How do we sign up to get alerts like that? I'm sure i'm not the only one who would like to sign up
The Weather Channel offers free email and text alerts for your zip code. I have two different alerts set up: one for work and one for home.
https://registration.weather.com/ursa/alerts/step1?from=svralrtpg&initAlerts=SVRAs far as the EAS, I can't seem to find the website anymore. I bought it from a small company called ASI in Ohio. I hope they didn't go under, their little alert radio thingy is awesome.
Things that I was thinking of having in my get home bag would consist of a pry bar, respirator (hell maybe even a full on gas mask?
), flashlights, extra batteries, container of water (maybe even those sealed packets of emergency water), gloves, glow sticks, rope and collapsable grappling hook, first aid kit, small emergency radio, 2 way radio, whistle, maybe a few other things i can't think of right now off the top of my head.
The rope would work for me since i work on the 2nd floor of a building. If something happened and i was unable to get to the staircases or elevators to get down, the rope and grappling hook would work well in that situation.
I think you're on the right track with this bag, but some of the stuff seems kinda bulky/extraneous. For example, I personally feel that N95 dust masks would be sufficient for almost any situation that doesn't require full CBRNE gear. For the pry bar, I would look into something like this:
EOD Robotics Breacher Bar. For the grappling hook, there are other ways to rappel down a face and retreive your rope that require either no equipment or something smaller/lighter than a grappling hook (even a collapsable one). As far as the water goes, I personally use a camelback Mule for my Get Home Bag and keep a gallon of water in my truck (that I rotate out every few months). If I have to bug out, then I just dump the gallon of water into the bladder. Other small things that you're forgetting are fire (lighter and magnesium block), shelter (compact heat blanket or poncho + 550 cord + business card duct tape), some type of knife (I prefer a medium sized fixed blade, like the SOG SEAL Pup and a multitool for this type of BOB) and of course food (I keep a couple CLIF bars, a pouch or two of dried mango slices, some beef jerky, and one Mainstay 3600 calorie bar). One last thing that I keep in there is a Silcock key, this little gizmo can be bought at any hardware store and allows you to turn on a spigot that doesn't have a handle.
Lastly, my PERSONAL philosphy regarding a Get Home Bag is that I need to have enough stuff to be able to take care of any passengers that are with me. Luckily I have a truck so that's easy for me. The reason I say this is that if you have a friend(s) with you in the car when the SHTF, you're gonna have a problem if you both(all) need to hoof it on foot and you only have enough gear/food/water for yourself.
I'm pretty sleepy, so I probably missed some stuff or wasn't very clear, so if I confused you just let me know and I'll try to clarify it.
- Alex