If the massive combined fire suppression ever stops for even a year massive fires will rip across the United States. Fuel loading from over 70 years of fire suppression and no natural burn-off has made conditions ripe for fires never seen before in North America. Even if your only survival concerns are foreign invasion or occupation expect fire to be used (as was
attempted but failed during the Vietnam Agent Orange defoliation ops) to clear insurgents out of unsettled areas and deny them cover and natural resources.
This is a massive topic and this post can only give you areas to begin study.
1-Thin the vegetation as far as you are practical able to in the area
of your home/retreat ideally this would be a county or community effort
and the USFS or State Forestry
Agency may be able to assist. Ideally, undergrowth would be burned
off and trees closer than 5-10M to another
would be removed to slow spread through a forest crown fire.
2-Create a perimeter around your home grass must be mowed to a stubble
and raked off, no trees can be within 10M of the house any building
or fuel tank.
Try to eliminate flammable trees in the nearby areas to your home and
plant less flammable types.
3-Switch to a non flammable roof now, shake roofs are tinder and
are almost a guarantee of a burned home in a fire
4-Make active suppression preparations:
-
Install a irrigation
system, include the roofs and under the eaves of your buildings in
this sprinkler installation
- Install a swimming pool or cistern to provide a large supply of water
- Have a portable or installed gas powered water pump 250gpm is a good
rate more will support more hand lines but any is better than none
have a store of 1.5" supply line as well as 1" fire and 3/4" fire
(with garden hose fittings) types, nozzles, adapters, splitters etc
will round out the hardware. Standardize [fittings] with local
fire or fed/state agencies who would respond. BTW, it is best
to mark [with a distinctive bright paint color] all of your hardware
to prevent
theft
after a
fire by the crews.
A excellent preparation to keep you whole home with pressurized water
in the event of a prolonged outage is making a water tower and relying
on head pressure to feed both your home and fire suppression systems.
This is as simple as hanging plastic barrels on a tree trunk or as
complex as complex as having contractors install a proper water tower.
For the improvised tower remember the filled weight of your water (1
gal = 8.33 lbs. and 55 gal = 458 lbs.) and fence around the tower in
case of collapse so that nobody is injured.
Here in Israel I have seen the same "pumpkin" tanks that
we used in the Forest Service, but built to larger dimensions and more
aesthetic colors
and sold as swimming pools. Above
ground or in ground is a matter of your pocketbook but be sure that
you are able to properly draft to supply your fire operations.
Clothing
Nomex is best, USFS surplus
or military flight suits are good as long as no metal zippers contact
skin, the next best is cotton, Never wear synthetics or synthetic
blends for use around fire.
Boots/Gloves
Never wear steel toe boots for fire fighting, because the steel will
hold heat. Kevlar laces do not melt or burn. Keep boots and gloves
dry to prevent steam burns. White's brand were
the best in my day this may have changed. Good leather gloves light
enough to work in, do not oil them keep them dry buy as large a supply
as possible, kevlar stitching and double palm is a plus.
Gear
Buy a fire shelter for every family member plus extras, have several
fire shovels (different than cheap garden/work shovels) and Pulaskies
(hoe/axe tool), a helmet should always be worn during heavy work, and
possibly
blagger bags will help mop up after a fire has gone through. Also,
a chainsaw adequate for cutting the local timber and the skills
to use and maintain it are a must.
JWR Adds: David speaks from experience. Heed
his advice. Most of you may not be aware, but before he emigrated
to Israel, David
worked in the U.S. for many years as a full time fireman, and
later as a paramedic.
My $.02
worth on fire suppression/fire fighting: If you are building
a retreat from scratch or if you are replacing an existing water
system,
I recommend that you spend
a little bit more an put in a large cistern, preferably
with gravity feed with a substantial head, and put in a 2" diameter
Schedule 40 service line
to the
house. Just
outside of the house put in a "T" on the two inch line
with a 2"
gate valve. (Downstream of that "T" is where
you can reduced to 1" or smaller lines for your house.) Those
2" gate valves are outrageously expensive--around $50 each), so
shop around--perhaps buy them used. At
the big gate valve you can attach a proper high volume fire fighting
hose rig. Effective firefighting is all about dispensing a
large VOLUME of water,
fast. Anything smaller than a 2" diameter
line will not suffice! (Okay,
perhaps 1.5 inch line if you are on a tight budget.)
