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In the prepping world, the bug out plan is all the rage and rightfully so. There is a time where local official may call for you to stay in place, but your gut tells you otherwise. It's time to get out of Dodge and if you've prepared for this moment, doing so will go off without a hitch. However, there are indeed times when the right call is to shelter in place. You would do well to have a plan that is equally thought through for when the the situation calls for such a survival strategy. Any emergency plan should have multiple options and it would be a mistake to only consider the bug out. In this article, we're going to cover the basics and help guide you in the creation of a plan where holding down the fort is indeed your best option.
Understanding What Shelter-in-Place Means
Shelter in place means exactly what you think it means. Stay where you are and button down all the hatches. Secure the fort and be prepared to stay as long as is necessary until the threat passes or the time to bug out has come. A good example would be a nuclear disaster that took place upwind from your location. You may be tempted to bug out, but if you take your family out during the immediate fallout you will be leading them to their deaths. Shelter in place, wait for the worst of the radiation to pass and then get out of town. If a violent mob is roaming the streets during civil unrest, that is not the time to leave and enter the crowd. Shelter in place, wait for them to pass, then get out of town.
Identifying Safe Locations for Shelter
Without a doubt, your home is the most ideal place to remain indoors and ride out a crisis. That's because you have 100% control over the preparation and there is no environment in which you are more familiar. It's a rally point to which you family knows to head when the SHTF. If nothing else, make sure your primary residence is ready for such an event.
Alternative locations could also be a viable option based on proximity. If you live in the city and your brother lives 15 miles away in the country, it may very well be true that your brother's location is a primary rally point. Just know that if the alternative location is too far away, that's not a shelter in place scenario, that is a bug out. Ask yourself what location you and your family can reach before the rest of the population realizes what is going on. That is shelter in place.
Essential Supplies for Shelter-in-Place
The great thing about making your primary residence as your safehouse is that, even if you don't prepare, you likely have a week's worth of supplies and food on hand. You can fill the bathtubs with water if need be and survive the initial threat. However, a smart prepper will plan far more in advance.
Water is the first priority. You can survive about a month without food, but less than week without water. Do you have a gallon of water on hand per person per day that you expect to shelter in place? Next would be food as you can indeed survive a month without food, but your energy decline may take you out of the fight for survival.
Finally, do you have the firearms and ammunition to defend the homestead. We don't care if the homestead is a ranch in Montana or an apartment in New York City. Do you have enough weapons to fight off those who did not prepare. Then, do you have enough firearms to fight your way out when the time for the bugout comes.
Communication Plans During Shelter-in-Place
The next aspect to consider is how will you communicate with those that are important to you. In addition, how will you communicate to the outside world to determine when the conditions that prompted the shelter in place have passed. You have to assume that traditional cellular networks will not be available.
A HAM radio is the most reliable means of communication during a crisis. In practice, to operate a HAM radio one needs a special license to communicate. HAM networks are shared and if everyone started chatting at the same time it would result in chaos. However, anyone can listen in on the frequencies.
In the end, if it is a life or death scenario, break the rules and communicate with whoever you need to in order to survive. In summary, if you plan to ride out the storm in your safe place, you need water, food, firearms and the ability to communicate. Don't leave out any aspect of this plan.
Types of Emergencies Requiring Shelter-in-Place
Now that we've covered the general requirements for any plan to ride out a crisis where you are, let's get more specific to the various types of threats you may face. While you have to modify your approach to the threat, what remains consistent about such a scenario is the concept of always find yourself improving your position. Locking the deadbolt on your exterior door and calling it a day is not good enough. Always find yourself improving your position.
The Need to Shelter-in-Place in a CBRN Environment
The most work you will have to do when sheltering in place is in response to a CBRN environment. Every crack, opening and crevice is a problem as the outside air itself is a threat. Which means from the moment you retreat to your shelter you have to immediately begin mitigating that risk. This will mean sealing off your entire residence from outside air s much as is humanly possible.
Duct tape and plastic sheeting will be your best friends in such an environment and you should keep plenty on hand accordingly. Begin working yourself from the outside to the most interior room in the residence. Seal all cracks around the outside of the structure. Think doors and windows to start. If it is able to be sealed with duct tape and plastic sheeting, do so for a quick easy win to start.
Next you have to consider any device designed to replace inside air with outside air. Air conditioning units, vents and any thing that facilitates the exchange of inside air should be turned off immediately. Seal off vents into the room so that if one room has a leak that it doesn't spread to other rooms. Ventilation blowers or pipes should be sealed and turned off wherever possible.
Rooms with mechanical equipment should be evaluated as even your gas hot water heater has an opening to vent the CO2 outside the home. Finally, make your fallback location the room with the fewest windows or vents. Taking refuge in this location could be the difference between life and death. Finally, don't forget to turn off all fans. The circulation of air is your enemy in this scenario.
Staying Safe From the Human Element
If the gas or radiation doesn't get you, then you can be certain that your fellow human is your next biggest threat. Ideally you would want to bug out before your neighbors recognize the seriousness of the threat, but that may not always be possible. Which means you need to get ready for a fight.
In a CBRN environment you are worried about sealing off the door and any vents where air could infiltrate the residence. When humans are your primary threat, staying safe while remaining indoors revolves around hardening entry points to the home. Still doors and windows, but less emphasis on sealing the cracks around the door and more making them difficult to breach.
You want any bad guys to spend as much time trying to make the breach as possible. This gives you ample warning that threat is at the gates and allows you to focus fire on the entryway. A small stockpile of 2x4s and nails can do wonders in such a scenario. If you own land and property you can also focus on hardening the perimeter as well. Slowing the intruders down with concertina wire or other obstacles will allow you to fire from your hardened positioned.
Training and Drills for Shelter in Place
As with any prepping environment, training will be the factor that keeps you ready for the moment most people dread. How quickly can you seal your home from CBRN threats? Does every member of the family know what to do and does every family member have a task? Even a 5-year-old can be trained to start filling the bathtubs with fresh water while you harden the perimeter. Everyone works as you continue to improve your position. So, let's talk through a few strategies for such training.
Silence is the Better Part of Valor
Silence and discretion will keep you safe while remaining indoors during a crisis. Silence isn't cowardice, rather, a strategy aimed to keep you safe by hiding your presence from others. Don't advertise your plan to those who do not need to know. If you love your neighbors but you are not willing to provide for their safety, do not let them know just how prepared you are for this day.
In addition, if angry mobs are roaming the streets, let them find out you are home when they feel the pain of hot lead sent in their direction. This is a precaution aimed to keep you out of the fight until absolutely necessary. Let them kill each other first while you wait for your moment. Remaining in the building may simply be a short-term strategy until you can bug out. Which means if you can avoid letting others know you are present you will have a better opportunity to slip out when the time comes.
Practice Phase Lines of Defense and Eventual Exit
Your shelter in place location could range from a small one bedroom apartment to a large sprawling ranch or compound. In any case, practice your ability to fall back in the defense to various phase lines. You may have little control over the size of the force that comes up against you. Have various fall back points for your family and an eventual bug out/exit plan.
Shelter-in-place does not mean die-in-place. This doesn't have to be the hill you die on. It was simply the strongest strategy for survival that you had available to you at the time. When circumstances change or you are up against overwhelming odds, it is time to abandon the stronghold. The first time you practice this shouldn't be when you face that very reality.
Communication and Information During Shelter-in-Place
When the first alert goes out from emergency management that a crisis as occurred, information now becomes a premium resource. Telephone equipment may be overwhelmed and you could easily find yourself in a void of knowledge. Is the crisis over? Is it getting worse? Is anyone else still alive? The lack of information will cause great mental anguish the longer the crisis continues.
Maintain the Ability to Receive Information
Watching television until you are told the crisis is over is not an effective strategy if the television no longer works. That's we advice battery or solar powered radio as a minimum requirement. Keep listening to your radio until authorities advise it is safe. Officials may call for evacuation in specific areas and not others as the crisis spreads. If you do not have a handheld Geiger counter, you'll rely on others to know that radiological contaminants may be released. During a shelter-in-place, information is survival when sealed from the outdoors and the rest of society.
Maintain the Ability to Send Information
An emergency contact list is an important aspect of any plan. Don't wait until the last minute to reach out to your contact list. We encourage people early and often to call their emergency contact to list so that others have your last known location and condition. Encourage your designated emergency contact to report your location and condition to someone else. If you are sheltering in place with others, allow your visitors to call their emergency contacts. Knowledge is power.
Doing is early is important in case your communications equipment is eventually damaged during an emergency. Parents will go through hell and high water if school officials let parents know their kids last known condition. Encourage your emergency contact to let others plan for your eventual rescue. When sealed off from the outside world, your last communication could make the difference between life and death.
Conclusion
There is a time to bug out and a time to hold down the fort. Only you will know what is best for your particular scenario. You may be ready to go, but you may need to shelter in case of CBRN threats or actively violent mobs. Have a plan for both.
Ensure that you have enough water to hold out for a week or more. Ensure you have enough food to maintain proper levels of energy for the time the bug out comes. How many guns and how much ammunition do you need? One more gun and one more round will always do.
Have a plan to seal off the premises from CBRN threats and harden the location against human threats. Have a plan to fight in defensive positions of various phase lines and when push comes to shove, have a plan to abandon the stronghold and live to fight another day. Keep training, keep prepping, and then train some more. If the team here at MIRA Safety can be of any assistance, just let us know. Stay safe friends.
