Dude, where's my electricty?

On June 29, the Atlantic coast was hit by a rare "derecho", a powerful wind storm that blows in from the Midwest and out to the Atlantic Ocean.  The storm and following heat wave without power has killed at least 23 people; some died when trees fell on their homes and cars, and heat stroke killed others.

In the U.S. we take electricity for granted and assume any outage will be brief. But five days after the deadly storms, there were still 1 million homes and businesses in a swath from Indiana to Virginia that remained without power. In Virginia alone emergency crews worked around the clock to deal with 60,000 outages.

Long duration outages like this occur after wind or snow storms bring down hundreds of thousands of trees on power lines.  With 3000 workers in Virgina and West Virginia combined, each person may have 40 lines to locate the break and fix.

"This was not a storm where tree limbs just fell on our wires," [Pepco spokesman Clay Anderson] says. "This was a storm where large mature trees were uprooted and lifted and just thrown into our poles — snapping our poles in half and wrapping our high-voltage wires around homes, businesses and cars."

You might say, bring in outside help, but that's exactly the problem with large regional storms. Your neighboring states are in just as bad shape and have no one to spare. So you have to ask for help from far away that will take a day or two to arrive.

Bottom Line:

Be prepared with a week of food and water and light. 72-hours is just not enough.

Kitchen Fires

“Fire is never a gentle master”
-Proverb

One of the most common causes of home fires is cooking in the kitchen. Perhaps you forget something on the stove or overheat grease/oil which alights in flame. Grease fires are extremely dangerous because the grease is easily splashed, burns very hot and can quickly spread to cabinets or other areas of the kitchen.

Here's some tips on dealing with stove top fires from SurvivalBlog.com.

• NEVER throw flour on a fire. Flour dust is combustible and the flour "cloud" you create can "flash".
• Sugar is also flammable - don't toss onto a flame. 
• NEVER pour or throw water onto flaming oil (600 to 800 F). The water will "explode" into steam (212 F) and spray the flaming oil.
• USE baking soda [not baking powder] or salt in quantity to smother a flame.
• Most professional chefs keep a pan lid or wet towel near the stove to cover a pan fire. But beware, if the flames are tall you may burn your arms and hands trying to put the lid on the pan.
• NEVER move a flaming pan away from the stove. The contents could splash out or flare over your hand causing you to drop it.
• NEVER pour flaming oil down the sink. It will damage most modern plumbing.
• NEVER use a turkey fryer indoors

Bottom Line

Know how to put a small fire. But also know when to run.

"Unless the fire is small and you have an extinguishing method on hand CALL FOR HELP FIRST! Evacuate, then fight the fire." - survivalblog

Kitchen fire extinguishers won't last long and won't put out a fire bigger than your stove top. Fire spreads quickly so if you at first you don't succeed, DON'T try again. Get out.

Is Your Smoke Alarm Working?

Smoke Alarm Dead Zone

If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire, then you got a problem. Everything else is inconvenience.
~Robert Fulghum, author of "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten"

Last month two stories caught my eye regarding house fires at Christmas time.

The first took place in Montclair, NJ on Dec 21. A family of five heard fire crackling around 5pm and had 45 seconds to escape before the living room was engulfed in flame. Officials think it was the Christmas tree that ignited. All family members and the family's dog made it out without injury, although the family's jet black cat is missing. The house is a complete loss.

The other story had a sadder ending. A Christmas morning fire in a $1.7 million house in Stamford, CT killed the parents and children of the owner. The children's mother climbed out a window onto scaffolding and then a flat roof. She screamed for her children and told firefighters which bedrooms they were in. The fireman tried twice to enter the third floor of the house but the flames and heat were too intense. The mother's parents were staying for the holiday and also died in the fire. Officials think the cause was old fireplace embers that had been discarded near a first-floor entryway.

Last year, old embers discarded outside also caused a fire in a friend's house. The wife was at home when she heard someone knocking furiously at her door. She was afraid to answer it, thinking it some crazed person, but instead it was a passing driver who saw the house was on fire and wanted to warn anyone inside.

Bottom Line

Make sure you have working Smoke Alarms. Some sites recommend a monthly test and replacing the batteries twice a year when you set the clocks forward and back.

Also be sure to place them properly. Smoke rises so a detector placed low on a wall will alarm much too late. I also learned just last week that there is a space called the "dead zone" that you must avoid placing smoke alarms. The dead zone is everything within 4"-6" of the line where the wall and ceiling meet. (see image above) Air flow is restricted (dead air) along this edge and smoke won't reach the alarm quickly.

Things hidden underground

Police Captain Renault: I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!
[a croupier hands Renault a pile of money]
Croupier: Your winnings, sir.
Captain Renault: [sotto voce] Oh, thank you very much.
-Casablanca

There has been much to-do made over the Keystone XL Pipeline project from Canada down to Texas. Even the President has opposed it. But a graphic shows this is much ado about nothing. Closing the barn door after the horse has fled. Etc.

Here's a chart of EXISTING pipelines

Bottom Line

The Canadian pipeline is nothing new. So why all the debate over it? What's the real reason for the opposition?

P.S.
I also want to mention that it is important to know what lies underground at your house. Utility companies warn, call us before you dig. It's way too easy now-a-days to cut through a buried power line or cable.

A co-worker has lost her home due to a hidden surprise. An electrician sank a new grounding rod for an upgrade to her home's electrical system. Problem was, unbeknownst to anyone, the rod cut through the pipe leading from the underground oil tank to the home's furnace. The tank was refilled a few days later and all that oil leaked into the soil under the house. After much wrangling with lawyers and insurance companies, the insurer for the electrician agreed to dig up and rebuild the kitchen over the spill. The kitchen was demolished but further environmental testing showed the oil had spread far under the foundation - the entire house would have to be demolished. At this stage the insurer is negotiating to buy the house and write it off as a complete loss instead of rebuilding.

Things to do before a house fire

Mae West

"A man can be short and dumpy and getting bald but if he has fire, women will like him."
-Mae West

From the Consumerist.com a house fire victim lists

9 Things We Wished We Did Before Our House Burned Down

1. Subscribe to an online data backup service.They had an external back-up drive but it sat right next their laptop and both burned up. We use Windows Live Mesh which gives 5 GB of storage on the Internet.

2. Keep passports in a safe deposit box
Passports are handy if you need to prove your identity and you've lost your wallet or purse.

3. Take pictures of each room initially and update them as improvements are made (store them offsite - like Flickr)
The photos will come in handy when inventorying what you lost.

4. Take pictures and keep hyperlinks of all expensive purchases, including jewelry. Scan receipts[for expensive purchases] and store offline.
You'll want this for insurance recovery.

5. Hire an architect (my dad in our case) or use floorplanner.com to document each floor layout along with precise wall/ceiling measurements, each outlet, light switch, crown molding, other trim, type of flooring, any unique items to structure of property
Not sure why. So you can rebuild an exact duplicate of your house?

6. Put phones in a consistent place each night
When you need to call 911 you want to know where the phone is!

7. Get fire ladders for any second floor bedrooms
Safety first. And drill yearly. A fire is a bad time to learn the window is painted shut.

8. Scan each photo, again keeping them offsite, or on an online data backup service
We opted NOT to back up music files, those are replaceable. We do back-up all digital photos.
9. Do not be frugal with homeowner's insurance. Spend the extra $50 per year for the most coverage.

Bottom Line

This is good advice and the time to do it is now. You hope never to have a home fire but it is frighteningly common. U.S. fire departments responded to nearly 1.6 million fire calls in 2007 that resulted in thousands of deaths, tens of thousands of injuries, and billions of dollars in property loss.
At 40 percent, cooking is the leading cause of residential structure fires. Heating causes another 14 percent.

Sinkholes

"Help me, I think I'm falling"-Joni Mitchell lyrics to "Help Me"

Eons ago while in high school, I attended a Saturday science day in Gainsville, Florida. Sometime after lunch, we lost lights and power. We waited about an hour before the organizers cancelled further labs and everyone went home. Later the evening news revealed the cause - a large sinkhole had opened up in town swallowing a house and several cars (and I suppose a power pole or two).

Sinkholes are not uncommon in Florida. As people drink and use the underground water aquifer faster than it refills, the water level falls leaving the ground above unsupported.

Today I saw a story about a family of four killed in Quebec when the ground opened up beneath their house. The paper says a landslide ripped open the hole. Seems odd to me. Perhaps the landslide created a void as the soil poured downhill? And just like my experience, neighbors had no clue: "The landslide took place so quickly and silently on Monday night that many neighbors could not understand why their electricity and water supply had been disrupted."

The cause in Quebec is 10,000 year old clay soil that can liquefy with no warning. In 1991 the entire town of Lemieux, Ontario, near Ottawa, was relocated when officials became concerned about the stability of the clay. Two years later, a landslide consumed 42 acres near Lemieux’s former location.

Bottom Line

When buying a house, do some research to find out if sinkholes happen in your area. Also check for sinkhole flooding. This occurs when a house is built inside an ancient sinkhole and ground water backs up filling the hole - a mini flood just for your house or neighborhood! (pictured above) Check out this article from Kentucky for more details.

Christmas Fires

"Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall."-Larry Wilde

Here is an interesting story of holiday events gone wrong at wwwStraightDope.com

My assistant Una had an Uncle Bob, a manly man who felt throwing the Christmas tree away was a waste of good firewood. So he tossed it in the fireplace — gave him a nice warm glow.
Unfortunately what was glowing was the roof, presumably ignited by embers.
Fortunately the fire was small and anybody with a hose could have put it out. Unfortunately the hose was frozen solid and the fire department had trouble getting the nearest hydrant to work.
Fortunately the firefighters were able to throw a ladder up against the house and put out the fire with a chemical extinguisher. They then hacked off a small hunk of charred roof with axes, peered into the crawl space, and declared the fire out.
Unfortunately, having by now found an operational hydrant, the firemen declared they needed to hose down the roof "as policy," sending a torrent of water through the hole and collapsing the living room ceiling.
Really unfortunately, the house that all this happened in belonged not to Uncle Bob but his in-laws. Bob bought them an RV and matters were pronounced square, but it was a lesson he won't soon forget, and neither should you.

Bottom Line

I recommend reading the entire StraightDope story at Why is it dangerous to burn wrapping paper? And check out this classic of how quickly a dry christmas tree can go up in flame - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIQY7x6MwMg

Safely dispose of the tree when it begins dropping needles. Dried-out trees are highly flammable and should not be left in a house or garage, or placed against the house.

Water damage

“Seventy-five percent of our planet is water - can you swim?” - unknown

If your house is damaged by water, how you respond and cleanup is determined by whether the water is clean or contaminated. Clean water accidents include rain through a hole in the roof, a water tank leaking, a burst pipe, a burst swimming pool or water bed, etc. Contaminated water is typically floodwater. You have no idea what the floodwater may have mixed with before entering your house – sewage, dead animals, toxic chemicals, and so forth.

For dirty water damage the CDC recommends:

• Keep children and pets out of the affected area until it is cleaned
• Wear rubber boots, rubber gloves and goggles while cleaning
• Clean all hard surfaces (such as flooring, concrete, molding, wood and metal furniture,
  countertops, appliances, sinks, and other plumbing fixtures) with hot water and laundry or dish detergent. Some sites recommend using bleach.
• Discard anything absorbent that got wet and cannot be disinfected (mattresses, carpeting, carpet padding, rugs, upholstered furniture, cosmetics, stuffed animals, baby toys, pillows, foam rubber items, books, wall coverings, drywall, insulation, and paper products).
• Affected clothing can be saved by washing in hot water and detergent.
• Do not eat, drink or smoke while cleaning. Don’t let the germs into your mouth.
• After cleanup, wash your hands thoroughly with soap and CLEAN water.

For clean water damage, here are some housecleaning tips from “Servpro”, a professional Fire & Water – Cleanup and Restoration company.

• Remove excess water by mopping and blotting
• Wipe water from wood
• Remove cushions and pillows for drying
• Place foil or wood between furniture and wet carpet to prevent water seeping up the furniture legs
• Remove oriental and throw rugs to dry. Don’t try to remove a wall-to-wall carpet.
• Move artwork and painting to a dry location
• Don’t leave wet fabric in place. Dry them as soon as possible.
• Don’t leave books, newspapers, or magazines on wet floors. The ink may run and stain the floor.
• Don’t use a regular vacuum to remove water. You need a special wet-vac.
• Have wet appliances checked for safety. Don’t turn one on while standing on a wet carpet! Shock!
• Don’t work in a room if the ceiling is sagging from water. It may fall at any time.

Bottom Line

Save what you can but be prepared to toss a lot of stuff. In college I had to toss most of my vinyl record collect when my basement apartment was flooded by an inch of water. I might have saved the records if I had acted quickly but by the time I got to them, there was mold all over the jackets and on the albums.