Letter Re: Hardening Gates for Retreat Security

JWR:
Since I had some spare time over winter break I re-read “Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse”. It is an awesome book, I really like the “survival manual wrapped in a fiction novel” format. It left me with a few thoughts on physical retreat security. I am talking about locks, fences, gates, and so forth –not people. When the gate lock was cut [in the novel] you mentioned the characters welding a 3 inch pipe [section to the gate post] to protect the [new] lock. That is a great idea, except many who live in timber country are aware of a tool made of a 2 inch piece of square pipe with a hole in it to fit a 3 foot piece of [hardened] bar [such as a digging bar] that takes care of that quite easily. The only way I could think to counter that is to extend the pipe 6 or 8 inches past the bottom of the lock to foil those who had a “breaker” which would work for standard timber gates.

I had two thoughts for gate hardening, post-SHTF. My idea is to keep the same gate until the balloon goes up and to do some mods to it later. The first is the heavy Weyerhauser-type gate which is made of a lot of metal and has the aforementioned lock protection device. This could draw attention pre- and post-SHTF and be impossible to put up without some equipment and a lot of cement later. The second idea is a heavy 2 or 3 inch[-diameter] piece of cable which is about 50 or 60 feet long. This would run from an anchor (big rock/tree/cement block in the ground with an O ring in it) around the gate posts to another anchor on the other side of the gate.You could run through O-rings on the gate posts at bumper level. People who roll up with a pair of bolt cutters are going to have a disappointing day. Even if one end of the cable is just a loop and the other is a lock provided they are not immediately on the gate somebody would have to take a look at the setup, hop the gate and then cut another lock to unhook the heavy cable. Assuming you are prudent enough to have the gate covered by at least one riflemen at all times, then the unsavory characters are likely to decide that at least immediately the juice is not worth the squeeze. Remember: The longer you can keep them under fire, fighting your fight before they can attempt theirs, then the higher your odds of success.

If you have done some hardening on the gate the next logical step is improving the roadside portion of your property. There are few 4×4 vehicles which can quickly negotiate a “drainage ditch” which is 4 feet wide and 4 feet deep. This might be worth renting a backhoe for. (Again money versus time.) If any curious neighbors ask just say you are really worried about drainage and do not want to have the road flood. Those two modifications for somewhere between free if you scrounge the cable and dig the trench with a shovel or a couple hundred dollars if you buy a cable and rent a backhoe will make your place much safer from small groups of vehicle-based looters or [one-percenter] bikers.

I am going to leave the house out of this, since it is discussed very specifically and at great length in “Patriots” so I will not rehash it. Buy the book. It is some of the best money I have spent in a while! For the price of dinner for two at Applebee’s or another mediocre restaurant (without drinks) you can get a great piece of entertainment which is very useful. It has refocused and shaped a lot of my planning and has given me useful background to many of the posts on SurvivalBlog. – RL

Four Letters Re: A Twenty-Something EMT with Limited Preps Storage Space

Hello,
The recently-posted letter “A Twenty-Something EMT with Limited Preps Storage Space” is something that a lot of us apartment dwellers struggle with all the time. I read and re-read the article several times.

She never mentioned about space under the bed. I jacked my bed frame up, quietly mind you, with cinder blocks. Not only do I have a whole extra foot of height worth of space. I also have a bed where as I am not climbing out of but am sitting up and sliding off. Makes a big difference in the morning at least for me.. Between my headboard (also sitting on blocks) and my bed sits 4 weeks of freeze dried rations in various totes. Underneath my bed sits 20 weeks of MREs also in various totes. Just be ever mindful of the blocks by wearing full-toed slippers around the bedroom. You mindlessly kick your foot under the bed and might very well need a paramedic.

Also I just finished reading this book.“Long Term Survival in the Coming Dark Age” by James Ballou. It covers how to successfully bury your stuff, what to bury, how to bury it, and what skills one could use in a post SHTF scenario. I found it to be an interesting read. Although I already know the basics of survival caching. Still a nice overview. A good Cliff Notes-type book. (Clear, precise and straight to the point )
Also have other thoughts of continuing education in the EMS field. Depending on where you live. There are many private ambulance companies that will pay for your on going education while you continue to work for them while going to school. Personally for me nothing reinforces my book learning like having repetitive hands on experience. May take longer to get to be an EMT-P . You defiantly have EMT-P experience by the time you achieve EMT-I status. And the money saved could be used for prepping because well we are running out of time. – Scott V.

Mr. Rawles,
I’m a long-time reader, but I’ve never written before. I wanted to reply to the EMT in a slightly different way than you did. The contingency lockers are a good idea, but something I would look at in
her area is (besides her boyfriend) other people who have the the same kind of forward planning outlook, and to network with them. Michelle is an EMT in training to be a paramedic–exactly the set of skills many of would need WTSHTF. Yes, she does want to have a BOB ready to go, but if she were in my area I’d set aside food and goods
for her in exchange for her professional services. In fact, I’d start a fund for the equipment and medical supplies that she would be trained for but might not want to have to lug around everywhere. Perhaps the makings of a small clinic can be set up before the Big Day.
Sometimes we forget that what we have isn’t as important as what we know.
Keep up the good work, Mr. Rawles!

 

SurvivalBlog Readers,
This is in response to the twenty-something EMT. I agree with Mr. Rawles on his ideas for your storage problem. Also , perhaps since your mother and her new husband are no help to you in your storage, maybe your boyfriend and his parents may help until you two marry and get your own place. It is worth a try. As far as funds, or the lack thereof., any is some, but none is none! My wife and I have been married a little over 10 years now. We have a son who will be 8 in May. Until recently we would have been one of the huddled masses. But we both saw the need to prepare for BAD times. We do not have a lot, but it is all ours. Our home was a wedding gift from her parents, for which we are both grateful. It is a small home, on a concrete slab, no basement, no garage, and only a garden shed of about 230 sq. ft. We both work jobs for poor man’s wages, but we still find a bit of extra cash here and there to add to what we have on hand at the time. For instance: While her employer does nothing special for the employees at the holidays, mine does a catered dinner at Thanksgiving, and gives each employee a $20 gift card to the local chain grocery. And about 1 month later, another dinner for Christmas, and a $100 cash bonus. I take both the card and the cash, and use them for our preps, be it beans, bullets, or band-aids. I get something we need or can use.

During the year I do small odd jobs for family and friends, and any cash they give me for that or for gifts goes to buy preps. As for storage, space at our house is at a premium, but we do the best we can with what we have,and we look for useful things and space for storage wherever and whenever we can. For instance: {Locally]. we have a annual [curbside] junk [collection] week. Recently I found a 5 shelf bookcase someone threw away. The only thing wrong with it that I could find, was a one-inch chunk of wood missing from the base. I put it in this tiny extra bedroom we use as our catch-all / computer room, and I filled it with books and pretty “dust catchers”. We soon after, ran out of space in our tiny pantry for any extra food. I boxed up the contents, and put it in the shed. Now, by my best guess, we now have another week or two of canned and dry stock food stores for the three of us, and a bit extra for any family or friends if need be. Remember, any is some, but none is none! Do what you can and keep your eyes and ears open. It will surprise you what you can do when you try. Recently, Mr. Rawles asked folks to send in some quotes for his Quote of the Day. My wife has one that she uses from time to time, and I shared it with him,s and I would like to share it with you. “All you can do, is all you can do, and that is all you can do.” So do what you can when you can, but do something and you will be better off than a lot of folks when things do go bad. Good luck, and may God bless you in your preparations. – Dim Tim

 

Hi, Jim,
You had a letter from ” A Twenty-Something EMT with Limited Preps Storage Space”. I also have very limited storage space, so thought I’d share a couple of ideas.
First, about half of my clothes closet (which is five feet wide) is filled with stored food in plastic tubs, and camping gear.
Second, for a desk I have a 30″ wide door blank on top of a file cabinet and another small cabinet. There is space behind the two support cabinets for my water bottles.
Third, I put my twin bed up on top of a nine-drawer dresser (the mattress is on a piece of plywood, which is fastened to the wall). Not only do I still have my original dresser plus the nine-drawer one, but I also have an eighteen-inch wide space under the bed, behind the dresser. Access is a little difficult, so I don’t store things there that I need to get at frequently, but there is quite a bit of space.
And fourth, because my closet juts out into the room, the door is in an alcove. This is a newish manufactured home with ‘cathedral’ ceilings, so the ceiling in the alcove is high. I put a small loft up there to store some things I don’t need very often (such as my suitcases, which could also have stuff stored inside of them).
This room is only about ten by twelve, and (going counter-clockwise from the door) holds an old blanket chest (full of preps); the bed on top of dresser; the 30″ x 70″ desk with a bookshelf on top of it; my grandmother’s old treadle sewing machine; a tall bookcase; the closet; a small floor-cabinet with my medical supplies in it; my old four-drawer dresser; and some hooks on the wall by the door. There are also four, four-foot shelves on the wall above the bed (I don’t put anything heavy up there, because we are in an area which can have earthquakes.)
It takes ingenuity, but it is possible to store a lot in a small room, and still be able to live in the room! (I share the room with my two large dogs at night, too!) – Freeholder

Odds ‘n Sods:

One of my predictions (from 2005) comes true, in an article forwarded to us by Eric S.: Americans ‘walk’ from loans. My favorite quote from the article: “Lewis’ comments came as a new expression – “jingle mail” – referring to the growing trend where Americans mail the keys to their homes to the lenders before vacating, entered the US lexicon.”

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It appears that silver and gold are resuming their bull market advances, with spot gold spiking above $820 per ounce and silver running up past $14.60 per ounce. Congrats to those of you that took my advice and bought during the recent dip. It will be interesting to see which direction the metals–and the US dollar–head after the holidays. The Chartist Gnome tells me that the next pauses for profit-taking for gold should probably be at around $850 and then $930 per ounce. He foresees eventual top–barring a US Dollar collapse, that is–of around $1,630 for gold. If the US Dollar does collapse, then of course expressing the price of gold in US Dollars will become as meaningless as, say, Zimbabwean Dollars. Inevitably, people will start thinking in other terms–either in another currency unit or perhaps just”ounces of silver per barrel of oil”. OBTW, before those of you holding Euros get too smug, keep in mind that you too are holding a fiat currency, and its fate will in the long run be no better than that of the US Dollar.

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Reader Desert T. mentioned that UPS (an American parcel shipping company) will have a substantial rate increase on January 1st. He notes: “This will impact anyone who has been waiting to make a large (heavy) mail order purchase.” It is therefore recommended that any dawdlers get their orders in quickly.

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Thanks to Randy F. for sending this Washington Times article link: Blame Abounds for Housing Bust

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘Press On’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” – President Calvin Coolidge

Note from JWR:

The high bid in the current SurvivalBlog Benefit Auction is now at $200. The auction is for a scarce original 1980s-vintage Heckler und Koch 19mm Emergency Flare Launcher (EFL) aka “Notsignalgerät“ from my personal collection. It comes with three magazines and 28 scarce original German 19mm flares–10 red, 10 white, and 8 green. Together, this package is worth approximately $400. It is not classified as a “firearm” under Federal law. (Consult your state and local laws before bidding.) Sorry, no overseas bids will be accepted for this auction. This auction ends on January 15th. Please e-mail us your bids, in $10 increments.

Letter Re: Home Canning Resources

Mr Rawles,

I am a 10 Cent Challenge subscriber who has learned so much from your site since my brother, “Mike near Seattle” told me about it.

One skill that my husband and I are trying to become proficient at is canning. Both of us came from homes where our mothers canned, but being a kid in the “production line” doesn’t mean you will remember how to can 30 years later as an adult.

I found a great web site called CanningUSA.com that has free online videos for beginners to watch so you can learn how to start canning all sorts of things by watching (which for me was immensely more valuable than by just reading). I watch the video a few times and then feel confident when I go to can something.

Thank you for the information you are providing everyone. – Robin in Colorado

Letter Re: Sources for Gasoline and Diesel Fuel in a Grid-Down Collapse

Mr Rawles:
Would a hand-lever pump like this one or this one work for pulling up fuel from a gas station underground tank]? Thanks, – F.

JWR Replies: Both of those hand pumps are designed specifically for pumping from drums with standard barrel bung threads. They should work with underground tank is you add an extension hose with a nice tight seal at the union of the hose. However, this type of pump is less flexible than my preferred 12 VDC pump design, since they cannot be used for one step vehicle-to-vehicle fuel transfers. They are also only marginally faster, they are more labor intensive to use, and they are much more expensive. Just buy a spare electric fuel pump for your primary vehicle and construct your own 12 VDC pump. This will also provide you a spare fuel pump if the one for your vehicle ever goes kaput. If new off-the-shelf pumps are too expensive, then pull a used one at a wrecking yard. (Which, BTW, is also good mechanical experience.)

Letter Re: Cashing in on Scrap Copper, Brass, and Aluminum

Dear Jim,
I am a daily reader of your blog. With all the discussion about gold and silver value I thought it might be prudent to bring up the value of other metals. I am a Master Plumber and I make a small fortune by recycling old copper pipe, brass fittings, valves, and faucets. Number 1 copper is up to $2.75 a pound. Four years ago it was $1.50. Yellow brass is $1.60 a pound. It was only 60 cents four years ago. An old water heater can get you $5.00. I know people that save aluminum cans and take them to the recycling yard once a year and can easily make $500.

I have two points for your readers. The first is don’t throw away money. Save cans, you can clean up after parties and have a truck full of cans in no time. Old wire, old appliances, aluminum ladders, old copper pipe, anything stainless steel, all metal is valuable these days. My second point is this. Scrap copper is so valuable people are breaking into vacant houses just to steal copper pipe. This might make someone’s otherwise inconspicuous retreat house a target. Just a thought.

Keep up the good work, and stay out of trouble. – Dave from Pennsylvania

Letter Re: Communications in Times of Crisis

Hi, Jim:
As a licensed Ham and (ever since the 1970s) a licensed CBer (those were the days when CB licenses mattered.) I had to go quickly back and check the Communications in Times of Crisis posting one more time, and sure enough I did find a couple of small errors/omissions which need mention. First, the 12 watts output mentioned by the author for CB radios only applies when operating in SSB mode. If in AM mode, you are still limited to 4 watts out. Yes, I know some folks run “foot warmers” (illegal [linear] amplifiers); but, remember that those babies splatter all over the bands causing all sorts of interference to adjacent services and (due to the harmonics generated) to who knows what other agencies/users. And, trust, me…if Uncle Sam gets enough complaints from other spectrum users, your neighbors etc., he will come calling; perhaps with a big fat citation/fine/confiscation order for your equipment in hand and the boys in blue in tow.

Also, I must disagree that single sideband mode is not–repeat, not–a secure mode where CB is concerned. Besides being able to be picked up by any other SSB-capable CB radio, SSB CB transmissions are available to anyone possessing a communications (read short-wave receiver in the 3 – 30 MHz bands. They can also be read on any VHF scanner that has SSB mode available. And of course, scrambling any transmissions on the CB band would be illegal.

One final note. While having the best antenna system possible is indeed important, don’t forget that the maximum legal distance limit for any contact (AM or SSB) is 150 miles. While the CB bands may seem inactive or dead now, that’s probably due more to the facts that 1.) the CB craze was replaced by the Internet craze in the 1990s; and 2.) the sunspot cycle being near minimum, currently. Once the cycle begins to rise and peak over the next few years, you will again hear many CB stations attempting to make illegal long-haul contacts state-to-state and even country-to-country, again (known as “shooting skip”.) This is another method of incurring the ire of not only the FCC, but more importantly, your fellow CBers. As already mentioned, there enough bucket mouths and malcontents on the air. Therefore, in closing I would implore all CB users to exercise a little common courtesy and on-air cooperation. Perhaps we could then restore some real utility to the CB band in times of crisis. – Gandalf in Hawaii

Letter Re: The Novel “The Last Centurion”

Mr. Rawles,
I thought you might be interested in an early preview of “The Last Centurion” a novel about the world after an Avian Flu pandemic. The Author is John Ringo – who writes military and sci-fi – and often combines the two. The language is coarse, and it is written in a blog style, but it has some great observations about society, politicians, money supply and what happens in a real disaster.
You can find the early release chapters online.

It really gets good in chapter 5 and 6 talking about the responses to the outbreak and how some groups/cultures of people just think different – and therefore have different reactions as the government tries to respond. All the best, – Clarke

Odds ‘n Sods:

Delinquencies are soaring: Unpaid credit cards bedevil Americans. (A hat tip to Craig S. for sending us this.)

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An Ambrose Evans-Pritchard article was mentioned the at CometGold Forum (at Contrary Investors Cafe) and by nearly a dozen SurvivalBlog readers: Crisis may make 1929 look a ‘walk in the park’. Here is a key quote: “Liquidity doesn’t do anything in this situation,” says Anna Schwartz, the doyenne of US monetarism and life-time student (with Milton Friedman) of the Great Depression. “It cannot deal with the underlying fear that lots of firms are going bankrupt. The banks and the hedge funds have not fully acknowledged who is in trouble. That is the critical issue.”

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Led by milk, food prices keep climbing, climbing, climbing. And see this related news story: The Fed Can’t Save Us from World Food Shortages

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Mentioned once before on SurvivalBlog, here is Australia’s “Food Lifeboat ” web page put together by the staff of the University of Sydney: The Food “Lifeboat”: food and nutrition considerations in the event of a pandemic or other catastrophe

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"Associate yourself with men of good quality, if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company." – President George Washington

Notes from JWR:

Today we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Christ. He is my savior, and I pray that he is yours, too.

Our first post is by Grandpappy, whom you may remember as one of our writing contest award winners.

During a Disaster Event Should You Stay at Home or Leave?, by Grandpappy

Different types of disasters may require a different response if a family wishes to maximize their chances for long-term survival. Therefore each family should have several different disaster plans that they could successfully implement depending on the circumstances. These plans should include:
1. Staying at your home and being able to survive for a reasonable period of time without any outside assistance, and
2. Quickly and efficiently evacuating your home and traveling to a predetermined destination.

Staying at home is probably the best overall strategy for most families in a variety of different disaster type situations. However, there are a few scenarios where your continued long-term survival may necessitate the evacuation of your home. For example, consider each of the following situations:

Fire in a city, suburb, or in the country: The only option is to leave and to leave quickly. Even if the fire doesn’t reach your home, the smoke could make it impossible to breathe. If your home does survive then the smoke from the fire will probably saturate many of your possessions and they will have to be replaced.

Flooding From Heavy Rains or Hurricanes: During severe flash flooding many homes, trees, and cars are completely swept away. If you stay, you die. In other areas only the first floor of a home may be under water. You might be safe on the second floor, or in the attic, or on your roof. In most flooding situations the water does eventually recede and you can go downstairs. However, the building foundation is now weakened, the floors are warped, the walls are cracked and peeling, and the appliances are ruined. It these cases it frequently costs less to rebuild from scratch than to repair all the damaged areas. And living in the home during the repairs is not an option because the mold and mildew that is now growing in your floors and walls will produce air-borne spores that will make you sick and gradually kill you. If this situation your only option will be to leave. (Note: If you become unexpectedly stranded in your home during a flood and you can’t evacuate, then you should quickly transfer your most important possessions to the second floor or attic to reduce the possibility of their becoming water damaged.)

Drought: The lakes dry up. The city water supply is exhausted. The city must be evacuated. You may stay if you wish but why would you want to? What type of people do you think will become your new neighbors? How will you survive when your current supply of food and water is eventually gone and the drought continues? Without rain there will be no way to replenish your water supply and no way to grow more food. Without water how will the city survive if someone’s very small cooking fire accidentally gets out of control and quickly spreads throughout a very, very dry building? In a very short period of time the entire city will be in flames. And if the city has already been evacuated then you will not receive any warning until you see the flames or smell the smoke, assuming it doesn’t happen while you are asleep.

Epidemic: Is the disease spreading by water, air, human contact, or some combination of methods? What percent of the population is dying? Staying inside your home in this situation would probably be the best solution unless the flu is being spread through the air. If that is the case and you are living in a heavily populated area then how long will it take the virus to eventually make its way into your air supply? If you had a gas mask or face filters then you might be able to escape to a remote region of a national forest where the virus will have a smaller chance of reaching and infecting you.

Martial Law: Why was it implemented? What are the restrictions? And do you really want to live in a heavily-populated area that is being policed by the military and where you could be executed by anyone in the military for any reason at any time without any type of trial?

Political or Religious Persecution: What if all registered Republicans are suddenly declared to be enemies of the state? Or all Democrats? Or all Protestants or Catholics or Muslins? Some of you may be laughing right now and saying this is impossible and it could never happen in this country. I truly hope you are right. But what if you are wrong? What if you suddenly heard on the news that you are now a member of a group of people that has been identified as being enemies of the state? What would be your plan for survival? If you remain where you currently live it would only result in your immediate arrest, trial, and either imprisonment or execution. During World War II in Germany there were millions of Jews, Christians, and several other groups of individuals who learned this lesson the hard way. And Germany is not an isolated example. This has happened many, many times in many different places in modern history.
None of these things are pleasant to think about but the above threats are real. If any one of them should occur where you now live then you may need to evacuate your home or apartment very quickly in order to have any chance for long-term survival.

How to quickly evacuate your home or apartment is not something most people take the time to think about. However, over the past few years the increasing number of families that have had to quickly evacuate their homes is extraordinary. Entire families and communities have been uprooted and moved to another area and in many cases they will never be able to return to their homes or to the life they once knew. Hurricanes, flooding, and forest fires have resulted in the loss of billions of dollars worth of possessions and have claimed an unknown number of lives. Devastating winter weather has crippled many areas and left hundreds of thousands of homes without electricity or heat in the middle of winter and forced people to seek refuge and basic survival in community shelters, schools and churches.

Flash floods and forest fires happen so quickly that people do not have the time to carefully consider what they should take with them. Later when they return and find their home and possessions reduced to cinders, or ruined from water damage, they wished they’d had more time to think about their choices before they were forced to evacuate.
Therefore, before a disaster strikes, prudent individuals will make a simple list of the most important things to salvage in the event of a disaster. Later, if a disaster should force them to evacuate their home then they can consult their list and quickly execute their plan and collect and save their most important possessions. They could salvage the things they would need to survive under difficult circumstances, and things that would make their transition to a different life style not only possible but also a little easier for their entire family.

If you survive a disaster then you can start over. If you have a plan, starting over will not be as difficult as someone who evacuates without a plan. Unfortunately some of the people who survive without a plan will eventually resort to robbing and/or killing. Predators do not discriminate and they will prey on one another as well as on the helpless. Human predators are usually a self-correcting problem during a disaster, if the disaster lasts long enough.

If you must evacuate your home you should have carefully considered ahead of time where you will go. Your destination should not be a last minute decision because your choice of a destination is as important as carefully selecting which items to take with you.

Bug-Out Destination Options
Let’s examine several different destination options. In each of the following situations you should attempt to pay your expenses using whatever credit cards you have available and save whatever cash you might have for a future emergency. If your family has more than one car then you should quickly load each vehicle to the maximum, without overloading them, and then drive out of the disaster area. Before you start you should have consulted a map and selected a minimum of two alternate routes that lead to your final destination. Then listen to your car radio as you are driving to see if there are traffic or other problems along any of your planned departure routes. The quicker that you can be underway the better your chances will be that you can get your family to safety.
Your safe destination could be any one of the following:

Family: If you have family members who live outside the impacted disaster area then they may be willing to provide you with shelter for a short period of time until the disaster has passed and you can return to your home. However most families live on a very tight budget and they will not be able to feed and clothe you for an extended period of time. It would be nice if you paid for some of the groceries while you are there, and also made a contribution to their utility bills. If it later becomes impossible for you to return to your original home then you will need to find new employment and a place to live as quickly as you can to relieve the pressure on family relationships. If your new job does not pay enough so you afford to rent a place of your own, then you should give at least half of each of your paychecks to the family you are staying with to help pay their bills. You should also remember that you are still a guest in their house, and that every member of your family needs to abide by their rules.

Friend’s Home: The above comments about family also apply to very close friends. However the relationship is much weaker and friends should only be imposed upon for the absolute minimum amount of time. Even if you have discussed this situation with your friends in advance, it would still be a good idea to minimize the amount of time you stay with them.

Motel: A motel located outside the disaster area is a good option if you can afford it, and if the disaster is forecasted to be relatively short in duration. Once the disaster passes you may be able to return to your normal way of life. An Extended Stay Motel might be a better option because you can pay by the week or month and each room also has a few kitchen appliances, such as a refrigerator and a microwave. Before paying the rent always politely ask if you can see the actual room you will be renting.

Boarding House: Depending on the size of your family you may be able to rent a simple room in a boarding house on a weekly or monthly basis. You can read the “For Rent” section of the local newspaper to locate one these places and then you can call to see what their rules are. You should phone several places to find the best deal based on what your family requires.

Forest Campground or recreational vehicle (RV) Park: If the weather permits, then a campground or RV Park may be an option if you have an RV, or if you have a good tent and some camping gear. Many RV Parks have a separate campground area for tents. They also have a community shower area, one for men and one for women, and they have drinking water available near the campsite. A good tent is not an expensive investment and every family should have a tent to avoid being forced into a Government Shelter for survival. Even if you have no money you can still camp for free in most National Forests as long as you don’t stay at one of the official forest campgrounds. However, you will need to move your campsite at least once per week to a different area to comply with forest regulations. (Note: If you own an RV then it might be wise to find an RV storage site close to your planned evacuation destination. The monthly rental to store and park an RV is about the same everywhere but the advantage of parking it near your planned destination is that your RV would already there. If you have family members who live on acreage way out in the country then they may be willing to let you park your RV at their place for free.)

Government or Community Shelter: As a last resort, you may temporarily reside in a shelter. A church operated temporary disaster shelter is usually less restrictive than other types of shelters. However, before you go to the shelter it would probably be a good idea to rent a temporary storage facility and store all your equipment, supplies, and personal belongings in the storage unit. Many of these monthly storage rental units are large enough to drive a car into so you could park your extra car inside and still have room to store all your equipment and supplies. You are also allowed to put your own personal padlock on the door to your rental unit. (Note: Some storage units will not allow you to park a car inside the actual rental unit but they will rent you space inside the fenced area to park your car on a monthly basis. In this situation completely empty your car into the rental until before you park it.) If you have cash, or if you can get cash from an ATM, then you should pay the rent in cash to avoid leaving an electronic trail to the location where you are storing your remaining possessions. If possible pay the rent for a minimum of three months in advance and get a receipt. Your entire family could then get into the remaining vehicle and drive to the shelter location. Just remember that some shelters are easy to get into but almost impossible to get out of until the authorities are ready to release you. If you become a voluntary prisoner at one of these shelters you may discover that life in the shelter is unbearable and that you are not allowed to leave simply because you now realize you should have never entered the shelter. When you first enter the shelter, there is a strong likelihood that government shelter personnel will carefully search you and confiscate any weapons, knives, drugs including prescription medicines, tools, children toys, money, makeup, wallets, purses, keys, and any extra food you may be carrying with you. It is unlikely you will get all of these items back when it is time for you to leave. In some cases you will only be allowed to enter the shelter with the clothes you are wearing and a new identification card [or wrist band] issued to you at the shelter. This makes escape from the shelter less feasible because you will have surrendered all your possessions including your driver’s license, credit cards, money, and keys. This forces you to follow any rules the shelter may impose because you are now defenseless and you know you now have no other choice in the matter. Savage brute force will dominate inside these shelters and your family members will be subject to beatings, rape, and having their daily food rations forcibly confiscated by the strongest residents in the shelter. In a worst case, these evil individuals will continue to grow stronger as your family members continue to grow weaker and eventually die of disease or starvation. These are some of the reasons why a church or community volunteer shelter would be preferred to an official government shelter.

The preceding discussion has focused on: (1) the need to evacuate, and (2) several different possible destinations. It has not reviewed the most important things to take with you when you evacuate your home. Here is a link to a list of practical and useful items.

Letter Re: Hunkering Down in an Urban Apartment in a Worst Case Societal Collapse

Hello,
In the event of a disaster (I live in New York City) I intend to shelter in place until all the riotous mobs destroy each other or are starved out. I am preparing for up to six months. I have one liter of water stored for each day (180 liters) and about 50 pounds of rice to eat as well as various canned goods. I have not seen on your site anything about heat sources for urban dwellers who intend to shelter in place. I’m assuming that electricity would go first soon followed by [natural] gas and running water. Do you have any recommendations for cooking rice and other foods in this event.
I am considering oil lamps or candles, methane gel used for chafing dishes, or small propane tanks. Because of the small size of my apartment and potential hazards of storing fuel I’m unsure which would be best. Please advise. Thank You, – Michael F.

JWR Replies: I’ve heard your intended approach suggested by a others, including one of my consulting clients. Frankly, I do not think that it is realistic. From an actuarial standpoint, your chances of survival would probably be low–certainly much lower than “Getting Out of Dodge” to a lightly populated area at the onset of a crisis. Undoubtedly, in a total societal collapse (wherein “the riotous mobs destroy each other”, as you predict) there will be some stay-put urbanites that survive by their wits, supplemented by plenty of providential fortune. But the vast majority would perish. I wouldn’t want to play those odds. There are many drawbacks to your plan, any one of which could attract notice (to be followed soon after by a pack of goblins with a battering ram.) I’ll discuss a few complexities that you may not have fully considered:

Water. Even with extreme conservation measures you will need at least one gallon of water per day. That one gallon of water will provide just enough water for one adult for drinking and cooking. None for washing. If you run out of water before the rioting ends then you will be forced to go out and forage for water, putting yourself at enormous risk. And even then, you will have to treat the water that you find with chlorine, iodine (such as Polar Pure–now very scarce), or with a top quality water filter such as a Katadyn Pocket water filter.

Food. For a six month stay, you will need far more than just 50 pounds of rice! Work out a daily menu and budget for an honest six month supply of food with a decent variety and sufficient caloric intake. Don’t overlook vitamin supplements to make up for the lack of fresh fruit and vegetables. Sprouting is also a great option to provide vitamins and minerals, as well as aiding digestion. Speaking of digestion, depending on how your body reacts to the change in diet (to your storage food), you may need need a natural laxative in your diet such as bran, or perhaps even a bulk laxative such as Metamucil.

Sanitation. Without water for flushing toilets, odds are that people in neighboring apartments will dump raw sewage out their windows, causing a public health nightmare on the ground floor. Since you will not want to alert others to your presence by opening your window, and no doubt the apartment building’s septic system stack will be clogged in short order, you will need to make plans to store you waste in your apartment. I suggest five gallon buckets. A bucket-type camping toilet seat (a seat that attaches to a standard five or six gallon plastic pail) would be ideal. You should also get a large supply of powdered lime to cut down on the stench before each bucket is sealed. You must also consider the sheer number of storage containers required for six months of accumulated human waste. (Perhaps a dozen 5 gallon buckets with tight-fitting o-ring seal lids would be sufficient.) Since you won’t have water available for washing, you should also lay in a supply of diaper wipes.

Space heating. In mid-winter you could freeze to death in your apartment without supplemental heat. As I will discuss later, a small heater or just a few candles can keep the air temperature above freezing.

Ventilation. If you are going to use any source of open flame, you will need lots of additional ventilation. Asphyxiation from lack of oxygen or slow carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning are the alternatives. Unfortunately, in the circumstances that you envision, the increased ventilation required to mitigate these hazards will be a security risk–as a conduit for the smell of food or fuel, as a source of light that can be seen from outside the apartment, and as an additional point of entry for robbers.

Security. The main point of entry for miscreants will probably be your apartment door. Depending on the age of your apartment, odds are that you have a traditional solid core wood door. In a situation where law and order has evaporated, the malo hombres will be able to take their time and break through doors with fire axes, crow bars and improvised battering rams. It is best to replace wooden apartment doors with steel ones. Unless you own a condo rather than lease an apartment, approval for a door retrofit is unlikely. However, your apartment manager might approve of this if you pay for all the work yourself and you have it painted to match the existing doors. Merely bracing a wood door will not suffice. Furthermore, if you have an exterior window with a fire escape or your apartment has a shared balcony, then those are also points of entry for the bad guys. How could you effectively barricade a large expanse of windows?

If you live in a ground floor apartment or an older apartment with exterior metal fire escapes, then I recommend that you move as soon as possible to a third, fourth, or fifth floor apartment that is in a modern apartment building of concrete construction, preferably without balconies, with steel entry doors, and with interior fire escape stairwells.

Self Defense. To fend off intruders, or for self defense when you eventually emerge from your apartment, you will need to be well-armed. Preferably you should also be teamed with at least two other armed and trained adults. Look into local legalities on large volume pepper spray dispensers. These are marketed primarily as bear repellent, with brand names like “Guard Alaska”, “Bear Guard”, and “17% Streetwise.” If they are indeed legal in your jurisdiction, then buy several of the big one-pound dispensers, first making sure that they are at least a 12% OC formulation.

If you can get a firearms permit–a bit complicated in New York City , but not an insurmountable task–then I recommend that you get a Remington, Winchester, or Mossberg 12 gauge pump action shotgun with a SureFire flashlight forend. #4 Buckshot (not to be confused with the much smaller #4 bird shot) is the best load for defense in an urban environment where over-penetration (into neighboring apartments) is an issue. But if getting a firearms permit proves too daunting, there is a nice exemption in the New York City firearms laws for muzzleloaders and pre-1894 manufactured antique guns that are chambered for cartridges that are no longer commercially made. It is not difficult to find a Winchester Model 1876 or a Model 1886 rifle that is in a serial number range that distinguishes it as pre-1894 production. (See: Savage99.com for exact dates of manufacture on 12 different rifle models.) You will be limited to chamberings like .40-65 and .45-90. You can have a supply of ammunition custom loaded. A Winchester Model 1873 or and early Model 1892 chambered in .38-40 might also be an option, but I would recommend one of the more potent calibers available in the large frame (Model 1876 or 1886 ) rifles. Regardless, be sure to select rifles with excellent bores and nice mechanical condition.

For an antique handgun, I would recommend a S&W double action top break revolver chambered in .44 S&W Russian. None of the major manufacturers produce .44 S&W Russian ammunition. However, semi-custom extra mild loads (so-called “cowboy” loads, made specially for the Cowboy Action Shooting enthusiasts) in .44 S&W Russian are now available from Black Hills Ammunition. The Pre-1899 Specialist (one of our advertisers) often has large caliber S&W double action top break revolvers available for sale. The top breaks are very fast to load, and you can even use modern speed loaders designed for .44 Special or .44 Magnum cartridges with the stumpy .44 S&W Russian loads.(It has the same cartridge “head” dimensions.)

Firearms training from a quality school (such as Front Sight) is crucial.

Fire Detection and Contingency Bug-Out. A battery-powered smoke detector is an absolute must. Even if you are careful with candles, lanterns, and cook stoves, your neighbors may not be. There is a considerable risk that your apartment building will catch fire, either intentionally of unintentionally. Therefore, you need to have a “Bug Out” backpack ready to grab at a moment’s notice. Although they are no proper substitute for a fireman’s compressed air breathing rig, a commercially-made egress smoke hood or a military surplus gas mask might allow you to escape your building in time. But even if you escape the smoke and flames, then where will that you leave you? Outdoors, at an unplanned hour (day or night), in a hostile big city that is blacked out, with no safe means of escape. (This might prove far too reminiscent of the the 1980s Kurt Russell movie “Escape from New York.”) By the time this happens, the mobs may not want just the contents of your backpack. They may be sizing you up for a meal!

Fuel storage. Bulk fuel storage has three problematic issues: 1.) as a safety issue (fire hazard), 2.) as a security issue (odors that could attract robbers), and 3.) as a legal issue (fire code or tenant contract restrictions). I suspect that New York City’s fire code would not allow you have more than a week’s worth of propane on hand, and completely prohibit keeping more than just one small container of kerosene or Coleman fuel. From the standpoint of both safety and minimizing detectable odors, propane is probably the best option. (The odors of kerosene and chafing dish gel are both quite discernable.) But of course consult both your local fire code and your apartment lease agreement to determining the maximum allowable quantity to keep on hand.

Odds are that there will be no limit on the number of candles that you can store. If that is the case, then lay in large supply of unscented jar candles designed for long-burning (formulated high in stearic acid.) I suggest the tall, clear glass jar-enclosed “devotional” candles manufactured in large numbers for the Catholic market. You can even heat individual servings of food over these if you construct a stand with a wide base out of stout wire. Watch for these candles at discount and close-out stores. We have found that the large adhesive labels slip off easily if you soak the jars in water for an hour. Since their burning time is approximately 24 hours, and since you might need two of them burning simultaneously for sufficient light and to stay warm, that would necessitate laying in a supply of 360 candles! (This assumes that the worst case, with the outset of a crisis in October, and your having to hunker down for a full six months.)

Fire fighting. Buy at least two large multipurpose (“A-B-C”) chemical fire extinguishers

Cooking odors. In addition to the smell of fuel, cooking food will produce odors. I recommend that you store only foods with minimal spices. In situation where you are surrounded by starving people, just frying foods with grease or heating up a can of spicy chili con carne could be a death warrant.

Noise discipline. Just the sound of moving around your apartment could reveal your presence. For some useful background, see if your local library has a copy of the best-selling memoir “The Pianist”, by Wladyslaw Szpilman. (If not, buy a copy through Amazon or request a copy via inter-library loan. It has been published in 35 languages. The US edition’s ISBN is 0312244150.) The book describes the harrowing experiences of a Jewish musician in hiding in Warsaw, Poland, during the Second World War. Following the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto uprising and forced deportation, Szpilman spent many months locked in a Warsaw apartment, receiving just a few parcels of food from some gentile friends. In his situation, the power and water utilities were still operating most of the time, but he suffered from slow starvation and lived in absolute fear of making any noise. His survival absolutely defied the odds. There was also an excellent 2002 movie based on Szpilman’s book, but the memoir provides greater detail than the film.

Light discipline. If you have any source of light in your apartment, it could reveal your presence. In an extended power blackout, it will become obvious to looters within a couple of weeks who has lanterns or large supplies of candles and/or flashlight batteries. (Everyone else will run out within less than two weeks.) And I predict that it will be the apartments that are still lit up that will be deemed the ones worth robbing. So if you are going to have a light source, you must systematically black out all of your windows. But sadly these efforts will be in direct conflict with your need for ventilation for your heating and/or cooking.

Heat. With the aforementioned restrictions on fuel storage, heating your apartment for more than just a few days will probably be impossible. Buy an expedition quality sleeping bag–preferably a two-bag system such as a Wiggy’s brand FTRSS. Under the circumstances that you describe, don’t attempt to heat your entire apartment. Instead, construct a small room-within-a-room (Perhaps under a large dining room table, or by setting up a camping tent inside your apartment, to hoard heat.) Even if the rest of the apartment drops to 25 or 30 degrees Fahrenheit, your body heat alone will keep your demi-room in the 40s. Burning just one candle will raise the temperature another 5 or 10 degrees. For the greatest efficiency at retaining heat, your demi-room should be draped with two layers of mylar space blankets.

Exercise. While you are “hunkered down”, you will need to maintain muscle tone. Get some quiet exercise equipment, such as a pull-up bar and some large elastic straps. Perhaps, if your budget allows in the future, also purchase or construct your own a quiet stationary bicycle-powered generator. This would provide both exercise and battery charging.

Sanity. .Hunkering down solo in silence for six months would be a supreme challenge, both physically and mentally. Assuming that you can somehow tackle all of the aforementioned problems, you also need to plan to stay sane. Have lots of reading materials on hand.

In conclusion, when one considers the preceding long list of dependencies and complexities, it makes “staying put” in a worst case very unattractive. In less inimical circumstance, it is certainly feasible, but in a grid-down situation with utilities disrupted and wholesale looting and rioting in progress, the big city is no place to live. But, as always, this is just my perspective and your mileage may vary (YMMV).