I keep a mixed bag of 1000 that I got on special sale from Specialty Fasteners, came in a mini cooler zip bag, so a win all around
Go Bag - contents and rationale
- Thread starter Todjaeger
- Start date
Have heard them described as the modern version of fencing wire.
Don't have a go bag - but have a well equipped store in the house and garage, as well as a bag I keep packed for Scout excursions with water, med kit, torch, spare batteries, rope, hexamine, matches etc.
It is important to understand that most natural emergencies are not without some warning. Buy some supplies when you can and build up to a level you are comfortable with and then just rotate what you use. Buy two or three cases of canned corn. If you use 6 cans for dinner, buy 6 more and place them at the back and move the rest forward, always using the oldest stock first. Look for deals and buy your big quantity then and save money. I found canned corn for $ .48 a bought two cases. Stored in the garage, it will last for a year or more.
Same for fuel. I buy 10 gallons of fuel in containers when I fill my cars up on the weekend. When the cars start to run low, the first ten gallons goes into the tanks and the empty containers go into the trunk to be filled at the next fill up.
One other big deal. Keep quiet about what you are doing. If you prepare and your neighbors do not, and they know about it? You have just become the provider for your neighbors in their panicked minds. I always love when they say you will be arrested for hoarding. Essentially you prepared yourself and they didn't, so now we will arrest you and take your stuff to help all those who did not have the intelligence to plan and take care of themselves.
A "Go bag" is just a smaller version of your home supplies. If the house is about to be destroyed, you need something you can get out in a hurry. Having stuff scattered all over the house is good if you can stay in your house, but if its burning to the ground, or going under water, you cannot. The bag can also be a "Get me home" bag. That is what I use mine for primarily.
Same for fuel. I buy 10 gallons of fuel in containers when I fill my cars up on the weekend. When the cars start to run low, the first ten gallons goes into the tanks and the empty containers go into the trunk to be filled at the next fill up.
One other big deal. Keep quiet about what you are doing. If you prepare and your neighbors do not, and they know about it? You have just become the provider for your neighbors in their panicked minds. I always love when they say you will be arrested for hoarding. Essentially you prepared yourself and they didn't, so now we will arrest you and take your stuff to help all those who did not have the intelligence to plan and take care of themselves.
A "Go bag" is just a smaller version of your home supplies. If the house is about to be destroyed, you need something you can get out in a hurry. Having stuff scattered all over the house is good if you can stay in your house, but if its burning to the ground, or going under water, you cannot. The bag can also be a "Get me home" bag. That is what I use mine for primarily.
Todjaeger
Potstirrer
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #64
Things to ponder and keep in mind.
With the recent tornado which struck Oklahoma and devastated the town of Moore, events like this reinforce utility of having a Go Bag packed and ready, as well as having a disaster plan and practicing it.
Also for those who live in North America or Central America on the eastern seaboard, or in the Caribbean basin the official start of the hurricane season is in ten days time. At present, the forecast for the 2013 hurricane season is to be 'more active' than normal. After the 'more active than normal' season last year, I would recommend for people living in areas which can be impacted by Atlantic storms to pay attention to major weather forecasts and take preventive measures to mitigate the potential impact of a storm on them.
-Cheers
With the recent tornado which struck Oklahoma and devastated the town of Moore, events like this reinforce utility of having a Go Bag packed and ready, as well as having a disaster plan and practicing it.
Also for those who live in North America or Central America on the eastern seaboard, or in the Caribbean basin the official start of the hurricane season is in ten days time. At present, the forecast for the 2013 hurricane season is to be 'more active' than normal. After the 'more active than normal' season last year, I would recommend for people living in areas which can be impacted by Atlantic storms to pay attention to major weather forecasts and take preventive measures to mitigate the potential impact of a storm on them.
-Cheers
King Wally
Active Member
The press was reporting they had around 16 minutes warning. Having a go bag / get home bag etc that you could grab in a single minute would not only give you extra precious minutes to fix your dig in plan but also see you emerge from your shell of a house with better vital gear that you could use to assist your family or neighbours. Maybe even some bits and pieces to make the next few days in the community shelter more bearable.
Thinking of upgrading my first aid kits and bags with recent fire activity.
I need more fire protection and burns/heat exhaustion stuff.
Closest fire was only 3 km from my place.
I need more fire protection and burns/heat exhaustion stuff.
Closest fire was only 3 km from my place.
what has been alarming is the amount of people who were prepacked and ready to go but still didn't have enough time to gather up and go - its been that quick in parts
the road runner
Active Member
Late line on the ABC had a story of having a go bag ready to last people 72 hours in case of emergency. Alot of people think your a doomsday psycho for having a go bag,but floods and fires have shown how such a bag can be a major asset.
Im in Sydney and the fires are a good 200km away from me ,but the smoke that has been in the sky along with embers just amazes me.Smog has been around for the last few days.
Think i need more first aid stuff to treat burn to
Im in Sydney and the fires are a good 200km away from me ,but the smoke that has been in the sky along with embers just amazes me.Smog has been around for the last few days.
Think i need more first aid stuff to treat burn to
ABC also ran a good article on "learned helplessness" - they're not far off the mark
John Newman
The Bunker Group
My ex-wife's sister and her family lost their house in the 2003 Canberra bushfires, they were living in Duffy, probably one of the worst hit suburbs too, from memory there was around 200 houses destroyed in Duffy alone.
I can remember in the days leading up to the fire and the day itself, my ex was regularly on the phone to her sister and asking how things were going, they were obviously concerned, but there didn't seem to be 'too much urgency', on the morning of the fires I remember my ex being told by her sister that the latest they heard was that the fires 'were a couple of hours away' and later in the day (not long before their suburb became an inferno) they were telling us that 'if' they had to get out, they should get plenty of warning.
(Just to digress for a minute, I always remember when we visited them, driving into their suburb there was a large pine tree plantation just to the West of them, and I had always thought if that ever went up, there would be big problems!!)
So late in the afternoon they started to become a bit more concerned and finally started to organise things to take, then all of a sudden, bang! The 'plenty of time' just disappeared and they got the word to get out of there NOW!, In the end all they managed to get into the car was themselves and the kids, the pets, the computer, maybe a photo album and some important documents (basically what they could carry to the car on their way out the door), everything else was lost in the fire.
In hindsight (yes hindsight is a marvellous thing) they said they wished they had been more organised, but they also felt they, and a lot of other people in Canberra too, were let down by the 'warning system' in place at that time.
On a side note to that, my ex and myself lived in West Pennant Hills backing onto the eastern edge of the Darling Mills State Forest from 1997 for ten years or so, and for a couple of months each year I was as nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof during 'bushfire season', especially when there was a strong hot Westerly wind and the smell of smoke in the air too, the bush right behind us had gone up a few times over the years, including only a year or so before we bought.
Over those ten years or so, our 'go bag / escape plan' evolved considerably (and especially after what happened to the sister in-law in Canberra too), every bushfire season I would gather all the important documents, photo albums, computer back ups and put them in close reach of the front door, when there was extreme weather on the way, I'd move them to the garage and on some days, when we were out at work, I'd load them into the car and carry them around with me 'just in case'.
Being in a very leafy suburb with the bush backing us, a lot of the neighbours invested in petrol 'submersible' pumps (nearly every nearby house had a large swimming pool) that could be shared around as needed.
The one plan I started, but didn't do (because the ex and I split and sold the house), was to install a sprinkler system over the house.
Apart from the various bits of plumbing that was needed to be done (pretty simple exercise), I was going to invest in a petrol generator to power my pool's solar heating pump so that in a bushfire emergency, especially if mains power was lost, I could fire up the generator and utilise the 55,000 litres of water that was in the backyard pool and have the house continuously sprayed and soaked with water, even if we had to get out, hopefully that would have kept the embers doused until the local North Rocks RFS could get on the scene.
Today I'm living in the Inner West of Sydney, no real threat from anything, so I really don't have the need for a 'go bag' as such of things as I did in the past, but even today I have made sure that I have computer backups and copies of important documents, etc, stored offsite at a friends place 'just in case'!
I live in Christchurch, NZ and we learned the hard way about go bags, emergency and survival kits. Earthquakes strike with no warning and maybe that bag is all you have time to grab. However in most cases here the power, water and sewerage were out for days to months on end, depending where you lived. Right from the 6.3 quake on 22/2/2011 we had no power, water or sewerage so what water you had in the immediate locale was all you had. If water was running through the tap it had to be treated as being contaminated. One of the main things that came out of this was to have a plan and also plan how to contact family afterwards. Txting was really good. We found 72 hours was not enough for food and water, more realistic is five days. Keep some cash handy and keep fuel tanks in vehicles filled. If power goes out money machines, eftpos machines,shop tills and gas pumps don't work.
John Newman
The Bunker Group
Ng, I've got a mate that I used to work with in Sydney who moved back to Christchurch a couple of years ago and have heard all the stories, so I know what you mean.
I think the type of grab bag or exit strategy which is relevant is driven to a degree as to where we live in the world and what are the regular things that can possibly affect that area, you guys have had the earthquakes, we've had the floods and bushfires over the last few years for example.
My Daughter and her partner are currently travelling in Vietnam from the South to the North, I received an email from her a week ago about a Typhoon that affected them.
They were in a small town on their way North and a Typhoon hit, the water rose 2 metres within 24hrs and they had to be evacuated to higher ground, they are only travelling light so it was relative straight forward for them, but then you have to rely on availability of the 'local' services (or not) to get you out of that situation.
I think the type of grab bag or exit strategy which is relevant is driven to a degree as to where we live in the world and what are the regular things that can possibly affect that area, you guys have had the earthquakes, we've had the floods and bushfires over the last few years for example.
My Daughter and her partner are currently travelling in Vietnam from the South to the North, I received an email from her a week ago about a Typhoon that affected them.
They were in a small town on their way North and a Typhoon hit, the water rose 2 metres within 24hrs and they had to be evacuated to higher ground, they are only travelling light so it was relative straight forward for them, but then you have to rely on availability of the 'local' services (or not) to get you out of that situation.
my second 4wd is basically a mobile go bag
always has min 50L fresh water on board
has a decent sized med/1st aid kit on board
chainsaw on board
long handled shovel
sand trax
solar cooker
clear plastic (water maker)
icechest
portable cooker
etc....
probably stems from having an uncle drum it into me when I was a kid in the bush that I needed to always rely on myself - and that if I was going to forget anything - it shouldn't be the water
If I'm driving anywhere more than 2hrs away from the next town then I go geared up
always has min 50L fresh water on board
has a decent sized med/1st aid kit on board
chainsaw on board
long handled shovel
sand trax
solar cooker
clear plastic (water maker)
icechest
portable cooker
etc....
probably stems from having an uncle drum it into me when I was a kid in the bush that I needed to always rely on myself - and that if I was going to forget anything - it shouldn't be the water
If I'm driving anywhere more than 2hrs away from the next town then I go geared up
That's basically my plan but wont be ready for this cyclone season (need to get the 4x4 first). Got space round the side of the house where I keep the tailer and would like to build a car port and storage sheds there as well as having the trailer and 4x4 and eventually upgrade the trailer to a camper. News of a big blow coming we would jump in the car and drive down to see relies in Katherine and wack the camper trailer up in their yard.
The only concern is my employment may prevent me from leaving as we are contractually obligated to secure a variety of assets.
The interim plan is to drive the 1500m to my dads place where he has everything you could imagine and shack up with him and his gen set, water, food and a whooping great big Gerber machete that looks like a prop from a Zombie apocalypse film.
When I worked in Fed Health in Darwin we had a trio of Range Rovers set up as go anywheres.
All the major buildings had cyclone supplies which were refreshed every year - fo some strange reason half the stuff in the cages never survived audit
No-one was going to argue with the tongans in charge though
Got my eye on a Tourag for $15K just for something different, would be a nice week ender but would also fit the kids , dogs and birds as well as tow the trailer if we needed to bug out. The Citroen would probably do at the moment but a bit of extra ground clearance never goes astray. Got the big black plastic tubs for the gear we need and the trailer to load it in.
Well I have a Wrangler unlimited which has proved very handy being able to drive straight over branches of smaller size that would have punched a hole in my XR6T.
Im hopefully going to start pouring my firebunker this weekend, so I probably should think about a what to put in there for a stay..
Interesting to see the numbers on people who die trying to leave before a fire. In Victoria it seems most of the deaths were people trying to leave.
Im hopefully going to start pouring my firebunker this weekend, so I probably should think about a what to put in there for a stay..
Interesting to see the numbers on people who die trying to leave before a fire. In Victoria it seems most of the deaths were people trying to leave.
King Wally
Active Member
Pardon my ignorance but Id love to hear a bit about this one, I don't believe I have ever seen a firebunker but they sound like they could be a pretty handy little prep if you lived in bushland with limited roads etc.
well, the basic ones I have known of include 20m shipping containers sunk into the ground if not below ground. (preferably)
enables you to use the earth cover on top as a natural insulator.
tonnes of room inside to store essentials and valuables and lets you have time to have
any firestorm pass over
you lose the house, but you get to live and rebuild with some valuables intact