Disaster preparedness and other related information.

-1. You should have at least one fire extinguisher on each level of your home.

-2. You should have at least one fire extinguisher in your garage.

-3, You should check once a year that your

fire extinguishers are charged (look on the

fire extinguisher for a gauge, the pointers should be on the green "charged" portion of the gauge.

- 4. Learn how to use a fire extinguisher! See "PASS" poster below.

- 5. If you plan on buying a fire extinguisher, check that it is capable of extinguishing type A, B and C fires. See below for a chart related to those types.

- 6. You should have a fire extinguisher in your vehicle!

In case of evacuation due to a pending fire, go ahead and place your home's fire extinguishers out by your front door. They may be useful to fire fighters.

If you mow or weed-whack your property and are afraid of starting a fire with a single spark, a CLEAN (used only with water and soap not with chemicals etc..) pressure sprayer can be your "fire" extinguisher. Place water and dish soap in your CLEAN pressure sprayer, pump up the pressure in your pressure sprayer and if a spark ignites a small fire us your pressure sprayer like an outdoor fire extinguisher!

If you have enough space in your backyard, you might want to set up a "Fuel Dump" away from structures (i.e.: your house, garage, barn, etc...)

This would be the place where you would put your flammables (i.e.: gas cans, propane cans, spray cans, etc....). You should post a sign saying clearly "Fuel Dump" or "Danger, flammable Material, keep fire away" (see the sign below, from safetysign.com) This will save the fire department time because they won't have to scour your garage or home to find them.

Loose trailer chains can start fires and so can poorly inflated tires (rims scraping the pavement can spark fires). If you have to tow a trailer, make sure that the safety chains do not touch the ground. Depending on the size of the chain, get some old rubber hose or some thick flexible plastic conduit and wrap the chain with it then zip tie it firmly to the chain. That way there will be no contact between the chain and the road surface and therefore no sparks!

See the poster below.

To see a 1 minute and 49 seconds video, from 2014, done by the Arizona Department of Transportation, the US Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management about the six ways that a vehicle can start a fire (YouTube), click here

A full swimming pool can be useful to firefighters.

- 1. If you have an "In-Ground" swimming pool.

Post the amount of gallons of water it contains so that fire fighters know what water resource it can provide them in case of a fire.

​Firefighters may pump water out it to supply their pumper truck or to fight the fire directly.

- 2. If you have an "Above-ground" swimming pool.

Post the amount of gallons of water it contains so that firefighters know water resource it can rpovide them in case of a fire. Firefighters will, probably not pump directly from it but they might be able to use that water to fight the fire.

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Other resources....:

Douglas Kent wrote,

"Firescaping: Protecting Your Home with Fire Resistant Landscape" (2nd edition) Published by Wilderness Press, 2019

ISBN: 978-0899979625

Cost: about $22.00

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One can supposedly live for three days without water but I'm not willing to risk that. So how does one purify water? Well... You will, first, need to filter it to remove debris. You can use a bandana, or other clean cloth or a coffee filter to do so. then you should get rid of bacteria and other living organisms

-1. You should boil it for at least one minute.

To learn more about that process, from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),

click here.

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-2. You should add unscented bleach. Now beware of bleach because it's not all the same. Make sure that it's NOT splash reduced or scented or modified in any way. It should have 8.25% sodium hypochlorite in it or at least 5.25%. To learn more about which bleach is the right kind, click here.

To learn more as to the ratios of amounts of bleach and water from the EPA, (same link as found in boiling the water), click here.

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-3. Use water purifying tablets. To learn more about that technique, click here.

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