Monday, 10 May 2021

Emergency Preparedness Month - High River, AB (May 2021)

Sunrise on the Rockies (photo by V.A. McMillan 2021)

Last week was National Emergency Preparedness Week in Canada (https://thegoodplanblog.blogspot.com/2021/05/emergency-preparedness-week-02-08-may.html). This week is the start of week two of Emergency Preparedness Month for the Town of High River, Alberta.

As I look westward to the Rockies, they are glistening in this morning's sunrise, covered in a fresh cap of snow from the weekend. While out here on the prairie we received mostly rain all weekend, the mountains received mostly snow. I haven't checked recently to see where the snow pack is, but we are reaching that time of year when a couple weeks of warm weather could melt all the Winter's snows in the mountains and send it into the tributaries of the local river systems. Melt too fast and there can be high water issues. Melt too fast and accompany with heavy rains for a week or so and it will be flood season.

This is the whole point of devoting a month to emergency preparedness, keep preparedness fresh in the minds of town folk. Then if heavy rains in June wreak havoc on the river systems folks will remember everything they learned or refreshed during Emergency Preparedness Month. Or that is the theory.

Here is what is currently on the Town's website to educate and inform the town folk:

You can find that at https://highriver.ca/emergency-prep

If you follow the link to High River - Be Prepared (https://highriver.ca/be-prepared) you will find this as your starting point for gathering focused information on emergency preparedness. See screenshot below:

There is common messaging being shared in this educational campaign - Know your neighbours, Prepare a kit, and Focus on wellness. Knowing one's neighbours is a great starting point. When you do not know whom your neighbours are, then a small part of community is lost. Since success to surviving a disaster is community response; if you are not part of the community it will be more difficult. Start small, get to know the neighbours to the left of you and the right of you. Slowly, get to know a few more. Maybe have a block party or neighbourhood BBQ...build bridges and friendships.

Remember, when developing your family emergency plan you need to think about a shelter-in-place (SIP) plan, a Get Out Of Dodge (GOOD) plan, and a "I'm never coming home" (INCH) plan. Here are a few links to past posts that may help:

SIP GOOD INCH

https://thegoodplanblog.blogspot.com/2018/02/sip-good-inch-three-parts-of-family.html

Evacuation Checklist

https://thegoodplanblog.blogspot.com/2019/07/evacuation-checklist-appendix-n-for.html

GO! Bag - Pack List

https://thegoodplanblog.blogspot.com/2019/08/urban-go-bag-pack-lists.html

Survival Mindset (from Mountainman's Mantra Blog)

https://mtnmanblog.blogspot.com/2014/01/adapt-improvise-overcome-survival.html

Well with flood season, potentially, only weeks away now is a great time to review your family's emergency plan and make sure all the information is up-to-date and any changes have been written down. Have insurance policies or identification been updated?? Have phone contact lists noted the addition or reduction of family or friends contact numbers?? Email addresses?? Have you taken recent photos of your home?? Inside and outside?? Changed vehicles lately?? Photos??

Remember to update the digital copy of important family documents that are on your USB drive in your GO! Bag.

Stay alert, stay vigilant, and stay alive!

VAM

Monday, 3 May 2021

A GOOD Water Bottle Pouch & Kit

Sunrise on the Rockies (Photo by V.A. McMillan 2021)

Welcome to Emergency Preparedness Week 2021 in Canada. Time to re-visit the concept of hydration and taking your water with you - whether on a hike or an evacuation. Back in 2012 on Mountainman's Mantra this topic was briefly explored: https://mtnmanblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/gearing-up-part-2-gear-vests.html

Water Bottle Options

Since, 2012, many options have appeared in the water bottle market. Water bladders of every type seem to dominate the field. But old school "bottles" do have their place in your water carrying strategy, especially if you find yourself overdue on a wilderness outing or bugged out of your home.

The Nalgene water bottle is only slightly newer than a military canteen. With good reason, it does NOT leak!! Very important if you travel in rough country and cannot spend all your time ensuring your water bottle stays upright, to prevent leaks.

Today we are going to look at a water bottle system that centres around the Nalgene 1-litre plastic bottle. Further, if I understand things correctly, the Nalgene 32-ounce family of wide mouth bottles and the Nalgene stainless steel 38-ounce water bottle are the same outside diameter, and should fit the system I am about to describe.

The Nalgene Water Bottle System for Emergency Preparedness & Wilderness Survival

Water Bottle System

The system consists of:

1x Tactical Water Bottle Pouch (pictured is from Amazon.ca)
1x Nalgene 1-litre wide mouth water bottle
1x Canteen Cup with Lid (pictured is from Amazon.ca)
1x Esbit Folding Stove (about 75mm x 95mm)
2x Mylar Blankets (available on Amazon.ca)

The Whole Kit

Upgrades to consider:

Fire Kit - BIC lighter/matches/ESBIT fuel tablets
P-51 can opener or Coghlan's folding can opener
Silcox Key to open water valves in an emergency
Water purification tablets

The one big advantage of the military style canteen and canteen cup or this Nalgene bottle and cup is that when needed you already have a pot to boil your water - the canteen cup. The fact this one has a lid means you will use less fuel getting your water to boil than just an open top pot.

The Esbit stove can burn Esbit fuel tablets, hexamine tablets, or any solid fuel - twigs, pine cones, charcoal briquets. The stove weighs next to nothing and when folded for transport can carry Esbit fuel tablets inside. It is compact about 3" x 4" x 1", actually a bit smaller. The Esbit can support either a military canteen cup or the Nalgene cup.

Canteen Cup for Nalgene Bottles on Esbit Stove

The Esbit stove and the two Mylar blankets store on the outside pocket of the Tactical Water Bottle Pouch. There is still room for a fire kit, spoon, P-51 can opener, and a few other goodies.

The Mylar blankets are handy in a survival situation to prevent cooling too fast in windy or damp conditions. They reflect body heat, infrared heat from a fire, and they reflect light. So, they are multi-purpose. Anyone sitting in the open on a sunny day covered in a Mylar blanket would be much easier for rescue teams to spot from the ground and from search and rescue aircraft.

The Tactical Water Bottle Pouch - With Everything Packed Inside

The Tactical Water Bottle Pouch hold it all. The pouch can be carried on a shoulder strap attached to the "D" rings or clipped with the HK Clip to a "D" ring or attached with the MOLLE straps to a day pack or ruck sack. The materials were of a quality that should last years and the construction quality was equally durable.

What emergency preparedness projects are you working on this Emergency Preparedness Week??

Stay alert, stay alive!!

VAM.

Saturday, 1 May 2021

Emergency Preparedness Week 02 - 08 May 2021 - Canada's Annual Preparedness Checkup

2021 Emergency Preparedness Week - Image from The Government of Canada Website

Welcome to Emergency Preparedness Week 2021 (02-08 May 2021)!! This is the annual Canadian checkup on emergency preparedness by your governments and our fellow citizens.

Public Safety Canada has crafted some fine looking posters to catch everyone's attention. I have included a couple here, with permission from the collection of shareable images from the Government of Canada website: https://www.getprepared.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/ep-wk/tlkt-en.aspx#shr-pg4

With the strain and stress of 2020 behind us, it is time to look forward and this is a perfect time to review and update your family emergency plan. In 2020, what worked?? What didn't?? What improvements does your family need to make?? This is a great week to add those updates to your plan!!

Remember, no one is going to be looking out for your family better than YOU! You are the boss and champion for the survival and success of your family. If you do not do so already, I would recommend that you add to your list of duties - researching current events and learn for yourself what makes sense for you, your family and your situation. As a popular meme floating around the internet states: If you cannot question it, it is NOT science it is propaganda. The only defence against propaganda and misinformation is to get informed and learn the facts, not the narrative.

If you or anyone you know is looking for a guide to help with emergency planning, The G.O.O.D. Plan - Get Out Of Dodge is available for Kindle devices from Amazon, right here: https://www.amazon.ca/Plan-Dodge-Official-Field-Manual-ebook/dp/B087CCH4H8/. The GOOD Plan is a guide to help you and your family develop, practice, and action your own emergency evacuation plan as part of your complete family emergency plan. Remember every family emergency plan consists of three sub-plans: The Shelter-in-Place Plan (SIP), The Evacuations Plan (GOOD), and the I'm Never Coming Home Plan (INCH). I wrote about this before (https://thegoodplanblog.blogspot.com/2018/02/sip-good-inch-three-parts-of-family.html).

Thank you for your continued support of my blog and be safe out there!!

VAM

#EPWeek2021 #ReadyforAnything

PS - Here is a look at the Public Safety Canada webpage for Emergency Preparedness Week 2021 (Source: https://www.getprepared.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/ep-wk/index-en.aspx)

About Emergency Preparedness Week

Take action so that you, your family, and your community are prepared for emergencies.

Emergency Preparedness Week (EP Week) is a national event supported by Public Safety Canada, working closely with provincial and territorial emergency management organizations, Indigenous organizations, non-governmental organizations, and private sector who support activities at the local level. An annual event for over 25 years, it traditionally takes place during the first full week of May.

Emergency Preparedness Week 2021

May 2 - 8, 2021

Everyone has a role to play in an emergency. EP Week is an opportunity for you to take action to ensure you are prepared to protect yourself, your family and your community during an emergency. This year, the theme is Emergency Preparedness: Be Ready for Anything. The intent of this theme is to encourage Canadians to take action to become better prepared for the range of emergencies they could face in their region.

This national event is coordinated by Public Safety Canada, in close collaboration with the provinces and territories and partners.

Get Involved - Participate in our EP Week Challenge for a chance to win an emergency kit

This year, you have a chance to win an emergency preparedness kit by joining our online social media challenge. All you have to do is share a tip or picture showing how you’re helping to make you and your family better prepared to cope during an emergency, and use the hashtag #ReadyforAnything.

It can be as simple as making an emergency kit with items found around your home, creating a family emergency plan, or becoming more informed about the hazards in your area.

Before entering, please consult the rules and regulations.

Resources

For more information, please contact info@GetPrepared.ca or call 1-800-830-3118.