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How To...
Make Your Own Personal Emergency Safety Kit
by Dana Dickson
At the ISK Family Picnic I was talking to a couple of club members about survival kits. For the purpose of this article, I consider a survival kit to be the items we should carry to address emergencies that may occur on the trip. The conversation inspired me to think about what I carry with me on various outdoor expeditions. Deciding on the items to carry in addition to the normally needed gear for a trip depends on the type of trip and your expectations about the emergencies that are likely to occur. If we were to prepare for every conceivable emergency, we would need a large powerboat to carry all the necessary gear for even a simple day trip.
When paddling, particularly in the fall, winter and spring, a readily accessible warm change of clothes, extra food and a thermos full of hot drink are fundamental items to consider having along. On a winter day trip, if you are dressed for immersion, the change of clothes may not be needed in the boat. Although I would certainly have extra warm clothes available in my vehicle at the landing. I have found that a reflective space blankets, the 5x7 ones with grommets in the corners are very useful as a dry place to sit or if necessary as insulation from the cold.
Several years ago, I put together a small pocket size emergency kit for use when I am hunting, fishing or just rambling about outdoors. When I am kayaking, I keep this kit in my boat. I present the list of items not as a definitive list for the contents of a personal survival kit, but rather as a list of things that would fit into a pocket size container and were supplements to my normal gear that at one time or another I had wished I had with me.
I carry two methods of starting a fire, allegedly waterproof matches and a butane lighter. The matches are my primary fire starting device, however I have known them to fail due to excessive moisture, the primary culprit is that the striker surface on the box is not as waterproof as the matches, but that insight did me little good when I was wet and cold. The butane lighter is less prone to failure due to water, although the flint and steel sparker does need to be dry to spark.
I carry an energy bar, a concentrated food source, because I have found that some food, fuel for the body, can help keep me focused on the issues at hand, keeping warm or finding my way out of the woods.
The compact emergency blanket in the kit is compromise. I wanted the kit to be pocket size, yet I saw a need for some kind of an extra warm layer. The Mylar emergency blanket can be used as a tarp to keep the rain off, as a sleeping bag or just used as a blanket. Smooth pebbles can be tied in the fabric as substitutes for holes when rigging the blanket as a tarp.
I carry two chemical handwarmers to help head off incipient hypothermia. To be most effective these should be placed on the neck, near the kidneys, in armpits or groin to get the heat from the handwarmers into the person who shows signs of hypothermia.
The 50 feet of nylon masons twine can be used to lash a frame for a lean-to shelter, or to suspend the emergency blanket as a tarp. I chose fluorescent pink as the color for my twine. If I were to use it to mark a trail, it would last longer than breadcrumbs and be far more visible.
A candle stub can be used as tinder to start a fire or as a source of light.
The whistle is for signaling. Although the truth of the matter is that other than in open grassland or on the water, I have found that the sound of a whistle is quickly muffled by the woods.
I carry a compass in the kit as a supplement to the compass that I have in my pocket. When I am paddling, I have a compass on my boat and a sighting compass in the pocket of my PFD.
Small LED flashlight is a cure for being caught unexpectedly far from camp in the dark. These give off lots of light from a small package and the lithium cells have a very long shelf life.
The last but not least item in my pocket kit is a Leatherman Micra. This small multi tool has scissors, a small knife blade, tweezers and several other tool blades.
The possibilities for items to include in a personal emergency kit are endless. The items in this kit are items that at one time or another I have not had with me and wished I had in my pocket
Other items that might be included in this kit are first aid supplies, water treatment pills and a water container.
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