Over the weekend I found a useful website called InciWeb (Incident Information System) for tracking current wildfires around the country and, sadly, it appears the entire West Coast is burning down: It’s very easy to use. You can easily zoom in seemingly indefinitely which you’ll want to do. Here’s me zooming into my home state […]
I know that the guy in the video below (TheUrbanPrepper) lives in the Seattle area like I do, but I think he’s on the Seattle-side of the Puget Sound, so I can understand why he’s pre-cutting plywood sheets now to help protect his home considering how unruly it’s getting over there. In any case, for […]
Fire eats and breathes, but it isn’t truly alive — and if you take away its fuel or oxygen, it will die. Fire also indiscriminately consumes everything in its path when it is set loose, including homes, businesses, animals and people. Thankfully, you can take steps to protect your home from fire, whether the blaze […]
Over the holidays we went to visit family in Kansas City for a few weeks… all I can say now is that I’m glad to be back home for a while, lol. One day, however, I noticed that my mother-in-law had set her oven to self-clean and then left the house to run errands. In […]
Changing smoke alarm batteries has been a part of my preparedness “ritual” for many years now. And every year, I would purchase more 9-volt batteries because it seems that every alarm I had (except one or two) uses them. But it got to a point where I realized I was spending a good twenty dollars […]
I was recently listening to a podcast by Radiolab on the Poison Control Center at Poison.org; you can learn more about that particular episode here. In that episode I learned some interesting things, like how many centers there are (55), how many calls they get per year (around 80,000 per call center), and how it […]
No one wants to consider the thought of getting lost at sea. You might think that it couldn’t happen to you, but the truth is, it can happen to anyone. Even sailing experts have been caught in a big storm and left without supplies. It’s not easy to survive when lost at sea — but […]
Hurricanes are violent. They can bring a handful of serious and dangerous hazards- from storm surge, high winds, heavy rains, and even tornadoes. If you and your family aren’t prepared, you’re risking your safety. As a guide, here are the following steps you can take to ensure your family’s safety. Before A Hurricane Learn your […]
Flooding is a natural part of our planet’s ecosystem, but for inhabitants of flood-risk areas, high water is the harbinger of destruction and even death. In America’s most flood-prone states, like California, Florida and Arizona, up to 25 percent of housing units sit within a 100- or 500-year floodplain. Flooding can occur nearly anywhere rainfall […]
This is a photo of my front door, maybe you can spot what’s wrong quickly: If not, maybe this photo helps: You see the door security latch there? It’s missing an important part: I’d say it’s kind of useless without that piece, wouldn’t you? The sad thing is that nothing major happened to make it […]
