Sunday, September 6, 2015

Some More Thoughts on Fear the Walking Dead Episode 102

Spoiler Alert !!!

Fear the Walking Dead is on hiatus in the United States for the Labor Day weekend, so I thought I would go back through into the last episode and touch base on a couple of more preparedness thoughts.

Bug out bags would be very useful in this situation.  When Madison calls Alicia from the truck at the beginning and tells her to pack some groceries, the daughter says she can't because she is not home (more on this in my original review).   It would have been a lot easier to get out of the city if they had some food and supplies already packed to toss in the truck.   Food and water are basics; non-perishable items, bottled water, and a way to purify water are a start.   Other items could include:
  • Toiletry and sanitation items like hand wipes, hand sanitizer, soap, female hygiene products, toothpaste, toothbrushes, etc.
  • Sleeping bags and cots or a tent in case they need to camp out off the side of the road.
  • Flashlights and a good first aid kit, along with extra batteries.
  • Cooking equipment such as portable stoves, etc.
The food you pack should require little or no preparation, but if you plan on toting a Coleman stove with you, some heavier foodstuffs -- canned goods, along with lightweight pots and pans -- could be carried.  Just remember the idea is to be able to shove everything in the car with minimum time and effort and get out of the area.

If you wait too long, you'll get stuck in place.
These supplies don't need to be packed in bags; a couple of storage tubs, easily loaded, could work.  The important thing is to developed a good checklist of what you want to prepare and make sure everything is packed.

This is not a small detail.   If you are a fan of The Walking Dead you can remember the scene where Rick Grimes rides his horse into Atlanta to find his family.  He rides down the wrong side of the road because the outbound lanes are jammed with traffic that was trying to get out of town when the zombies overtook the city.  Los Angeles is a major metropolitan area with serious traffic congestion on the best of days.  The longer this family waits to get out of the area the longer it is going to take due to the rapid increase in outflow traffic.  That traffic will probably contain people low on resources, who didn't plan, and who will look at their supplies with envy.  Using nondescript storage totes can provide a degree of camouflage against looters and thieves, but the quicker you can get out ahead of the crowd, the safer you will be.

Extra gas cans filled with stabilized fuel and stored in the garage could've helped as well.  The service stations in town are going to go dry quickly in a true public panic, especially if the resupply chain breaks down and tanker trucks cannot get through.  If they had stored a couple of five-gallon cans per vehicle, they could put them in the bed of the truck, get out of town on the fuel in their car tanks, and refill outside of the immediate danger area.  They would then be able to find a gas station outside the hot zone and refill the cars and spare cans.

Bug out bag resources:

The Preparedness Podcast
Sample Hurricane Evacuation Kit
Ready.gov Sample Kit

Gasoline storage resources:

Off the Grid News
Prepper Journal 

2 comments:

  1. I'm a prepper, though admittedly a rather lightweight version. Here in eastern/central Virginia, the worst we see is disruption from hurricanes. Two weeks "bugging in" is a piece of cake for us.
    Still, I find keeping bug out bags together to be difficult. The best I found works for us is to have a car kit in each vehicle and a minimal BOB under each person's bed.
    We also use plastic totes/tubs/bins to organize supplies. They're cheap and more versatile. than shelving.
    We keep enough stabilized gasoline at home in Jerry cans to fill all the cars. I make sure to use up and refill them all in February to keep them fresh.

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  2. What stabilizer do you use? I typically only use Stabil because it is readily available, but I hear great things about Pri-G.

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