Category: Fire Prevention/Fighting

Three Letters Re: Turning One Town’s Junk Into This Man’s Treasure

James: That was an excellent article by A. Arizonan! As a former newspaper deliverer (rural route in the American Redoubt), I would like to add that there are benefits to delivering or subscribing to newspapers. As a deliverer who serviced home customers and coin-op boxes, I could amass “extra” or “unsold” paper to the tune of about 300 to 500 pounds a month. To this day I still have about 2000 pounds in storage. I’d have more but I can’t properly store any more. The added benefit of my former route was that I got to meet a lot of …


Odds And Ends That You Won’t Want To Be Without, by Sonny Jim

I believe in having all the “big” things, to prepare for the possible breakdown of civil society.   I have a large home outside of a small mid-west town, and expect 12 people to arrive to hunker down, if things do fall apart.  I need to be able to feed and supply of them, perhaps for years. So I have 1,200 gallons of Kerosene.  This is intended for heating the home for 3 winters, and I have 3 Kerosene heaters to do the job.  The Kerosene is stored in in 3 large 330 gallon plastic totes, half buried in my back …


Some Observations on Non-Electric Lighting, by Ron B.

INTRODUCTION I began work in Toronto on August 1, 2003.  The lights went out three weeks later.  The entire Northeast was dark for several days. The company had provided us with three months of free housing.  By my standards it was quite posh ¾ pool privileges, chandeliers, weekly maid service.  But we knew nobody, had little food in the cupboard, and no local currency.  (Then again the cash registers didn’t work anyway.)  When the sun went down it got dark and stayed dark.  We had no light of any kind.  Granted, the two huge candlesticks on the mantle were a …


Letter Re: Tire Bale Bastions and Houses?

Hi, Doing some research on earth domes and I’m seeing a new trend, tire bales. These are 5 feet long, 5 feet wide, and 2.5 feet tall. They weigh 2,000 pounds apiece. They are environmentally friendly, being sold for $25-35 a unit plus shipping. I’m planning on using them around the houses perimeter as I feel they are much less expensive and more durable than a masonry wall. Covered in concrete or adobe they won’t be an aesthetic issue either. I was wondering what your opinion of them would be as a ballistic barrier/wall? Keep up the great work. – …


Letter Re: Testing a Breath of Life Emergency Mask

Hi James, I recently attended a close quarters battle (CQB) training course with a company here in the United States. After the course, I was very kindly ‘gifted’ a ‘Breath of Life’ emergency mask. I was very grateful for this gesture, and curious as to this product. Luckily, as a volunteer fire fighter, I got the chance to try this mask’ effectiveness during one of our training sessions, which can be seen here. I must say, I was incredibly impressed with this product, and as a long time reader of your excellent site, feel it maybe of interest to your …


Some Useful Government Training, by David N. From Tennessee

Just like everybody else, I am unique. In the disaster prepper field I am unique in that I am both a diehard personal prepper and a college trained emergency management professional.  I did not become one because of the other; my personal preparedness mindset comes from my parents, as well as my internal system of ethics and belief structure.  My career path grew out of my military and correction background.  However, even though they are separate, I find that my skills in one translate to the other even though the goals of the two are not always identical. I would …


Letter Re: Making Good Use of the Hissing Well

Mr. Rawles, A s a distributor of oil and gas parts, it warmed my heart to read R.J.’s article. I would note a couple of things, however. First, when you reduce the pressure of gas you also reduce its temperature. In the aforementioned case, that pressure reduction would drop the temperature by around 10 degrees F. Ordinarily this isn’t a problem, but in the winter an already-cold regulator could seize or internal parts could break. With higher pressures, the problem becomes much more significant. To solve this problem, most installers would use two regulators with some pipe between them. Each …


Making Good Use of the Hissing Well, by R.J.

When shopping for our retreat property a few years ago our family was looking for something that could sustain several families besides our own and have as many features common to a retreat that most readers would recognize as desirable for TEOTWAWKI.  Water, security, location, population, soil, and local wildlife (four and two legged) were all things we were concerned with.  When we came across our current retreat property we were shown what was supposed to be a 400 foot deep, 10 Gallon Per Minute (GPM) well.  Luckily we were serious and bought a new pump and had a well …


Two Letters Re: Blending In–Unremarkable and Invisible Architecture

Sir, Happy Independence Day to you and your family. Concerning underground tanks for fuel storage, most states require both lining systems and cathodic protection to prevent leakage into the ground and or ground water. I fully agree with the defensive sense, being a veteran of the US Army and most of my time serving in the Infantry, having prepared many a defensive position.   As such for OPSEC, finding a discreet contractor may present a challenge, and of course the local county may get interested, Hopefully not too much. – Grog   JWR Replies: Cathodic zinc anodes (commonly called “sacrificial …


Preventive Maintenance, Medicine, and Measures, by Jason A.

As the saying goes “preventive medicine is the best medicine”, this can be said for many aspects in life. Why wait until something happens to fix it? Why not perform proper maintenance procedures so you don’t have to fix it? Frankly, before I became a prepper, I’ve always found this approach to be best. It can save you time, money, frustration. Even if something is going to break no matter what, with preventive procedures, you can sometimes see it coming, therefore fixing or changing a part. From a prepper’s perspective, preventive measures are a necessity. The U.S. military puts an …


Letter Re: Joining Your Local Volunteer Fire Department

Mr. Rawles, Thank you for all you do. I cherish my daily visits to SurvivalBlog. The recent letter titled “Living in a Small Town – An Australian Perspective” by Margaret G. inspired me to write you. We moved from a large city to place just outside a small town a year ago. We are just now being accepted as part of the community. I agree very much with Margaret G.! Another thing I can add is joining the local Volunteer Fire Department. Through the dept and a lot of hard work we find ourselves a part of the community. Because …


Build Your Own Wood Gas Generating Stove

What will you do when your fuel runs out, or your energy system fails? How about burning wood? I used to dismiss burning things for energy off-hand as a dirty and wasteful heating tool, nothing more – not a source of actual power or energy.  However, learning what I have in the past few months has given me a new appreciation for this readily-available resource.  My perspective was changed somewhat, and it was kind of a shock to me, because i’m pretty open-minded to alternative solutions.  My mindset is this: until I have a wealth of  food and supplies in …


Some Woodstove Experience, by C.V.Z.

Being without electricity in the middle winter is cold. We didn’t have any heat during an ice storm. With that winter in mind, we finally purchased a wood stove for heat and cooking opportunities. As the wife and mother, I had this horrible image of an old black pot bellied stove belching smoke and catching the roof on fire. I could hear the neighbors complaining about the smell and my kids going to school smelling like they had just burned down the house. Images of black walls and ceilings and truck loads of firewood haunted me with every winter wind. …


Letter Re: Forever Preps – Preparations You Can Buy Once, and Have Forever

JWR, Thanks and God Bless for your wonderful blog. You do mankind a great good every day your site is up and passing information to the masses. Please keep it coming. I find it a rare and surprising occurrence when my real world work experience and professional knowledge actually prove some use to the on-going threads found at SurvivalBlog. Since I’m a career Maitre’ de in fine dining restaurants, it really isn’t surprising; I seriously doubt anyone will be worried about wine vintages or the proper service of escargot after TSHTF. However I was pleasantly surprised after I read Andrew …


Three Letter Re: Using Tea Candles for Urban Low Light

Dear Sir,   I’ve been making “permanent” candles for years, using empty cat food cans, pipe cleaners, and store-bought paraffin wax. The cans are quite stable and, because of their volume, the wicks don’t “float” until they’ve been burning a long time. Rotating candles solves that problem. The wicks don’t burn up – they wick – unless you touch them and knock the built-up carbon off them. If that happens, you can easily repair them using lint from a clothes dryer – a good thing to have anyway. The candles must be fed to keep ‘em burning and to adjust …