Funny you should mention umbrellas. This summer on a back country rescue we had a victim of a horse wreck laying out in the trail in the hot sun for probably 30 minutes. We didn't want to move her to the shade until the back board and c-collar arrived. A group of off-roaders showed up with 2 umbrellas and provided shade for the addtional 30 minute wait. It was a godsend. I have been carrying one in my truck ever since.

I also carry an empty backpack for the reasons already stated by others. I have the room for a full size external frame pack. A walk home in winter will require more bulky gear than my SAR pack can hold.
leo

Thanks for posting this. It's a timely reminder.

In the past, I've been somewhat lax in the Bug-Out Bag department, because disasters around here are generally the slow-motion kind (think three-day blizzard coupled with power outages).

But my area has changed a lot in the last few years. There's a lot of new development in a one-mile radius. The oil field has been revitalized -- two big drilling rigs showed up in September. As well, there's now a small H2S component in area pipelines, there's a trucking business that moves/stores hazardous materials for oilfield use, and there's an expanded agricultural supply business (fertilizers and chemicals).

A problem with any of these operations could trigger an evacuation. It's time to get myself a little more organized.

I assume you saw that video from China with the propane tanker that actually exploded.

this is a good discussion.
but to some extent you are preaching to the choir.
of all the people in the world - the ones on this forum are MOST likely to get a GO bag together.

However, the vast majority of "normal" people will never have a Go Bag.

And in fact, many of those people have all sorts of reasons why they should not just "go" in the first place. Think of them as psychological obstacles. Things that tell peoples' brains NOT to go - even though there's an emergency happening.

I suggest you give that topic some thought.
Just a friendly suggestion :-)

Pete2

Just showed it at the Emergency management meeting Wednesday night. Just to remind everyone WHY the fire chief called a 1 mile radius evacuation.

Here's the video.
The "smoke" is propane, which expands 9X in volume as it returns to ambient air pressure. The ignition source is unknown.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVyqo40vlJ4

Martin - yeah .. i really wish that the person who took that video in China had not panicked - and dropped the camera immediately after the explosion. it would have been a great documentation of the whole incident.

the first time i watched it - i did not understand what the large cloud of white smoke was. i thought perhaps it was a small fire burning at the accident scene. it didn't occur to me that it was a propane cloud. that was probably the problem for some of the spectators.

cheers,
Pete2

ohhh and by the way Martin ...

if EVER you are trying to convince Americans to "Go Now!!!"
just tell them there is a major gasoline spill and the whole place could explode at any second.

Nobody is gonna' stick around when they hear that news :-)
They won't even wait to grab a Go-Bag.
HAHAHA!!!

Pete2

If my CERT is ever called out to spread the word of an immediate evacuation, we can't make people do anything. I've trained my team to ask refusers to write their Social Security Numbers on their arms with Sharpies, to make it easier to identify the bodies. That, I'm told, sometimes gets through.

Excellent point - too bad i swore an oath to always be truthful in the emergency management role.