Preppers and fire

Conmaicne Mara

Hello all,

I was watching a programme a few nights ago on one of the satellite channels about doomsday preppers. One couple had decided to "bug in" and the panel of experts examining their level of preparedness were happy with their plan except for their water storage levels.

They had prepared for home invasion by secreting firearms around the house and had learned morse code tapping and a foreign language to communicate. One camera shot caught my attention, the outside of their home at night with large windows at ground level.

My thoughts turned to human beings under stress and pressure and how badly they can react. For example, someone or some people may try to invade that home and be ejected from the property or fail to gain entry.

I wonder how many preppers give thought to the question that their supplies and base could be destroyed by fire by others on the basis of "If I can't have it (your supplies) then no one can"? Not just relating to the couple on the programme but for preppers in general, are your supplies safe in the event someone wants to damage or destroy them?

fastrac

Saw that episode and totally agree. All fine for a very well protected or remote premises but looked vulnerable in an urban setting.

bonniebede

hmmm, fire.

two issues, can you get out safely?

if we were really in a longterm breakdown situation, one of the first jobs might be to move stores from wherever they are now, easily accessible, and break it into several caches to be buried/hidden so that you would never lose all your stuff at once. that would also take care of the fire issue.

Conmaicne Mara

Ones own personal safety is obviously paramount in the event of fire. Those turned into ash are unlikely to worry about their supplies.

I believe the couple had over $100,000 worth of supplies in their home. They did say at the end of the programme that they had not revealed everything, so may have contingency plans.

Splitting the cache up now would seem a more advantageous move as if TSHTF time may not be in large supply, people may also take a keener eye to the activities of their neighbours, moving large supplies of food, acting out of the ordinary at night and such. People will look after no.1 and that can lead to nasty situations developing.

The urban setting makes the job harder I think.

Would preppers cycle through their food supply on a regular basis? What I mean is do you eat through your stores while also replacing them at the same time, as stock piling food and not eating would not seem a good idea as the food would eventually go off - I presume. Where am I going with that, well burying a food supply under the flower bed may not be feasible if you need to eat through it, so where to hide it?

They were planning on "bugging in", I wonder would people travel to dig up a food cache and go back to base, or store all on site. It all has it's risks I guess.

I would not be happy with $100K worth of food and supplies going up in smoke!