Category: Fire Prevention/Fighting

Letter Re: Our Experience with a Chimney Fire

Dear James, I have been a Survival Blog reader and Ten Cent Challenge subscriber for about a year or so. Thanks for all you do. The advice I read in SurvivalBlog from a rural firefighter — to keep on hand a 10 pound bag of baking soda to throw on the fire in case of a chimney fire — just came in handy! My husband and I were just enjoying our first fire of the year in our brick masonry fireplace. We have our chimney cleaned about every three years. I was upstairs and my husband called out “we’re having …


Letter Re: Filling in the Gaps on Firefighting and Emergency Medicine

James: After reading Filling in the Gaps on Firefighting and Emergency Medicine by Nate I would like to add a few things about what he said. I myself am a volunteer firefighter. I started by wanting to be more active in the town that I had just gotten a house in. Now that I have really become actively prepping, I see more and more good to being involved with it. The training is great and free. Further, after reading books like “One Second After“, I see where it puts me in a place where I can help get things going …


Filling in the Gaps on Firefighting and Emergency Medicine, by Nate

I’ll be the first to admit this is my first visit to SurvivalBlog, and I only received copy of “How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It” yesterday, but I finished reading it yesterday as well. I’ve always had what I like to call a “jack of all trades” mentality, as soon as I begin to feel competent in one skill, I have a strong urge to begin the learning process anew and expand my base of knowledge. I’ve been reading through the articles previously posted, and while extremely helpful and informative, I feel I have …


A Blacksmithing Primer, by Matt M.

The two greatest tools that mankind has, the tools that pulled our species out of the wild and still separate us from base animals, are fire and the blade. A blacksmith crafts and uses both of these tools.  Whether you live in a frontier situation where you have to make do with what you’ve got and make it last or you’re planning ahead for a potential TEOTWAWKI situation, knowing how to shape iron and steel to suit your needs without the use of electricity is a good idea.  This article is intended as the most basic primer to give you, …


Alternative Heat Survival Concepts, by Philip T.

It’s the dead of winter. Snow is flying. There is nothing more comfortable in the cold of a winter season than knowing you are cozy in your home. You are warm and oblivious to the penetrating cold of the outdoors. But just how vulnerable are you to a sudden and unexpected power outage from an ice storm or another failure of the electrical grid? Do you depend on oil, natural gas, propane gas or electricity for your home heating? Under any circumstance, could your home heating system become unworkable? This article should help prepare you enough so you and your …


Letter Re: The Daylight Savings Time Home and Survival Checklist — Renew Your Preparedness Measures

Dear JWR, On March 14th at 2 a.m. it is the Daylight Saving Time change time in most of the US. So now is a very good time to check some things that you haven’t thought about in a while. I’m sure you heard the Public Service Announcements to change the batteries in your smoke alarm and to test them. That is certainly a good thing to do, but is that the only thing you should do this time of year? Grab a pen and paper and let’s look around your home. Batteries and Battery Powered Equipment Since you’re changing …


Letter Re: EMP Grounding Straps and Cables (Updated)

Good Morning Sir, My question pertains to a February 24, 2010 blog post, where there was mentioned an EMP ground for one’s vehicle. This is the first I have heard of a ground wire for today’s vehicles that would prevent electronics from being damaged. Is this true sir? Thanks for providing us all the education to survive. – Tim S. JWR Replies: A grounding strap offers only marginal EMP protection for a vehicle. The type that were mentioned are the sort that you can see used on many trucks, especially fuel delivery trucks, where the concern is a buildup of …


The Home Foundry, Metal Casting – Part 4, by Dan in Oklahoma

Safety, Aluminum Sources, Melting, and Pouring We are now at the most exciting and most dangerous part of the aluminum casting process. You will be working with fire, an extremely hot fire, fed with forced air. But the biggest hazard lies in a possible spill of molten metal. Before I even start the fire I wear tall, heavy leather boots, this is no place for sandals, or plastic tennis shoes. I also wear a pair of welders suede leather leggings, and a welders suede leather apron. It is wise to wear long pants and long sleeve shirts. This is a …


The Home Foundry, Metal Casting – Part 3, by Dan in Oklahoma

Forge Fuel & Homemade Charcoal The aluminum melting forge is fueled by hardwood charcoal. To begin making charcoal you are going to need 2 steel barrels. One standard size 55 gallon drum will serve as your outer barrel, the second barrel is a little more difficult to acquire. The inner barrel or actual charcoal out gassing barrel needs to be small enough to fit inside the 55 gallon barrel. The smaller barrel also must have a lid that can be locked in place during the cooking and removed later to extract the charcoal. I was fortunate enough to find Military …


Four Letters Re: Survival Fire Safety

Sir, Mr. F. has written a very good article on a subject often neglected by many. As a fire service professional working for one of the largest municipal agencies in the country, I must warn against the use of candles whenever possible. Paranoid? Not after seeing burned up children, loss of property, etc. If you must, please place them well away from any combustible materials, and never carry one when lit. – SplitHoof. JWR Replies: I generally discourage the use of candles, but if and when they are used, my advice is to: 1.) Never let them burn unattended, and …


Survival Fire Safety, by Mr. F.

In our preparations, we’ve all made an in depth survival plan.  We have stocks of food items and a means to hunt or grow more.  We know where we’ll get water and how to treat it and have solutions for cooking, heating and lighting.  Perhaps some will operate gasoline or propane-run electric generators and some may distill alcohol or use wood gasification for fuel.  We also have adequate supplies of medications, vitamins and first-aid items.  We’ve thought of everything, planned for any contingency.  Right? What about Fire Safety?  Our plans mostly or entirely rely on fire for cooking, heating and …


Three Letters Re: Lessons Learned From an Ice Storm

Dear Editor: With regards to the battery powered carbon monoxide (CO) detector, I just want to second that. When my family went through the Nov. 2007 ice storm that took out the power to half of Oklahoma, we were running off our generator for two days. The first night I put it outside, but close to the house to help shelter it from winds. Our CO detector went off in the middle of the night. We ended up having the fire department come out and check things. It was determined that the CO came in through either the dryer vent, …


Lessons Learned From an Ice Storm, by G. in the Zarks

While watching the local weather over the last few days, it has become apparent that a winter storm is heading for our part of the world, bringing with it the distinct possibility of not just snow, but significant amounts of ice. As I pondered this, it brought to mind our recent experiences with ice storms over the last few years, most notably in January 2007. I thought some of our “lessons learned” were worth sharing with others. We had been blessed with several years of reasonably mild winters leading up to the 2007 storm. Unfortunately, the good times often seem …


Letter Re: Building a Supply of Long-Burning Candles

Dear James, I recently was walking through Ikea with my wife here in Minneapolis and came upon a candle sale. They are currently having a sale on red 8 inch, Unscented Christmas candles rated at 70 hours for 99 cents. I promptly filled the cart with 40 or about 2,800 hours worth of candlelight for 39 dollars. Not wanting to recommend anything I had not already tried I promptly lit one to see how long it would last and right now it is still burning on hour 85 – will probably be done between 90 and 100 hours. Thought your …


Letter Re: Which Items Need a “Cool Dry Place”, and Which Don’t?

Mr. Editor, It seems that when we have to store anything it is always recommended to store in a cool dark area with low humidity. What things can we store in less than favorable spots like attics or outside sheds where the temps and humidity varies greatly? Thanks for all you have done for us. – Bill H. in Delaware JWR Replies: Humidity can be problematic, but some items that can tolerate fairly high temperature inside a shed include salt, ammunition, paper products, and many cleaning supplies and lubricants. (But do your homework on potential leaks and fire danger, especially …