Learning + Tutorials

One of the most important reasons to have an Emergency Survival Kit / Bug Out Bag is to prepare for home fires. Why? Because in only a matter of minutes a small flame can turn into a raging house fire, and you and your family may only have seconds to escape.

You wouldn't have time to grab anything that wasn't already prepared near an exit.

Home fires, more than any other thing we prepare for (other than a tornado) strike the fastest and pose the most significant threat us.

Cooking over a campfire, or over open flame is a dying art to be sure. And let's face it, its not really considered a necessary skill to know anymore since electric and gas stoves are ubiquitous. Unless you are into prepping...!

But there are reasons to know how to cook over open flames and to have the right equipment to do so. Extended power outages come to mind.

Should traditional modern communication systems be unavailable, having a backup way to communicate far distances is a smart thing to have.

It's not uncommon for large storms to take out cellphone and land line phone systems and with them likely goes the internet as well.

The easiest and most useful backup option is one that's been around a very long time - and it's long range radio communication via voice and telegraph.

You may have heard it referred to as Ham radio which is slang for Amateur Radio.