Mormons of Fort McMurray, did you end up using your one year food supply?

[Leisure]

Did that one year food supply come in handy? How did it go? Is there anything you would have done differently?

I feel like gasoline would be a pretty important thing to stock up on haha.

[LeSellers]

22 minutes ago, Leisure said:

Did that one year food supply come in handy? How did it go? Is there anything you would have done differently?

I feel like gasoline would be a pretty important thing to stock up on haha.

Is this serious?

It sounds more than a bit too edgy.

Lehi

[SpiritDragon]

54 minutes ago, LeSellers said:

Is this serious?

It sounds more than a bit too edgy.

Lehi

I second this notion. Are you wanting to seriously engage in dialogue about how to better be prepared in the event a wildfire burns out of control in your area and destroys your home? Or are you playing the part of a mystical creature which we don't mention around here that is generally larger than a goblin, but smaller than an ogre - in the late 80's and early 90's they had neon hair and cute little butts.

 

I don't mean to issue accusations, but I almost lost my family to the flames and don't see it as a laughing matter - that being said if you're truly wanting to learn from it, I can appreciate that.

[Leisure]

English isn't my first language so I come across as unprofessional sometimes

Yes it's serious, and no I'mean not trolling. For the sake of data collection and mere curiosity,  I was wondering what Albertans have learnt from first hand experience about what the do's and don'ts of emergency preparedness are.

Stories/parables of how being a mormon and having a food store came in handy when having to deal with the forest fires, any lessons they learned from it.  it's not everyday you get to actually use the emergency supply in context.

[NeuroTypical]

Hi Leisure,

I was actually evacuated a few years ago in one of Colorado's forest fires.  Here's the thing I wrote about it:

So, after years of carefully preparing to survive hard times in a remote home out of the city, the recent Colorado forest fire forced us to bug out of our retreat and take shelter in civilization. It burned over 14,000 acres, destroyed 509 homes, and killed two people (their bodies were found in their garage, still loading stuff and preparing to evacuate). 

We're safely moved back, all is well, our neighborhood seemingly untouched. 3 days in a hotel with pool and free breakfast. Dogs and cats in an emergency shelter run by a local vet business out of the goodness of their hearts. A big check written out by insurance to cover out-of-pocket expenses. Grateful neighbors, because I was able to take some of their things with us while they were in another state.

My ward has about 7, maybe 8 families with destroyed homes. It's impacted a few people at my work. In our school district, 91 students and 22 staff are homeless. It burned down our local vetrinary hospital, and all 3 doctors are homeless. My friend who works with large animal rescue looks about 10 years older, and has too many stories of horses with burn wounds and abandoned animals to count.

My church is still standing. In fact, the YM/YW had just completed a church service project and hauled out 15 truckloads of pine needles. I saw that project go by - there was much whining and complaining. But here was the result:


Yes, that's the church's property on the left, and didn't have any ground fuel to burn so it died off.

Good things:
* Everything I've learned about the safe handling of firearms, opsec, situational awareness, and bugging out. We were prepared and did not fear.
* Large tupperware containers are great when you must pack and leave, and can rent a storage unit within a day.
* Being able to walk around prepared in the middle of civilization, without looking like the backwoodsman militant patriot survivalist wannabe you know you are. (The grey man theory rocks.)
* Colorado Natn'l guard, local cops, city cops, county sheriffs, state highway patrol, and utility companies - they all had superb coordination. County called the shots, everyone else said "no - go ask County if you want a yes". Very little looting/vandalism. Very friendly checkpoints and help for homeowners who left medication and pets behind.
* Twitter and facebook were instant sources of official news - better than the media. 
* Safe deposit box, already stocked, and my shiny new 16 gig thumb drive, already backed up. With those two things, and an insurance company to write out checks, we would have been able to rebuild our home anywhere. (The thumb drive replaces boxes of photos, filing cabinets full of files, bank records.)
* Family banding together to get along - everyone contributed - everyone helped the other members be comfortable.
* I may be a fat guy in his '40's, but I'm a fat guy in his '40's who can do a 60 second plank, and who runs uphill 2x/week at the gym. I was able to load and unload, move and carry, lift and sweat, do just about all the heavy work our family of me, wife, and 2 young daughters needed. Most of it while inconspicuously armed.
* My family watched traffic jams and news reports of desparate people rummaging through donated food and clothing, from the air conditioned comfort of a hotel room with kitchenette, surrounded by our bug-out bags and get-home bags and stay-put bags, plus a grocery store nearby. 

Stuff to improve for next time:
* Cardboard boxes are the enemy. They are to be treated as a threat to your family's safety, because they come apart as you move them from place to place, sometimes in the middle of traffic. Duct tape continues to be king, but even duct tape can't fix cardboard.
* Need to get rifle cases. Throwing a bedsheet over a handful of longarms worked in a pinch, but basically advertised to everyone who knew what to look for.
* We risked our lives on a 50 year old pickup bed/trailer conversion with a slow tire leak and cracks in the frame welds. Never again. Goodwill will be picking it up on Thursday.
* Need to work on a 90 second plank, and faster running, etc. And less fast food. Always room for improvement.
* Don't get complacent. There may not always be air conditioning and safety and functioning credit card machines.

 

[SpiritDragon]

I hope more and more people are aware of the need to have a 72 hour kit or "go bag" ready. I know this type of event serves as a reminder to make sure ours is up to date. With a baby around clothing and diaper sizes change so quickly we should probably just have the next few sizes up ready as well to quickly swap out.

As for having food supplies I know it has come in handy for those who are not in the immediate danger zone, but have taken on refugees from the fire. It is very helpful to simply know you can invite extra people over and there will be enough food.

[mirkwood]

Car kits (my term for go bags or 72 hour kit concepts) are a good idea, but in NO WAY replace the doctrine of food storage.

[SpiritDragon]

19 hours ago, mirkwood said:

Car kits (my term for go bags or 72 hour kit concepts) are a good idea, but in NO WAY replace the doctrine of food storage.

Completely agreed. I hope it didn't sound as though I was suggesting it should.

[mirkwood]

No, the post was for general consumption, with emphasis on those who think 72 hour kits are the see all be all of food storage and emergency preparedness.