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Local briefings: Arizona Department of Emergency Management. Listed by USA.gov.

Wolf Den FoodsWolf Den Field Manual · WD-01 · Nuclear survival guide

Practice clock · WD-01

Nuclear survival guide

Signs, the first minutes, and how long you stay. Arranged so a household can practice the order. The steps are Ready.gov and CDC. The five-minute and thirty-minute marks are practice deadlines inside those steps, and the page says so wherever that is true.

Not a government site and not medical advice. If a line here disagrees with the agency that wrote it, believe the agency. If you are on fire, trapped, or badly hurt, that comes first. Call 911 when you can.

The whole plan

Get inside. Stay inside. Stay tuned.

Ready.gov and CDC. For a detonation, get under real shelter in the first minutes, before fallout, then stay at least 24 hours unless the building itself is the danger or officials say to leave.

FEMA sheet marked November 2021

Fallout shelter, by the building you are in

FEMA’s public sheet is Shelter-in-Place for Nuclear/Radiological. The line on it is Get In. Stay In. Tune In. Do not stay outside, and do not stay in a car.

  • Manufactured or mobile home

    • Get to a brick or concrete building if you can do it safely in a few minutes. Ready.gov is the source of that few-minute limit. FEMA’s sheet says brick or concrete are best.
    • If you cannot get there, shelter in the middle of the home.
    • Stay away from the outer walls, the windows, and the roof.

  • One- or two-story building

    • Stay away from the outer walls, the windows, and the roof.
    • Go to the basement or the lowest level.
    • If there is no basement, take shelter on the first or middle floor.

  • Multistory building

    • Stay away from the outer walls, the windows, and the roof.
    • Go to the basement, the parking levels, or another lowest level.
    • Brick or concrete is better than a light frame.

Once you are inside

  • Do not stay outside. Do not stay in a car. FEMA’s 2024 public script adds that a car will not protect you, and that fallout is hard to predict and hard to outrun. If you are driving, stop and get inside a sturdy building.
  • Get inside the nearest building. Brick or concrete are best.
  • Bring pets indoors.
  • Go to the basement or the middle of the building. A room with no windows is better. More walls mean more protection. Concrete and soil are what block the radiation.
  • Stay away from outer walls and the roof. Radioactive material collects there.
  • Close windows and doors. If you can, turn off fans and other units that pull air in from outside.
  • Stay inside for 24 hours unless local authorities give other instructions. The sheet says to wait for the radiation to decay. FEMA’s 2024 messages say plan on 12 to 24 hours, and the sample alerts say at least 24 hours, possibly longer where you are. Do not leave at 12 hours because the number showed up in a manual. Leave when officials say it is safe, or if the building is on fire or may collapse.
  • Listen for instructions.

If you have to move, or fallout is on you

  • If the building is on fire or may collapse, leave it and get into a different sturdy building.
  • Keep the time outside as short as you can. FEMA says a mask and an outer layer you can take off at the next shelter help with decontamination.
  • Let other people come in with you. The fallout on them is dangerous. The people are not. Have them take off shoes and outer clothes, or brush off away from people and pets, then wash. Bag the clothes, shoes, wipes, and anything that was outside, and put the bags away from people and animals.
  • If you were outside after the fallout arrived, take off your outer layer and put it away from people and pets.
  • Brush off fallout. If you can, wash exposed skin and hair. FEMA’s 2024 script: shower if you can, wipe with a wet cloth if you cannot, then clean clothes. Tap water is fine for washing.
  • Do not leave to pick up children. Schools and day cares have plans and are caring for them. Reunite later. The same rule covers people in health-care buildings. Going out in a car puts both of you in the radiation.
  • Food and drinks that were already inside are safe. Bottled or sealed drinks are the first choice. If those are gone, FEMA says use tap water. Keep pets indoors.
  • If officials later tell you to evacuate, gather documents, medicines, and pet food, then move when they say. Not before.

Household drill

00:00

Press start, then walk the cards in order.

Signs worth acting on

  • An official warning. Wireless Emergency Alerts on a phone, the Emergency Alert System on radio and TV, NOAA Weather Radio, or local officials. Ready.gov: if you are warned of a radiation hazard, get inside the nearest building and away from windows immediately.
  • The detonation itself, if there was no warning. Heat, a blast, flying debris, then a shock wave. Outside, lie face down. After the shock wave passes, get inside. There may be no time to do anything clever before that.
  • Fallout later, and maybe invisibly. A ground detonation can pull dirt and debris into the cloud and drop it as sand-like radioactive particles. Ready.gov’s window to reach shelter before that fallout arrives is 10 minutes or more. Do not wait until you can see it.

The clock

Read the card you are in, and finish any earlier card you skipped. Ten minutes and twenty-four hours are the numbers the agencies publish. The other marks keep a practice from stalling.

  1. First seconds

    Down. Away from glass.

    A nuclear detonation is a large, deadly blast. Ready.gov does not give the public a seconds-per-mile table, so do not stand there and calculate one. If you are warned, or the blast is happening, cover comes before curiosity.

    • If you are warned of a blast, take cover behind anything that might offer protection.
    • If you are outside, lie face down to protect exposed skin from the heat and flying debris.
    • If you are warned of a radiation hazard, get inside the nearest building and move away from windows.
    • Do not go to a window to identify a cloud. The instruction is to cover, not to watch.

  2. First 5 minutes

    Nearest building, then a better one.

    Five minutes is a practice mark inside two Ready.gov lines: go inside as soon as the shock wave passes, and go to a multi-story building or a basement immediately if you can reach it safely within a few minutes. It is not a separate federal alarm.

    • After the shock wave passes, get inside the nearest building as quickly as you can.
    • Any building is safer than being outside. Brick or concrete, a basement, or the center of a large building is better.
    • If a multi-story building or a basement is only a few minutes away and you can reach it safely, go there now. Do not start a trip you cannot finish before fallout.
    • Do not use these minutes to load a car. A car is a weak shield and the roads are not the plan.

  3. 10 minutes

    Be inside. This one is a published number.

    Ready.gov: after a detonation you will have 10 minutes or more to find an adequate shelter before fallout arrives. Fallout from a ground burst is dangerous, sand-like radioactive dust. You may not see it. Do not wait for grit in the air to start moving.

    • Be indoors by this point. Deeper in the building is the next improvement, not a drive across town.
    • If you were outside, take off your outer layer of clothing before you go all the way in, if you can. Do it carefully so dust does not shake loose. Keep it away from your eyes, nose, and mouth.
    • Removing that outer layer can remove up to 90 percent of radioactive material.
    • If you are still outside and cannot get in yet, cover your mouth and nose with a mask, cloth, or towel. That is a bridge, not a shelter.

  4. 30 minutes

    Get it off you. Seal the room.

    CDC and Ready.gov put decontamination and shelter-in-place “as soon as you are inside,” not on a 30-minute bell. Thirty minutes is the practice deadline for finishing those steps so they are not still undone at the first hour.

    • Put the outer clothes in a plastic bag or other container you can close. Set the bag away from people and pets.
    • Shower with soap and shampoo if you can. Do not use conditioner. CDC says it makes radioactive material stick to hair. Do not scald, scrub, or scratch your skin.
    • Keep cuts and scrapes covered while you wash so dust stays out of open wounds.
    • No shower: wash hands, face, and skin that was uncovered, with soap and water. No sink: a moist wipe, clean wet cloth, or damp paper towel. Not a household cleaning wipe. Hand sanitizer does not protect against radioactive material.
    • Put on clean clothes if you have them.
    • Pets that were outside after the dust arrived come in too. Brush gently, then wash with soap or shampoo and water and rinse.
    • Close and lock windows and doors. Turn off fans, air conditioners, and forced-air heat that pull outdoor air. Close the fireplace damper.
    • Go to the basement or the middle of the building. Stay as far as you can from outer walls and the roof. Fallout settles on the outside.

  5. 1 hour

    Best room. Radio on. Nobody goes fetching.

    By an hour, the shelter actions above should already be done. This hour is for staying there and getting official instructions, not for a new plan.

    • Stay in the most protective spot you have: basement, or the center of the building.
    • Listen. NOAA Weather Radio, a battery or crank radio, and the Emergency Alert System do not need a working cell tower. Wireless Emergency Alerts help when the phone network still does.
    • Do not leave to pick up children or adults from school, day care, a hospital, or a nursing home. CDC says going out to get them can expose you and them. Those buildings are told to shelter until responders say it is safe.
    • Food and drink already inside are safe to use. Sealed containers that were outside are all right after you wipe them with a damp cloth. Bag that cloth and put it away from people and pets.
    • Do not eat food from the garden, or food or liquids that were outdoors and uncovered, until authorities say it is safe.
    • Keep taking medicine that was already inside, or sealed medicine you have wiped off.
    • Drinking water, from the Ready.gov nuclear-detonation food, water, and medicine flyer: bottled or other sealed drinks first, then water from the toilet tank (not the bowl) and the water heater. If those are gone, that flyer says use tap water to stay hydrated. CDC adds that officials may later tell you to drink bottled water if they find the tap contaminated, and that tap water can still be used for washing. If the two ever conflict on the day, follow the official in front of you.

  6. First 24 hours

    Stay. The worst of it falls off fast.

    This duration is official. Ready.gov says to remain in the most protective location for the first 24 hours, and that radiation levels decrease rapidly and become significantly less dangerous during that day. CDC says stay inside at least 24 hours, until officials say it is safe to leave.

    • Stay unless you are threatened by fire, a gas leak, building collapse, or a serious injury, or authorities say it is safe to leave.
    • A life-threatening condition or a building that is coming down outranks the shelter rule. Call 911 when you can. Do not delay care that keeps someone alive.
    • Do not take potassium iodide unless public health officials, emergency officials, or a clinician tell you to. KI only blocks radioactive iodine from the thyroid. It does not stop fallout, blast, or other radioactive material.
    • CDC says do not take potassium iodide unless public health or emergency response officials, or a healthcare provider, tell you to. On the CDC KI page, KI is only recommended for people under 40 and for women who are pregnant or breastfeeding. Officials or a clinician may still tell an adult over 40 to take it if the predicted exposure is high enough to cause hypothyroidism. People with some conditions, including a known iodine sensitivity, should not take KI or should ask a clinician first. Doses differ by age, down to infants, and one dose lasts about 24 hours. Use only FDA-approved KI. Table salt, iodine-rich food, and iodine supplements do not do this job and can hurt you.
    • People with a known iodine sensitivity should not take KI unless a clinician says they can.

  7. After the first day

    Listen for the all-clear. Do not sightsee.

    Shelter usually lasts at least 24 hours. It can be longer. Leaving because the clock feels long enough is not the guidance.

    • Keep the radio on. Leave when local authorities say it is safe, not when a rumor does.
    • If you did evacuate, do not return until those same authorities say so.
    • Do not start an outdoor cleanup. CDC says emergency officials will tell you if your home needs decontamination, and how.

Before any of this

  • Pick the room now. A basement is best. Otherwise the most interior room, with the most walls and mass between you and the roof. Know whether a brick or concrete building a few minutes away is actually a few minutes away on foot.
  • Stage a bag in that room: closable plastic bags, soap, a full change of clothes, a battery or crank radio, a flashlight, spare batteries, sealed water, shelf-stable food, daily medicines, and pet supplies for at least a day. If it is still in the garage, it is not in the shelter.
  • Turn on emergency alerts on the phone. Know which AM or FM station, and NOAA Weather Radio, you will use when the cell network is useless.
  • Say the school and care plan out loud before you need it. Children and adults in school, day care, a hospital, or a nursing home shelter there. You do not drive into fallout to collect them.
  • A mask, a car, or a pill is not the plan. A cloth over the mouth is only for the minutes you cannot get inside yet. KI is only if officials order it, and it only protects the thyroid from radioactive iodine.

How to stay out of fallout

Ready.gov’s three words are time, distance, and shielding. This is what they mean in a house.

  • Time. Limit how long you are exposed. The published public windows are the first 10 minutes or more to get under shelter, then at least the first 24 hours inside while the levels drop.
  • Distance. Get far from the dust and from the outside surfaces it lands on. The middle of the building, or underground, is farther from the roof and the outer walls.
  • Shielding. Mass stops more of it than glass or a car door. Brick, concrete, soil overhead, and a basement beat a wood-frame room with windows. Ready.gov also names underground garages and subways as useful shelter when that is where you are.
  • Do not carry it inside. Outer clothes off and bagged, wash without conditioner, pets washed, outdoor containers wiped, the wipe bagged.
  • Do not eat or drink it. Nothing from the garden. Nothing that sat outside uncovered.
  • Do not go look at it, film it, or drive around in it during the hours the shelter rule covers.

Checklist

The sheet below is the one to print or download. Boxes stay empty so a paper copy is a fresh drill. Checks in the browser are only for practice on this device.

Wolf Den nuclear checklist

Get inside. Stay inside. Stay tuned.

WD-01. Ready.gov and CDC. If officials contradict this sheet on the day, follow them.

Write this in before you need it

Shelter room (basement, or the most interior room)

Better building, only if it is a few minutes on foot

Radio station or NOAA Weather Radio

Out-of-area contact and phone

Before

The FEMA spot for this building is known: mobile-home middle, house basement or middle floor, or multistory basement or parking level.

Phone emergency alerts are on. A battery or crank radio does not need the cell network.

School, day care, hospital, and nursing home shelter there. We do not drive to collect them.

Potassium iodide only if officials say so. Not table salt. Not a fallout shield.

If it happens

First seconds: down and away from glass. Outside, lie face down until the shock wave passes.

First 5 minutes: nearest building. A better one only if you can reach it safely in a few minutes.

10 minutes: be inside. If you were outside, take off the outer clothes carefully and bag them.

30 minutes: wash with soap. No conditioner. Clean clothes. Pets in and washed. Fans off. Basement or center of the building.

1 hour: radio on. Eat only what was inside, or sealed containers you wiped. Do not go out for people.

24 hours: stay, unless fire, gas, collapse, serious injury, or officials say leave. Call 911 for a life-threatening emergency.

Fallout

Time, distance, shielding. Do not wait to see dust. Do not drive around in it. Do not eat the garden.

Sources: ready.gov/radiation and cdc.gov/radiation-emergencies. Not a government site. Not medical advice.

Practice checks on this device

Sources

Public pages this guide leans on. They win if anything here is out of date.

This is the only nuclear page. It is also in the printable book.

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