| Warmth You and your family are now huddled in a safe haven. The world around you is collapsing. Chaos and looting are the rule. You may or may not have electricity. You may not have natural gas. For the first days after the attack, you should plan on having enough blankets for everyone to stay warm and comfortable. In cold weather, heavy hunting socks make great house slippers and can be added in layers to stay warm. The danger of using the fireplace or space heaters comes in carbon monoxide poisoning as well as pulling outside air into the home. Your gas water heater and furnace are designed to pull a certain amount of outside air in. Also, your house was designed to �breathe�. Even with doors and windows shut, you have outside contaminated air infiltrating your home. Shut off the furnace and gas water heater, it may save your life. After the outside air is know to be free from airborne chemicals or fallout, space heaters and fireplaces make adequate heat sources provided you properly ventilate the house. By the way, get yourself a CO and smoke alarm combination. It is the best protection you can find for the money. Safe Haven Let me talk for a minute about the safe haven. If you have a room such as the master bedroom that has a walk in closet with toilet nearby, you will have a more comfortable time. Otherwise, chemical toilets are the safest approach. Don�t pick a location where you or the children will have to stray outside the view of the safe room. There are positively pressured safe havens made of NBC impervious materials and filter the incoming air. Seriously consider that kind of protection or positively pressurized gas masks. Children do not have the lung capacity to pull air through the filters and require a power system to pump filtered air into their masks. However, masks are a short-term solution. Even if you do not get the nerve gas on you, it may not dissipate immediately. You will not be able to sleep in a gas mask. Filtered rooms provide that added protection. Somewhere in this room, you should have storage space for the food, water and supplies. If an attack comes, you won�t have time to run around and start gathering it all together. You can put most of the items in Rubbermaid bins and place them on a shelf or stack them. If you get real creative, stack them and put a piece of plywood and a table throw over it. Add a lamp and you have a decorative night stand. Lighting You may have electricity and this could be a non-issue. However, the people that run the power station may have been incapacitated and you could lose power. Candles and oil lamps provide heat and light but also use fresh air and leave deadly CO. Battery powered camp lights give you a safe, clean light for many hours. You should plan on having at least 4 battery changes for each light. The night gets very dark without it. Flashlights (plural) and 4 sets of batteries would be advisable. After you know the outside air is safe, you can revert to oil lanterns with proper ventilation. Plan on keeping an ample supply of oil and an extra wick or two. Supplies In addition to batteries, you will need a variety of items depending on your family. Let me list a few as a minimum: Fire extinguisher, first aid kit, matches or lighters, personal medicines, toilet paper, utensils for eating, can opener, combination knife/tool, cups or glasses, paper towel, personal hygiene wipes, feminine products, towels, bedding, pillows, garbage bags, liquid antibacterial soap, basic tools, toothbrush and toothpaste (ever go 7 days without one?) You will need a �grey water� disposal container. Water used to wash or clean up has to go somewhere and you shouldn�t plan of dumping it outside the safe room. A 5 gallon bucket with lid is ideal. Most home centers sell them. If you have a toilet in the room, the bucket could be much smaller. |