Preparedness Tips

Before Winter Storms and Extreme Cold

• Be sure the following supplies are in your emergency kit:
  • Rock salt or more environmentally safe products to melt ice on walkways.
  • Sand to improve traction.
  • Snow shovels and other snow removal equipment.
  • Sufficient heating fuel. You may become isolated in your home and regular fuel sources may be cut off. Store a good supply of dry, seasoned wood for your fireplace or wood-burning stove.
  • Adequate clothing and blankets to keep you warm.
• Make a family communications plan. It’s important to know how you will contact one another, how you will get back together and what you will do in case of an emergency.
• Listen to a NOAA Weather Radio or other local news channels for critical information from the National Weather Service. Be alert to changing weather conditions.
• Minimize travel. If travel is necessary, keep a disaster supply kit in your vehicle.
• Bring pets inside during winter weather. Move other animals or livestock to sheltered areas with non-frozen, drinking water.

Power Outage Preparedness

Make Sure You Have:

• Bottled water - one gallon per person per day
• Ready-to-eat foods
• Manual can opener
• Battery-operated radio
• Flashlights
• Extra batteries
• Blankets
• First aid kit

1. Never use kerosene or propane heaters inside without proper ventilation. They create dangerous fumes. Also, don't use charcoal in your house or garage.
2. Preserve body heat by wearing multiple layers of clothing. Add a hat and blankets to stay warm. Blankets and towels around your windows and doors help keep the heat in.
3. Protect your pipes during freezing weather by wrapping them with insulation. Also, leave faucets dripping so water won't freeze and crack the pipes.
4. Your full freezer should keep food frozen and safe for about two days when kept closed.
5. If someone in your home is on life support, be sure to have a back-up system and a plan of action for an outage. 

Turn the Clocks Back; Change Batteries & Check Your Kit

When you turn your clocks back, use it as an opportunity to test your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors and change the batteries. It’s also a good time to get prepared for fall and winter by checking your emergency preparedness supplies by:

Making sure your kit still includes at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food items and water (one gallon per person per day), a flashlight, a battery-powered or crank radio, can opener, first aid kit, copies of important documents, and special items such as medications, diapers, and infant formula.

Checking your kit for expired food items. If there have been changes in prescriptions or dietary needs, add new foods and medications as needed. 

When you turn back the clock, take a few extra minutes to ensure that you and your family are better prepared for the unexpected.  

Water Tip:

In an emergency, the bare minimum of water needed is one gallon, per person, per day. That doesn’t include bathing. Individuals are encouraged to store enough water to last a minimum of three days.

Begin storing water now in a cool, dark place. Clear food-grade plastic containers, such as soft drink bottles, are ideal. Other options include fiberglass or enamel-lined metal containers. Never use a container that has previously held toxic substances. Containers for water should be rinsed with a diluted chlorine bleach solution (one part bleach to ten parts water) before use. 

PREPAREDNESS TIP - Among my neighbors are several hundred who recently were forced to evacuate their homes on very short notice by a set of circumstances few would have anticipated. Some chose to shelter in place and take defensive action, while others found themselves isolated wherever they happened to be due to road closures, which remained in place for many hours. Those same closures left some who had been away, cut off from family members and vital resources. Those individuals were unable to return. All of this in an area where cell phone coverage is spotty at the best of times, and where a major power outage had occurred just hours before. 

This series of “cascading contingencies” should remind us all of the importance of having a comprehensive family emergency plan, making our homes resource centers, keeping our evacuation kits up to date, and furnishing our vehicles with such necessities as will provide a level of security and comfort when we can’t get home. – Al Cooper