Shelter that holds

Fire is the everyday disaster

Ready.gov and the National Fire Protection Association treat home fire as the emergency most households will actually face. Working smoke alarms on every level, inside each sleeping room, and outside sleeping areas save more lives than any shelf of gear. Test them monthly. Replace batteries when they chirp, and replace the alarm itself when the maker’s date says it is done. Know two ways out of every room. Pick a meeting spot outside, in front, where firefighters can see you. Close doors behind you. Get out and stay out.

A fire extinguisher is useful only for a fire that is still small, with a clear exit at your back, and only if you know how to use it. PASS is the common teaching: pull the pin, aim at the base, squeeze, sweep. If the fire grows, leave. Do not go back for things.

Heat, cold, and the utilities

In central Arizona the shelter problem most summers is heat plus a dead air conditioner. Identify the coolest room, a place you could go that still has power, and neighbors who would notice if you went quiet. The heat sheet in this manual follows CDC and NWS signs of heat illness. Do not wait for confusion before you treat heat as an emergency.

A desert winter can still freeze pipes and people. Know how you would stay warm without the furnace: layers, a closed room, not a charcoal grill and not an oven. Those kill with carbon monoxide.

Ready.gov says to know where the water, electric, and gas shutoffs are. Turn gas off only if you smell it, hear it, or officials tell you to. A licensed technician usually has to turn gas back on. Do not practice shutting gas as a drill if you cannot restore it.

• Plastic sheeting and duct tape, listed in the Ready.gov kit, are for sealing a room if officials order shelter-in-place. They are not a daily project.
• Follow the exact shelter instruction in the alert. A tornado room, a chemical shelter-in-place, and a wildfire evacuation are different actions.
• If officials say leave, the house is no longer the plan. The mobility sheet is.