What to do during a Fire
What to do During a Fire If your clothes catch on fire, you should:
Stop, drop, and roll – until the fire is extinguished. Running only makes the fire burn faster.
To escape a fire, you should:
Check closed doors for heat before you open them. If you are escaping through a closed door, use the back of your hand to feel the top of the door, the doorknob, and the crack between the door and door frame before you open it. Never use the palm of your hand or fingers to test for heat – burning those areas could impair your ability to escape a fire (i.e., ladders and crawling).
Test the door before entering a room! Hot Door Do not open. Escape through a window. If you cannot escape, hang a white or light-colored sheet outside the window, alerting fire fighters to your presence. Cold Door Open slowly and ensure fire and/or smoke is not blocking your escape route. If your escape route is blocked, shut the door...
Brake Failure
Brake Failure If brakes fail while driving, change gear and apply the handbrake. You must do several things at once: take your foot off the accelerator, flick the switch of your warning lights, pump the foot-brake rapidly (it may still connect), change down through the gears and apply handbrake pressure. Don’t slam the brake on, begin with gentle bursts, gradually braking harder until you stop. If there is no time for all this, take your foot off the accelerator and change down through the gears – and grab the handbrake – but DON’T apply maximum pressure until you are sure that you won’t skid. Look out for escape lanes and places where you can leave the road, preferably a soft bank or a turn-in that has an uphill slope. If speed remains unchecked, on a steep hill for example, brush the car along guard-rails or wall to reduce speed. Take advantage of a vehicle in front and use it to stop you – run into it as...
Food Stores
Storing Food Storing food is a good habit to get into, especially if you live in an isolated place, which can become completely cut-off. If you have a year’s food supply in store, and add to it as you use it, you will not only be able to survive the worst but will be able to live at last year’s prices. The stock does not have to be established in one go. Build it up gradually, taking advantage of special offers in supermarkets. Buy an extra tin or packet and put it by. Store your foods in a cool, dry, dark place and off the ground – moisture and heat cause bacteria and molds. If stores are left on the floor insects and rodents will help themselves. Make sure that all containers are insect- and rodent-proof. REMEMBER: Rotate cans, so that the contents do not settle, and separate. Label each can or packet with a color-fast waterproof pen, noting contents and date of storage....
Car Sinking Under Water
CAR SINKING UNDER WATER You don’t have to drive off a bridge to experience the terror of sinking underwater in a car. Flash floods can be just as deadly — a car could start floating away in only 2 feet of water. Either way, once the water starts pouring into your vehicle, you need to keep your cool while acting quickly. First, unfasten your seat belt. That may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised at the number of drowning victims who never unbuckled themselves. Then, before the electricity shorts out, roll down the windows. THAT’S RIGHT, ROLL DOWN THE WINDOWS This may seem a suicidal act as you sit in a sinking car. But the point is to equalize the water pressure inside and outside the vehicle. If your sinking car stays full of air, there’s no way you’ll be able to open the door. If you still can’t get the door open and windows won’t roll down, find a heavy object, a flashlight or the headrest...
Car on Railroad Tracks
CAR ON RAILROAD TRACKS If a car breaks down on a railroad crossing, put it into gear and use the starter motor to jerk it clear. This will work with a manual transmission vehicle but not with an automatic. If a train is approaching abandon the car, carry children or infirm persons to safety and stay away – about 50yds (45m) should be far enough – because if a train is traveling at high speed it could throw car wreckage quite a distance. If there is no train visible, or you can see one several miles in the distance, you must try to avoid the collision. If the car can be moved by pushing, push it clear of all tracks – you cannot be sure which one the train will be on. If there is an emergency telephone, call 911. If not, walk up the tracks towards the train. Stand well to one side (high speed trains have quite a slipstream) and wave...
How to Survive a Plane Crash
How to Survive a Plane Crash People generally believe that no one survives a plane crash. But according to government data, 95.7% of the passengers involved in airplane crashes categorized as accidents actually survive. Then, if you look at the most serious plane crashes, that’s a smaller number; the survival rate in the most serious kinds of accidents is 76.6%. So the point there is, when the NTSB [National Transportation Safety Board] analyzed all the airplane accidents between 1983 and 2000, 53,000 people were involved in those accidents, and 51,000 survived. That’s an incredibly high survival rate. The Five Row Rule. When a professor in England, Ed Galea, analyzed the seating charts of more than 100 plane crashes and interviewed 1,900 survivors and 155 cabin-crew members, he discovered that survivors usually move an average of five rows before they can get off a burning aircraft. That’s the cutoff. In his view — and he’s done a lot of statistical analysis — the people who...
Tips for Using Your Cell Phone
Tips for using your cell phone during or after a disaster.
Long distance calls may be easier to place than local calls. Text messages are more likely to go through than calls, but they may have a long delay. Text messaging will still allow a 2-way conversation when service is sporadic. When cell phone towers get overloaded, carriers may stop all data and non-emergency voice calls, but allow text messaging. ...
Have a Plan to Survive
Have a Plan To Survive By Soni Pitts One of the biggest heartbreaks surrounding the Hurricane Katrina aftermath is the lack of preparation made for such a large-scale evacuation – and the despair of those who have become separated from their loved ones in the midst of the chaos and who have no idea if they are safe, or even alive. Don’t be caught unprepared if a disaster strikes your family. Before you need it, you and your family should have a plan in place for reaching safety and for keeping the others apprised of your situation. Don’t rely on rescue workers and relief organizations to provide for your family’s safety, or to be able to tell you whether or not they are okay. These organizations, if they’re even present, will almost assuredly be overwhelmed and understaffed. They will be dealing with the situation in a triage manner of prioritization and even if they are able to help locate family members, their information may...