pressure of the water – you won’t be able to and any water entering will cause the car to sink even faster.

Step 4. Get out through the window and swim. Children first; push them out if you have to.

If it’s dark or you’re disoriented, look for light or watch which way the bubbles are rising and swim in that direction.

Last chance; not a good one.

If you didn’t get the window open, you may be able to open the door once the car has filled with water and pressure is equalized. But waiting for the car to fill will use precious time, you’ll be deeper in the water, and you’ll have to hold your breath for much longer. Your chances are not good with this technique.

** Car Escape Tools.

Most car accessory shops and hardware stores carry special car escape tools. There are two main types: a “hammer” version with a razor blade embedded in it for cutting the seat belt, and a smaller keychain tool that has a spring-loaded spike for breaking the window in addition to the razor cutter. Prices range from around $5 to around $25. Click here to take a look!

Along with a survival kit and jumper cables a car escape tool seems like another no-brainer for drivers. Look for packages with two or more tools; you’ll want one for every car. This escape tool would make a good gift, too, particularly for a new driver.

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

P.S. If you don’t have your tool immediately handy it will be useless. Where can you put the tool in your car so it stays put: in the glove box, fastened to the window visor, beside the seat? In a violent fall the tool could fly out and end up anywhere. You will NOT have time to look for it.