So I recently finished moving into my beautiful new home. First time homeowner, we did all the things I could think to do to help secure the house. It's got it's own well, it's on a hill, has a nice foundation, etc.

As time goes on, I will add a backup generator to the well pump, some 50 gallon drums for storing water, etc.

My concern is that there is one tidbit of information I found:
York Haven-area historical tornado activity is slightly above Pennsylvania state average. It is 34% greater than the overall U.S. average.

Well, my basement is unfinished with superior walls up. It has several windows, making it an inadequate storm cellar. Now I'm thinking I can build a concrete cinder block safe room down there to help, but I'm curious to see what other suggestions you all have.

Garland,

You are on the right track. Check HERE on FEMA's web site. I think that building a shelter in your basement is to way to go, just remember you will need an independent, reinforced roof in case the the ground level structure collapses.

Check with your local emergency management agency to see if they have any programs or helpful local information about contractors. Also check to see if they have a "safe room registration program". We are currently in the planning stages of building a new house and the county we have property in has such a program. This is how the program works: If you have a safe room or tornado shelter, you register your address with the EMA and if a tornado comes through your area, they will send personnel by to make sure you are not trapped by debris (special effort).

BTW, our property is in the dark orange area in Mississippi on this MAP.

Stay Safe,

JimJr

Call me weird, but "safe room registration program" sounds like a way the Government use to find people's secret bunkers......

Dave

These types of programs are a good effort. When I was with the fire dept, we encouraged residents to inform us (with great success) if there was anything special that we needed to know in advance about their house / outbuildings / property. This type of info can be crucial when lives may be at stake and the luxury of time is short...

I would rather tell some of my trusted neighbors, and in the event of an event, ask them to check on my house.

Sue

The point I was making refers to real emergency situations such as a house fire, other structure fires, or medical calls.

I have personally seen where we tried to access a structure on fire by taking out a window only to find out that the homeowner had installed Lexan windows. Knowing this beforehand would of made our plan of attack much different...

Another example was a garage fire in which the homeowner had over 200 lbs of propane stored in various tanks in the garage. We were able to safely contain the fire while knowing beforehand what was stored in the garage. And no, there were no bylaws that limited storage of propane etc....

Last example, another homeowner informed us that her mother also resided in the same house and depended on oxygen at night while sleeping. Having this vital info was good foreknowledge if we ever had to respond to a medical call at this residence.

Dave [/quote]

These types of programs are a good effort. When I was with the fire dept, we encouraged residents to inform us (with great success) if there was anything special that we needed to know in advance about their house / outbuildings / property. This type of info can be crucial when lives may be at stake and the luxury of time is short...

[/quote]

I have had mixed feelings about these sorts of reports. I reflexively object to registration of what I might do on my land as long as it isn't an environmental or community hazard.

But I had to question my stand when I did some work on a house that included several 'secret', more hidden really, rooms. I could imagine the house on fire. A babysitter telling the firemen that the child is still inside and the firemen desperately searching in vain because the kid is in cleverly hidden room. Secrets could get someone, you care about or a fireman, killed.

An interior storm room may end up buried under the wreckage of the house. Unless the rescuers know where it is the occupants may remain trapped because everyone takes one look at the destroyed house and concludes that nobody could be alive inside.

If they know about the shelter they could make it a point to dig it out and look.

I'm still not enthusiastic about registering otherwise hidden locations with the local emergency services but I can see that it might be very wise to do so.

I live in Pennsylvania, I built a storm shelter in my basement, I took out the windows and blocked them in, I then built a 12X12 concrete block room with a concrete block roof just below the floor joist. Haven't had to use it yet but I know it will survive just about anything. I have it equipped with a propane cook stove, frig, propane heat( vented of course)well water, and shelves for food and supplies along with bunks and a table.Also equipped with tools to dig out if there is a need. And like Sue said, only one trusted neighbor knows its there in case they need to dig me out.

I guess your trusted neighbor would not be be much help if he was in the same situation as you....or worse.

Al:

You make some good points. Just to clarify how our dept handled this. Our area served around 300 rural homes and within those homes at least 10% of them were associated with the fire dept member in one way or another.

This could be as an active member, retired member or a relative/friend of the aforementioned. In short, almost every person in our AO knew someone who was involved with the dept.

Having these kinds of relationships goes a long ways in building trust each way. This also serves the purpose that no one wanted to see a fire dept member get hurt or killed because no one knew that old Bob down the road has 3 mean dogs that will not just allow anyone in the house and Bob is in there dying of a heart attack...

When we asked people if there was anything we should know about their property, we never pressed them if they were reluctant to say anything. What was interesting though was that many would come up to us the next time we seen them and they would tell us for example, "Oh yeah I guess I should tell that I got 12 tonnes of various fertilizers out in the barn, you might want to be careful if it catches on fire."

As for secret locations, strange items etc in houses, we seen many strange and weird things and would never bat an eye or take any action unless it was highly illegal such as a drug op.