Bridger Canyon Property Owners’ Association

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Emergency Preparedness

These initial recommendations from BCPOA board member Joan Cory focus on individual households – we plan to address community issues in the future.

A. When I’ve spoken with county EP officials, their first advice is that individual households need to be prepared for emergencies, in cases where evacuation is necessary and also in cases where we stay at the property but don’t have power, etc.

B. Some helpful resources:

In August 2007, here’s what Gov. Schweitzer told residents in the Jocko Lakes evacuation: “Open the gates, turn the livestock loose, take your pets, shut off the propane at the tank, shut off the electricity, and get out.” Living where we do, we should all prepare ourselves to follow such a directive on short notice.

Lots of information, with emphasis on our local area, may be found at the Gallatin County Emergency Management website.
FEMA, Red Cross Emergency Preparedness Checklist
A January 2007 summary on (Montana) State Wildfire Suppression and the Wildland-Urban Interface: This is a relatively long document, but interesting – some recommendations on landscaping, etc. at the end.
Lots more on the landscaping issue may be found at FireWise
The Red Cross 72-hour Emergency Kit

C. The Cory Plan, one family’s approach (2 adults, 1 dog, 1 cat): October is the month we review our emergency plans and re-stock our 72-hour emergency kit, put together from the Red Cross guidelines, above. This coincides with a fall road trip, on which we use our camper van much of the time – thus, you guessed it, the menu includes food from our emergency kit and we restock that kit with fresh purchases. Might as well test it out before we have to use it in an emergency! Though we’ve followed the guidelines, I’ll provide specifics on our kit – this way, everyone will be compelled to build their own kit rather than raiding ours in an emergency – as you will see the fare is very simple. First, we found a large plastic container with lid that fits in the back of the car; once stocked all we really need to do is grab a case of water, the pet(s), other items we cannot keep in the kit (see below), and, if it’s winter, a coat and boots.

1. FOOD AND WATER. We’ve kept the food high energy and simple – things we will eat without cooking, whose empty cans will not smell bad in our trash, that we can store for months, and that we like reasonably well. These choices work well for two adults who are not overly picky about what they eat at the best of times:

6 cans pork and beans
12 cans V8 juice
1-2 bags dried fruit
1 big chocolate bar (yes, it’s a necessity)
1 jar peanut butter
1 jar peanuts
1 box granola bars
2 boxes crackers
1 bag jerky

And don’t forget to store the case of water near the kit!

2. OTHER ITEMS FOR THE KIT. You can’t get too carried away on what you pack here, or you’ll run out of room. Anyone who runs into me on evacuation will see me in pretty casual clothes and with no makeup.
At the top of the kit, I put a list of anything I must have that I cannot store full-time in the kit (e.g., eyeglasses, certain medications, cell phone), so that I can round these items up quickly. In the kit, I also include my list of kit contents and evacuation plan. Also:

Change of clothes (pants, t-neck, polar fleece shirt, 2-3 changes of underwear)
Minimal toiletries and personal supplies
Emergency radio (hand crank power generation with flashlight incorporated)
Duct tape and something with which to cut it (e.g., leatherman tool)
Several large trash bags
Several ziplock bags (e.g., quart size)
Several paper napkins or roll paper towel
Wet wipes
Minimal silverware (don’t forget a can opener)
Medications, including for pets
Also for pets: Ziploc bag with dry pet food (this wouldn’t be a gourmet event for our pets, either), collar, leash, small dish
2-3 flashlights and extra batteries
First aid kit

Copies of necessary documents: I try to keep valuable documents in a safe deposit box at a bank and/or scan them onto a disk that can be kept in the kit. Instead of evacuating photo albums and framed pictures, my goal is to get them scanned to a disk as well – wouldn’t take up nearly the room. This is the part that’s hard to keep up on, but so important. Though I’m sentimental, I’m also very practical and don’t plan to waste time running around grabbing material items if I must evacuate.

3. KEEP THE GASTANKS AT LEAST ONE-HALF FULL AND A LITTLE CASH ON HAND.

4. SEE SCHWEITZER QUOTE ABOVE.