GROUP 1 Safety Page
Power Outage and General Emergencies
Safety Officer - 1st LT. Kelly Sies
Power Outage and General Emergencies
People
that are prepared for a power outage are also prepared for many other
types of disasters. Extra emphasis to power outages is given in this
section because of its universal application in every emergency. You are
strongly encouraged to be prepared for a power outage, and should test
their ability to cope with a disaster when they happen. Food, water, heat
and light are basic essentials to have on hand during a power outage or
any emergency.
A power outage can be caused by a simple downed power
line. However, weather conditions such as high winds, ice and snow, can
also cause power failures. During a severe power outage, you may be
directed to stay in your home and use it for a “shelter in place”. Keep a
72 hour kit on hand with an emergency radio tuned to a local station for
information (weather and/or news) your 72 hour kit should also have enough
food and water to last at least 72 hours. For longer power outages, which
have been reported as lasting a week or longer, use your 3 month supply.
Refrigeration
All common home refrigerators run on electricity.
Without it, food spoils rather quickly in warm weather. If you have a
power outage in the winter, you can move the most perishable items in the
snow (if you have snow). However, if the power outage happens in the
spring, summer or fall, then the most essential foods can be moved to a
small cooler as long as there is ice available to keep
them cool. We suggest that people keep as least two
bags of ice in their freezer at all time so that they can be used to keep
essential foods from spoiling. If the power outage is in a large area,
the stores will also be out of electricity and also out of ice.
Generators
If you are thinking of a generator, remember that
generators take fuel. In a power outage, gas stations will not be able to
pump fuel. If there is a limited supply of fuel it may be put to a better
purpose, such as driving someone to the hospital. So, if you plan on
getting a generator, remember that a small generator, rated at no more
than 1000 watts, and no less than 800 watts will power a refrigerator and
some lights. But you should store at least 15 gallons of gasoline. It
simply may be more hassle than its worth.
Cooking
If you plan to cook some meals, you won’t be able
to use an electric stove. A camp stove is a good alternative or even an
outside barbecue with a side burner will work. Camp stoves can be found
for very little money. Most of them run on small propane bottles that can
easily be stored. You’ll need at least one small bottle per day for
cooking warming up or cooking a family meal twice a day. You also need to
store a way to light the stove. Both lighters and matches should also be
stored as a means to light the stove. The less you cook the better! The
more you cook, the more pots and pans need to be washed with you precious
supply of water.
Purifying Contaminated Water
The best way to avoid the problems associated with
contaminated water is to have your own water storage before a disaster
happens. Generally speaking, you can base your storage water needs on one
gallon (roughly 4 liters) of water per person per day for drinking and
hygiene use. If you should
find that your water supply is non-existent, you should
consider emergency methods to purify the existing sources of water you do
find. If the power is out, it’s possible that your city water is not
being purified. If you have a well on your property, with no electricity,
the pump won’t work. If this happens, you’ll need to find city water, or
another source of water, and purify it. Boiling water is one way of
purifying it. The method below uses the boiling technique as well as
chorine bleach to purify it after boiling.
A. Filter water using a piece of cloth or a
coffee filter to remove solid particles.
B. Bring water to a rolling boil and maintain
for a minimum of 10 minutes. For every 1000 feet above sea level, add one
minute of boiling to the initial 10 minutes. If the water pot is covered,
it will shorten the time to reach a boil.
C. Let it cool at least 30 minutes. Water must
be cool for next step (chlorine treatment) or it will be useless.
D. Treat the water: You can use Liquid Chlorine
Bleach to purify water. This method must be 5.25% or 6% Sodium
Hypochlorite (like Clorox Regular Bleach) and contain NO soap, fragrance
or phosphates. Measuring by drops is more accurate and the preferred
method. If want to purify 1 GALLON / 4 LITERS of water, add 16 drops (1/4
tsp. / 1.25ml) chlorine. If you want to purify 5 GALLONS / 19 LITERS
WATER, Add 80 drops (1 tsp. / 5ml) chlorine.
E. Let it stand for 30 minutes.
F. If it smells of chlorine, use it. If it does
not have a chlorine scent, add 16 more drops of chlorine bleach per gallon
of water (or 8 drops per 2-liter bottle of water), let stand 30 minutes,
and smell it again. If it smells of chlorine, use it. If it does not,
discard it and find another source of water.
Also, if you use too much water for hygiene, you’ll
have less to drink. So, you might consider storing some sanitizing gel to
wash your hands with. We also suggest that you keep storage of
disposable plates, cups, forks and knives. The less water is used to wash
dishes, the more that will be available for more important needs. How
much is needed for Sanitation? In a short term emergency, the
biggest concern is how to flush toilets. That’s why we
suggest that you fill you bath tubs with water immediately following a
power outage and keep them full and use this water to flush toilets. Pool
water can also be used. Remember this water should be considered
non-drinkable, but serves its purpose for flushing toilets in the short
term. If you use this method, you’ll need a bucket to move the water from
the bath tub to the toilet.
Candles & Flashlights
Flashlights
are handy for when you want to direct light at a certain spot, and are
very safe when you need to carry a light from place to place. Keep several
flashlights with extra sets of batteries so there is at least one per
every two people in your house. If they use the same size of batteries,
then you’ll only need to store one type. Flashlights don’t work well for
lighting a room for a long period of time. For that, we recommend
candles in glass jars, which are safer than bare candles. Store plenty of
them and a way to light them.
Telephones
Local telephone companies have a battery back up
system that helps them keep phones working for at least several hours.
However, most of these telephone central offices do NOT have a generator.
So, once the battery back up system is depleted, local phones will no
longer work. It’s important to get your calls taken care of in the
beginning of an electrical outage. Call Home as soon as possible in the
beginning of a power outage. Many people would rather rely on cell
phones. Cell phone towers also have a battery back up and may not have
generators.
Cash on hand
When the
power is out, ATMs and computers and the networks they operate on will not
work. Therefore, it’s important to keep at least $20 of cash per person
on hand. Radio For news and information, a good portable radio with extra
batteries is a good thing to have on hand. Tune to listen for local news
and information
Family Communications
In the event of total cell phone/land line failure
such as a long term power failure, we recommend each family has a least a
set of FRS to serve as a back-up communications method between family
members. Family Radio Service (FRS) is one of the Citizens Band Radio
Services. It is used by family, friends and associates to communicate
within a neighborhood and while on group outings. It
has a communications range of less than one mile. You
can not make a telephone call with an FRS unit. You can talk to other
family members or friends within its range.
FRS radios have a set of channels (1-14) with a subset
of interference eliminator codes (1-39) (or more depending on brand and
model) which leaves at least 546 privacy possibilities. For example, if
you wished to talk to someone, you would need to know in advance what
channel and what interference eliminator code they were using. Then,
simply tune your FRS radio to that, and FRS communications would be
possible.
FRS radios do not work well when large groups of people
are close together all trying to use the radios to communicate between
their respective family members on the same channel. In an emergency, this
is a possibility at evacuation centers. This is also true with any
two-way radio, including HAM radios, but because of the limited number of
channels, and the popularity of FRS radios, it’s certainly more possible
with FRS radios.
Two-way radios only work as long as their batteries
have power. Many FRS radios have up to 10 hours of talk time.
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Last revised:
23 December 2009.