The real men and women are the Technical Rescue folks . Brains and brawn rolled into one . We do it all and with style .

Pete

I don't keep much special at my office. I'll have my EDC, and probably a jacket, and my car is outside, and I can walk home if I have to. The company provides a fridge and a small canteen.

For me the office is an awkward spot because there are 100+ other people and an existing chain of command. Any food or water I might have won't go far if shared.

Well we don't use 5 inch hose,and we bring the line in dry till were at the turn. Its much lighter and faster that way . ; )

In my office I keep a flashlight and a few light sticks to navigate the building interior if we lose power (drop the light sticks on the floor to lead folks towards the outer exits). I'm a floor fire warden so I need to clear my part of the building before exiting in a drill or fire. There's also a little bandolier kit they give us with mostly useless things - there's yet another reflective vest I'm supposed to wear, I think its mostly to mark my corpse after smoke overcomes me. I keep a whistle in my desk drawer, a small FAK in the corner of my office, laerdahl mask (might need that), a stocked get home bag next to it. I also have a blender - I recently had my 20 years at the company, I tell the younger fellas its for mixing up margaritas at 11 and 3 (actually its for mixing some shakes for my diet/exercise program).

One thing I seldom do it park under our building in the garage, always in a surface parking lot - I'd really like to reach my car in an emergency, our circa 1990s building should survive the shake, but no way would I go underneath it afterwards.

My car trunk is stocked for my work, volunteer work, and peace of mind. A bag of extra cold and wet clothing, some reflective garb, a hardhat, a ball cap, reflective road markers, glovesx2, protective eyewearx2, N95 mask (the 3M kind that seals tight aroung mouth and nose); a Red Cross reflective vest, a DAT turnout bag with forms, debit cards etc, a shelter turnout bag with 24 hour stuff (edibles, water, stuff to open a shelter), a bag of Red Cross and Disney stuffed animals, some comfort kits for folks burned out of their homes; a full disaster FAK with enough kerlix, tape, 4x4s etc etc to treat 60 people, a smaller trauma bag tailored to treat accident victims (stop alot of bleeding until pros arrive, one chest seal, one tourniquet); a wool blanket, a z-rest pad, a nylon tarp to protect from the rain, a foot air pump, some tools and tire chains (in season) and a can or two of that stuff you spray in a tire to stop up a leak; and a daypack with enough things in it to help me get home, typically 7 miles from work to my doorstep. Flashlights up the yin yang. A crowbar of course. It all fits in the rear compartment of a Prius. I really don't feel like detailing all the stuff in my car, things like leather gloves in the center console, nitrile gloves and eye protection in the door pockets, those nice seat belt cutters to help get me or someone out of their car, etc; suffice to say I build my kits based on the good advice of Mr. Ritter and alot of the wiser folks in this forum.

Edit 2/28: I forgot the crowbar in my office - if the door is closed, I want to get out. Locally doors got stuck even after the Nisqually quake.

Interesting senarios.........

Picture this.......I work at a level 1 trauma center 400+ beds..........so equipment to some degree is overstocked.

But considering the amount of people here at one time....would there actually be enough of anything past a few days -think gridlock type senario ?

The warehouse for bulk is actually off campus several miles away, so that got me thinking........

I keep your standard issue BOB, minus clothing.....scrubs are readily accessible,a when push comes to shove I could get several pairs of scrubs in the blink of an eye and secure them.

I am though stuck up on the top floor-which is another set of challenges in itself

My BOB is compact........yet workable...........it resides in my locker.......which is normally only about 20-30 yards away.......now if I were say off the floor......well I'm just screwed unless I could make it back........lets face it, there is simply no way to tote your gear around all day in my line of work (anesthesia)

I do keep in my locker 3-4 bottles of water, some high protein snacks and usually some fruit I tote in each week.

Quick overview of a few components I have usually beside me during cases

-small stanley fubar- i have thought of adding one of these-maybe one day?-picturing the dig your self out senario-Its a tough call because Im on the move about as much as I am sitting in one spot.....so its a 50/50 I guess

-what about the vehicle kit you say?-picture parking garage.....one of the worst poential-to-collapse places you can imagine-its there but I dont even count on it-so its sorta become a backup backup-and oh yeah, its the only place to park around here

Day to day...
-i have N95's by the box
-clear safety glasses
-no need for FAK-ha ha!!
-small INOVA microlight on my badge-seen the power out more than once-will that generator always kick back on??
-trauma shears clipped on my waistband
-SOG flash II tucked in waistband

I'm a high school teacher, so I usually leave my sharps and firestarters locked in the car trunk. I do carry a Leatherman Squirt S4.

Other things:

• EDC (Squirt S4, Cell Phone, Car Keys)
• Extra Medications (locked in desk drawer)
• Small FAK (School nurse has larger supply)
• 2-3 liter bottles of water
• few granola bars
• a few shelf stable meals with plastic utensils

On days when the students aren't there, I usually carry my Leatherman charge. The other teachers know that I'm the resident Eagle Scout so that I often have other tools stuffed in the bottom of the file cabinet.

Any other teachers want to share?

Standard office supplies and 2 computers.
1-2 gallons water, 1 gallon minimum.
Keurig mini coffee maker
Engineers scale english, metric units, and Architects scale (Amazimg, this is ancient tech)
Shelf stable food for snacks and meals (1 day)
Knife + Extreme Scissors
Flashlight + (I have a mini flashlight on my keychain)
Simple First Aid Kit (Bandaids, Aspirin, Tylenol )
Pencil sharpener - And yes I still use colored pencils sometimes. I'm an old fart at 50 who hasn't found a great replacement for markup.

Pretty light, but main kit is in auto which is in open parking lot with no possible obstructions to access. Also, home location is only about 3 miles from work location. I have a decent kit in auto since I may need to negotiate 50 to 400 miles to get to a safe location.

-Tommy

One of the scariest things that ever happened to me when I was a firefighter (and in a rural company you're all of the engine, the truck, the technical rescue, the EMT, the fire police, the dishwasher, the engineer at once) and I was dragging an uncharged 2 1/2" line into an old paper mill that was having a fire in a sub-terranian vault that used to have paper pulp in it. I had to lay down to see into the vault. I radioed to charge the line - and as I saw the water coming, I realized that the hose was wrapped around my leg. Got out of that 5 seconds before the water hit. I dragged charged lines after that.

I have more stuff than you want to read. Full change of dress clothes, packable rain jacket and pants. Extra socks and ties. Dress shoes. Enough food and water to survive for a week. Enough flashlights to illuminate a baseball game, eating/cooking utensils, Esbit stove and tablets, lighters, matches, and one of those solar/crank emergency radio/flashlight deals that can also charge my iPhone.

My stash at the office is fairly basic: rotating stock of food, both fresh and shelf-stable. Case of water that is slowly rotated (but the communal bulk water is daily use). Headlamp, flashlight, Leatherman S4.

As for what I have available when at the office, these additional items are either on me, 3 feet away in my office, or 30 feet away in my car:

EDC gear is keys, wallet, DR photon, mini-Bic, bandana and Leatherman Charge.

EDC bag has a PSK, esbit stove, steel cup, Eton FR150 light/radio/etc, Gerber EZ-Out Jr. and Multi-plier, another headlamp, another flashlight, water bottle.

GHB has about what you'd expect, and there's one in my car and truck since I switch off based on weather and need. I also keep practical waterproof boots and good socks, and spare outerwear in both vehicles in case I need to hoof it someplace. I have a 13-mile commute so it's do-able in a pinch on foot.