Storm is coming what do you do?

Good reminder on the power tools. I am guilty of unplugging the charger to save energy. We've had incidents of a cordless drill being needed but the batteries were not charged.

 

To be honest, there's nothing we'd need to do to prepare for a snowstorm here. We're set for being completely homebound for a month; food, water, critter supplies, cooking stuff, off-grid heating, bookoo blankets. After working in a town that got cut off for two weeks one winter, with zero water thanks to the underground pipes freezing solid, I made sure we'd be fine if it ever happened here.

It's the without-warning stuff I need to concern myself with. It's wildfire season again. Yesterday one called for mandatory evac to the northwest. Could smell the smoke here thanks to the 60 mph winds carrying it our way. All the area fire fighters were called out but 75... make that 100+ homes have been burnt to a crisp and a few hundred people are apparently camping at a high school gym. If it had been us being ordered to leave, well we ain't ready. We have BOB but I need to redo the grab-and-go totes and get the gravel off the flatbed trailer so we can load it. Fires give you at least a few hours warning, plenty of time to load critters and the bulk of our important stuff, but as we're sitting now we'd be doing good to get half of what we should loaded in time to bail.

 

One thing. Make sure you scan in important documents and ALL of your pictures. If you should lose them, you can make new ones from the scans. I have scans of my mom's pics, both grandmother's pics, aunt's pics, etc. I have them backed up on three different drives. Nothing like losing important pictures that are irreplacable

 

@ditch witch fire doesn't always give you a few hours. One lightening strike on a windy day and you will be ordered to evacuate quickly. We had a lightening strike and within a half hour had a stand by for evacuation call. I am really prepared for this, I have bug out down but bug in is my downfall. I guess fire is my biggest danger so I always focus on that. Like if a tornado ever came all I know is to get in the bathtub. I think it would be the downstairs tub but never have heard the specifics on that.

 

@Motomom34 probably 99.9% of our wildfires here come from some idiot flinging a cig butt out the window as he drives by on the highway. That, or someone's trash burn getting away from them. The city sets off the tornado sirens whenever there's a fire or a wreck so generally we have a heads up the instant a fire is spotted.

Our current fire watch lists 131 structures destroyed including 89 homes, 2583 acres burned up, and it's only 60% contained ATM. Fortunately too far away for me to do more than smell it.

For tornadoes everyone around here has an underground shelter, including us. Generally if there's a watch going on I have the dogs in their carriers ... if I feel the temperature do that lovely 20 degree drop I move them down to the shelter and then wait and see. We keep flashlights by all exit doors, and the back door has shoes you can slip into fast in case you're running for the shelter in your bare feet.

 

you are as ready as you can be. Good job

 

Im set as DW posted as well . We get earth shakes / tremors & shiver's , them are the ones that hit NOW without any warning !!
The rest is felt or spoken about, Fire is the next quickest if it strike's up close to home. I live in a rain forest & have my OWN fire pumps , water supply in the form of 3 pools (one for me to take a swim & the rest are water storage for the fire hoses & pumps ) plus a huge man made pond. My system can spray the buildings & barns into white foam looking like marshmallows so the fire should go over & burn the forest all around us. It's a chemical thats added to the intake of the pump & then sprayed with it's type of nozzle. Took me a few trys to get it correct. I have insurance & all the rest , but I see so much nonattendance , that I'LL DO IT MYSELF.
Our VFD is good at washing the ashes off the foundation & away , directing traffic over a tree blow over , and MAKING NOISE saying there spending you tax dollars , but always short on something or late to the plate. In 25+ years , they have not put out one house fire , even the one across the fire hall burnt to the foundation . JOKE of 400.00 per year per house hold

Sloth

 

Did I mention fire extinguishers!!!
quick heads up, there is a product out there called ColdFire. basically a small extinguisher in a can.
everyone should have one or two around, I don't think they are very expensive.
I will find the link from the firehall and post it in gear reviews tomorrow at work

 

I will put it on the shopping list. Our fire extinguisher is real heavy and expensive to recharge.

 

link here

 

sorry, better one here

 

Fire extinguishers have been on my list forever but keep getting pushed back. When I had old muscle cars I always had one down under the seat, but somewhere along the line I quit worrying about that I guess. And I shouldn't because it's cheap insurance for small fires, especially when you consider we run the propane burners in the garage on a regular basis.

 

Small extinguishers often won't do much to save a structure or a car, but it can buy you a moment to get someone out of danger.

 

I have many extinguishers, dry chem , a few restricted type from years gone by , but the cold fire chem is what will save the structures / buildings , only thing We need is a air supply , so I have 4 hrs of scuba tanks times 2 folks ,that are a dime a dozen when they need to be passed , I fill with dried air , thats good for ? but better than squat. Last check was 5 years ago from my 15 year old expired tank , I didn't notice anything , I needed air for a quick job & used a bit , blead it out & then refilled it with 2009 pollination ..

 

I have scanned alot of pictures and put them online. Fires are really the only thing I worry about here. Storms, basically you just wait them out in a safe and stocked location. Fires basically go wherever they want, once they get started. And even with the most experienced of firefighting teams, the fires can still jump the line and go even more out of control.

 

I just picked up a fire safe for documents, and I have four wall mounted fire extinguishers, in place, and two more loose and in storage. Hoses front and rear, both have sidewalk nozzles, which produce a thin stream for a long distance. My house is all wood, so fire is a concern, although our fire department is both close and quite good at what they do.

 

And then think it belongs to them. My ex son-in-law got my pressure washer that way

 

My preps mirror a lot here. Now, with my Father having passed away a little over a year ago, I have my elderly Mother to look out for. She has a good stout concrete block home less than ten miles from me, so my current plan for coming storm is to get my property secured, then get to her place. I'll take my portable genset along to keep her fridge going as necessary. Also her C-pap machine, and the bedroom AC if the weather is hot. She keeps plenty of canned and dry food in stock so no worries there. No trees close enough to the house to worry about falling. I will take some seven gallon jugs of water. If the city water is compromised/offline, I can bring my larger genset to power the old well pump - it is still used for yard irrigation. So water there isn't too much a worry. The last plots of local forest have fallen to make way for 'progress'(home tracts) so no real worries about forest fires there. I do have that worry at my place, as I live on the edge of the National Forest.