Camping vs Emergency equipment

[ikk]

I live in the outskirts of Los Angeles County. Our area is a pretty tight community. People in my area do have horses as well as other live stock. so movemet could be possible using a horse if needed. As a safety precaution I plan on using the batteries at night for lighting and charging. As night falls and it gets quiet I don't plan on running a generator. I do remember during the 94 quake that the main freeway into Los Angeles from the North came down and there was only one 2 way street for everyone to go through. Luckily the freeways to the south were all in-tacked but with a large enough quake you never know and you could be stuck for weeks depending were you live. Not saying there would be no way out but with people panicked and only side streets to travel you never know.

I do change out my gasoline every 6 months or so as I will fill up my truck and take the the empty cans and refill. As well as I start up my Gen about every 6 months as well for a few minutes.
I am in the process of upgrading my solar for camping to be more inline to our family needs if something were to happen. right now I have 70 watt 12 volt solar. I am looking to increase it to 250 to 300 watts with an MPPT controller. still haven't decided if I should go 12 or 24 volts. cost of panels are close to the same price.

Just as others have stated I am not looking at building a bomb shelter and think the end of the world is coming I just figured will since I love to camp, and have camping gear why not make it dual purpose and be ready for anything. Mind you I don't take my Generator with me camping but I did buy it for the reason that the power in my area would go down quite frequently and I didn't want to lose $100 of dollars of food due to a power outage. Also during the first 3 years of living in the foot hills we were asked to evacuate due to fires. As we had our car ready to go just in-case we had no power we could still run a window air conditioner in our room.

 

[calicamper]

I live in the outskirts of Los Angeles County. Our area is a pretty tight community. People in my area do have horses as well as other live stock. so movemet could be possible using a horse if needed. As a safety precaution I plan on using the batteries at night for lighting and charging. As night falls and it gets quiet I don't plan on running a generator. I do remember during the 94 quake that the main freeway into Los Angeles from the North came down and there was only one 2 way street for everyone to go through. Luckily the freeways to the south were all in-tacked but with a large enough quake you never know and you could be stuck for weeks depending were you live. Not saying there would be no way out but with people panicked and only side streets to travel you never know.

I do change out my gasoline every 6 months or so as I will fill up my truck and take the the empty cans and refill. As well as I start up my Gen about every 6 months as well for a few minutes.
I am in the process of upgrading my solar for camping to be more inline to our family needs if something were to happen. right now I have 70 watt 12 volt solar. I am looking to increase it to 250 to 300 watts with an MPPT controller. still haven't decided if I should go 12 or 24 volts. cost of panels are close to the same price.

Just as others have stated I am not looking at building a bomb shelter and think the end of the world is coming I just figured will since I love to camp, and have camping gear why not make it dual purpose and be ready for anything. Mind you I don't take my Generator with me camping but I did buy it for the reason that the power in my area would go down quite frequently and I didn't want to lose $100 of dollars of food due to a power outage. Also during the first 3 years of living in the foot hills we were asked to evacuate due to fires. As we had our car ready to go just in-case we had no power we could still run a window air conditioner in our room.

Same here each region will have slightly different disaster supplies needs. West Coast types wont really have big problems with cold temps for the most part, nor will we have disasters extending 100's of miles they will be very localized. The biggest threat being fire, so having a quick GTFO kit is a must, and it needs to be portable as on foot portable, given quakes cause gridlock and fires dont wait for traffic to clear.

If your able to stay home then its just water which is easy in most cases, plenty of water heaters full of water even swimming pools if its dire. Food could be tough given most CA people I know dont eat canned goods or processed packaged stuff so a large portion of our residents wont have more than 3 days or so of food stuff that isnt impacted by loss of the fridge.

 

[calicamper]

My Michigan family put a big natural gas fired generator on the house after three weeks with no power. They skipped the gasoline fired generators because neighbors couldnt get enough gas to keep them running, only a few gas stations could pump gas and they were swamped and ran out. So utilty fed natural gas generator made lots of sense and was worth the investment.

 

[pugslyyy]

My Michigan family put a big natural gas fired generator on the house after three weeks with no power. They skipped the gasoline fired generators because neighbors couldnt get enough gas to keep them running, only a few gas stations could pump gas and they were swamped and ran out. So utilty fed natural gas generator made lots of sense and was worth the investment.

yeah if you have natural gas that is a great option. We heat/cook with propane which has its own set of supply issues. So... my genset is a diesel that runs of the same 100 gallon tank that the truck engine does. I've never had to put it to the test, but reckon I could run it for over a month straight without running out of fuel on a full tank...

 

[Lucky j]

No, but I think this year's active hurricane season is making a lot of people think about how prepared they are, so this is a good conversation to have.

I'm not planning for the complete collapse of civilization, but we've lost power in my neighborhood for up to 2 weeks weeks before due to natural catastrophes (hurricanes, ice storms) and we've had winter weather render roads impassible with no warning leaving people stranded either at their work on in their cars with little or no supplies.

It's good to be prepared so that you can be self reliant and place as little of a burden as possible on the first responders - and you'll likely be more comfortable as well.

I do agree with the discussions and before coming back to this to answer, I took the time to read all the comments and most of all makes a lot of sence. All make sence to the fact that every one wants to be prepared, but where I want to go with this, is the fact that some of this stuff is only good if you are close to it. If you drive to work with you Dd, that could be you GTFO trailer pulling transport, then you might not be able to get back home to get that trailer at all. You might have the beat gas generator in the world at home, but if for any reason, you were away from home when you were it (you and not your home area) then it could all be for nothing to.

We could all prepare for weeks, but do you need 1000 gallons or water for this, unless you plan on taking a shower every day? I carry a biolite stove in my jeep, I think it could be the best tool to cook in such a situation. No need for any tupe of liquid or gas fuel and plenty of debries to cook and it can hold in a back pack.

People hikking long distance can go for many days with just a back pack. So a good pair of boots it's it all you really need.

I do not think that getting super equiped for catastrophic scenarios is that important. Not that you do not need to be ready, but more that you need to have what you need. To get by. I know that I will not need 300w of power to get by, I don't even need it when camping.

I just hope that I will have my Teardrop and jeep when the worst come around, but I am only close from the jeep and trailer every other week when I get to my cabin.

It would be the same in SoCal with fire. Mif you are at work and the road are just jam with regulare trafic, do you even have time to get back home to grab your trailer? If a major heart quake happen, will you even be able to get to the trailer of bug out truck and will you have gas for that gen or wish you had a reserve of gasoline for that portable gen.

All I am saying is that we can only get prepare to a certain level and for our location in the world.

Just a tought.

But yes, be prepare!

 

[landsharkman]

My SoCal location makes my only real risk a major earthquake, so I have prepared with that and camping in mind. On my property and and in our office separated from the house, we have a Honda 3000 and 2000 generators, about 200 gal of water in separate drums, water filter,freeze dried food for a few weeks, small packs pf drinking water for a few weeks, canned food, food for the pets, tents, sleeping bags, propane, jerry cans of gasoline, camping stove, wood burning barbeque, flashlights and batteries, battery powered and ac chain saw, tools, axe, personal radios, scanner radio, weather radio, goal zero 400 watt and 1400 watt battery generators, 400 watts of portable solar panels, land line phone and cellular, battery back ups for phones and computer, cellular hotspot, assorted knives, first aid trauma kits, fire extinguishers, gas cut off wrench, whistles and cash.
In my truck all the time, ARB fridge running on my two battery setup, trauma first aid kit, tools, knives, flashlights, goal zero string lights, scanner radio, water, partner stove, propane, full kitchen set, water filter, some food for a couple of days, entry and wood axe, cb and ham radio, weather radio, wood stove, bear spray, fire extinguishers, emergency blankets, handheld gps, compass, whistles, medications, bug out backpacks for two, shovels, tree saws and recovery gear.
Both my wife's and my daily drivers have tools, flashlights, knives, first aid kits and limited supply bug out bags with water, fire extinguishers and emergency food.
Finally a plan for how the family is supposed to try and meetup

 

[calicamper]

The family meet up spot is tricky. The one we had a few yrs ago is useless today due to traffic congestion vs a few yrs ago. I think this is really the hardest thing

 

[SoCal Tom]

My SoCal location makes my only real risk a major earthquake, so I have prepared with that and camping in mind. On my property and and in our office separated from the house, we have a Honda 3000 and 2000 generators, about 200 gal of water in separate drums, freeze dried food for a few weeks, small packs pf drinking water for a few weeks, canned food, food for the pets, tents, sleeping bags, propane, jerry cans of gasoline, camping stove, wood burning barbeque, flashlights and batteries, battery powered and ac chain saw, tools, axe, personal radios, scanner radio, weather radio, goal zero 400 watt and 1400 watt battery generators, 400 watts of portable solar panels, land line phone and cellular, battery back ups for phones and computer, cellular hotspot, assorted knives, first aid trauma kits, fire extinguishers, gas cut off wrench, whistles and cash.
In my truck all the time, ARB fridge running on my two battery setup, trauma first aid kit, tools, knives, flashlights, goal zero string lights, scanner radio, water, partner stove, propane, full kitchen set, some food for a couple of days, entry and wood axe, cb an ham radio, weather radio, wood stove, bear spray, fire extinguishers, emergency blankets, handheld gps, compass, whistles, medications, bug out backpacks for two, shovels, tree saws and recovery gear.
Both my wife's and my daily drivers have tools, flashlights, knives, first aid kits and limited supply bug out bags with water, fire extinguishers and emergency food.
Finally a plan for how the family is supposed to try and meetup

I'm in a coastal area of San Diego. The "disasters" that have occurred in that time,
2004 Wildfire. Road were closed, most businesses were closed. Some of my family got evacuated, ended up at my house.
2007 wildfire. Basically the same.
2011 West coast power outage. Power was out about 24 hours, we were told it would be 3 days. Took people several hours to drive home, some ran out of gas trying to get to the freeway due to the congestion with no street lights and everyone leaving at once.
Most "disasters" here are Shelter in place situations, but even with SIP ( Bug in), you need to have supplies because the stores will be closed. If the power goes out, then it can lead to no water once the tanks run dry. The last couple of businesses I worked at here have "earth quake" kits on site for their employees. I probably should make sure I have some walking shoes in my car, but for now I keep a fanny pack with a first aid kit, leatherman tool and a couple of bottles of water.
They teach us that if there is an earthquake you should plan a route home that doesn't go over or under a bridge. My office is 6 miles from home, and that isn't possible without going off road and even then I have to go over a railroad trestle.
Tom

 

[2025 deleted member]

Regarding the riots my dad had two students arrested in his class room two weeks after the riots 600 miles away sitting in Biology class. Seems both families rented a Uhaul together and went down to LA to um go shopping during the riots. You never hear about looters being picked up later, but yes they get caught.

When I hear about families like that the phrase "your futures so bright ya gotta wear shades" comes to mind. People are crazy.

 

[dcg141]

I use my camping gear every time we have some weather emergency. Lanterns, white gas stoves ect. I keep about a 4-5 supply of food and water on hand and have a MSR Guardian water filter. I'm prepared for normal outages. Just don't feel the need to prepare for an apocalypse.

 

[SoCal Tom]

I’ve been working on a prepping video. Finally posted it last night https://youtu.be/u_Tx6blpglk.
Tom


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[stingray1300]

Just a quick thought on an earlier post regarding shutting off your electrical and gas: My mom, who started her insurance broker career "way back" in the insurance company my grandfather started in the 40s (and is still in business), advised that UNLESS you have earthquake insurance, if your home experienced significant damage during a quake, ya might wanna leave the gas on. Clear the area of course! But if the home catches fire, you will be covered under your fire insurance... (FYI)

 

[pluton]

For the Southern California area that is west of the San Andreas fault complex(L.A., OC, S. Diego metro areas, etc) there is a possibilty...not a probability, but nevertheless a possibility that the "right" type of earthquake could stop water deliveries from all three of the aqueduct systems that make SoCal possible: The L.A. Aqueduct, the California Aqueduct, and the Colorado River Aqueduct...all of which cross the fault in a approx 120 mile stretch.
So, water is very important.
The many small cities that pump native groundwater will be able to use their sources as normal, but only after electrical service has been restored.

 

[Stumpalump]

The most important thing in an emergency that I mentioned earlier in the thread paid off for a bunch of people, property and horses today. Your physical condition is your best tool. After running to three houses on 10 acre lots to warn I scaled three high horse fences to this.



I was the first to get the attention of the owners by yelling fire then we ran to save the screaming horses.
I blew and lost a sandal (Arizona sharp rocks, cactus and thorns) and only one guy beat me over the last fence. I keep my bare feet tuff. You never know when you will need them like in the middle of the night or in this case a fire.




I woke this lady up. Another guy snapped the plastic handle off of the hose faucet and she was Jonny on the spot with a pair of pliers in my hand. I unscrewed the broken piece and got to the faucet thingy to turn. Another guy beat back the fire and we got the horses out.





By now neibors (real horse people) cought the horses and moved them to an ranch up wind and I could hear sirens in the distance. Not many of my posts don't include Bella. She stayed in the smoke filled car with all the windows down. Good Girl!



Maybe not the biggest deal in the world but the fire got big enough to have news copters. This fire was 1/4 mile from my house. I hauled azz as soon as the animals and people were free and the first truck showed up.



If you want survivors then you better be strong and agile. When I out ran the young guns on the ranch and scaled those fences like a hood rat to get the attention of the owners I was glad to be fit. When is the last time you scaled fences in a hurry? When is the last time you ran barefoot? I'm in my mid 50's and did not have to bat an eye over getting winded, cut feet or cought in layers of old fencing. I suggest if you in an area of concern then sharpen your most important tool. Your body.

 

[perterra]

Good that you were able to take photos while rescuing people