Emergency Tool Kit for thought

Recently, i had to clean out the trunk of my old car and looked through a kit i put together some years ago to help in urban emergency preparedness. This kit had tools that i thought would be useful in an earthquake type urban emergency, and some of these things actually were used in the 1994 quake in SoCal.

So this list is not well thought out and might be a starting point for things to have in addition to your psk, sak, fak, bob and other three letter kits.

10 ABC dry chem fire extinguisher
D-Handle spade (useful for scooping up debris and broken glass)
small fire axe with spike (not actually used for emergencies yet, did split wood for camping)
4 foot prybar (actually used for opening doors that were stuck because the frames were warped by the quake, the trick is to lift up the door at the bottom to take pressure off the lock)
small prybar
channel lock pliers
8 inch adjustable wrench (shut off gas main, also used in car emergencies)
claw hammer
reversible slotted/philips screwdriver (car emergencies mostly)
roll, duct tape (gotta have duct tape)
baling wire (car emergencies)
large polypro tarp
box of heavy duty trashbags
100 feet of 1/8 inch clothesline
old spare boots with socks (i wear sandals in the summer <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> )
cheap hardhat
box of nuisance dustmasks (used more often to help people move)

Anyway, you probably don't need the big stuff but the small hand tools and supplies are really useful to have around.

I use my heavy leather gloves all the time. For earthquake clean-up, car powered light.

You shouldn't put your fire-extinguisher in your trunk, but in your cabin. If you get a accident, and the boot gets blocked, you can't get to in.
BTW: Dutch regulations state that all cars should have a fire-extinguisher and warning-triangle in the car. And I believe that in Belgium a first-aid kit is also required.

Problem is, in an accident, that extinguisher could very easily become an extinguisher of life -- YOURS -- when it becomes an airborne missile. You don't want those heavy things hitting you in the head. I sure don't. I get enough headaches as is.

-- Craig

Just don't leave the extinguisher loose. Keep it strapped into it's mount which is, in turn, bolted to the vehicle.
Actually, I think the original post exhibits a pretty good basic kit for a car. I carry substantily more, but I'm driving a full size 4-wheel drive pickup with a cap and I'm in a differant area from the author.

"There is nothing so frightening as ignorance in action."

In Holland it's a regulation to have it safely secured in your cabin.

"safely secured" meaning....? Strapped in? Bolted to the floor?

I'm curious.

-- Craig

Something like this:

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/picture_library/dir_22/car_portal_pic_11451.jpg

It is secured on the passangers-side with a clamp bolted to the seat that holds the exthinguisher and it's also held in place with a quick release-strap. Just to be safe.

Pardon me for saying so, but that looks like a terribly clumsy setup (unless I'm missing something) -- not to mention rather uncomfortable for your passenger.

-- Craig [running for cover]

What do you mean with clumsy?

The exthinguisher in that picture actually is to large, normally we use smaller ones (2 kg). Those ones aren't to large and aren't in the passagers way.

I couldn't sit in the seat with the extinguisher in the way like that. Especially one that BIG.

-- Craig

May I suggest that you add a bag of 6" nails to your kit. Very useful for rigging emergency shelters, Stopping doors from closing. A few large cable tidies might come in useful as well. I personally think the biggest limitation on your kit is weight. It needs to be easily portable after all.

I forgot that i have a pair of gloves, and i didn't mention the auto specific stuff like the bottles of fluids, jumper cables and road flares etc.
Well, the extinguisher issue is a bit of a problem, it's difficult to keep anywhere else than the trunk since it is about 2 feet long. I agree that having it in the passenger compartment is better, but there's no good place to bolt it, it's not a race car with roll cage.
Good point with the nails. I should toss in some 10d and a selection of drywall screws. Also ty-wraps. This would live in the kit bag with the rest of the small stuff though the big stuff is just pinned behind a milk crate. Portability was not really considered since, in southern california, you are probably near your car (both at work and at home) and is more likely to be accessible than a box buried in your house.

Also, i suppose that depending on your area, other tools would be useful, say snowshoes in the north.

Yeah, that's a huge extinguisher. That can't possibly be the minimum required size in Europe. I tried Googling for some photos and this is the only one I could find (photos loaded a bit slowly for me). The small (600g of dry chem, I think) extinguisher is in a compartment at the front base of the passenger seat. Very unobtrusive, especially if the seat isn't pushed all the way back.

While Googling for this photo, I read that in Spain, you're required to carry (among other things) a spare fan belt, a full set of replacement bulbs, plus all the tools necessary to do the job. I read on another webpage that Spain also requires that you carry a spare set of glasses if you normally wear them. (???) Anyone familiar with Spanish driving laws to corroborate? Wow, what else do they require in each car? Four full-size spare tires? Just kidding. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Spain's laws seem just a wee bit overprotective, do they not?

-- Craig