There is a disaster in the UK (red cross guidance)

[Yorkshire Andy]

This might be handy to newbies and regulars alike


http://www.redcross.org.uk/What-we-do/P ... mergencies

[Oldarborman]

Thanks for that, this would help any level of prepper

[Arzosah]

Thats very good - I've wondered about a chemical emergency outside the home, its very unlikely given the size of my town, but since I have lots and lots of spare plastic sheeting about the place, it might well be an idea to precut some pieces and label them, stick them in an underbed storage bag - presumably, if something did happen, the quicker you sealed up big vents, the better.

[maxilaura]

thanks for the link, have saved it in my favourites to read through

[Yorkshire Andy]

Thats very good - I've wondered about a chemical emergency outside the home, its very unlikely given the size of my town, but since I have lots and lots of spare plastic sheeting about the place, it might well be an idea to precut some pieces and label them, stick them in an underbed storage bag - presumably, if something did happen, the quicker you sealed up big vents, the better.

Any main roads/ motorways / rail lines near you?

Upstairs is usually best as most chemical vapours are heavier than air....

[Arzosah]

Thats very good - I've wondered about a chemical emergency outside the home, its very unlikely given the size of my town, but since I have lots and lots of spare plastic sheeting about the place, it might well be an idea to precut some pieces and label them, stick them in an underbed storage bag - presumably, if something did happen, the quicker you sealed up big vents, the better.

Any main roads/ motorways / rail lines near you?

Upstairs is usually best as most chemical vapours are heavier than air....

One of the busiest railway lines in the country is 15 minutes walk from my house but I did some research on it and found out its 95% passenger traffic, so not as threatening as that might appear.

I'd heard the thing about sheltering in place upstairs during a chemical emergency - makes sense really, doesn't it. Big airport about ten miles away, so there's a tiny, teeny, weeny chance of a plane carrying something horrible crashing nearby ... not anything I'd bother prepping for urgently on its own, a short term power cut during winter is much more likely. You just never know whats being carried on the roads, though, if there was a diversion from the usual route of tankers carrying hazardous goods, for instance, and then a diverted tanker had an accident, that could well be a problem.

Since I'm only talking about cutting up plastic sheeting I've already got, I might well do it one evening if I can clear the kitchen table in good time

[Yorkshire Andy]

Suppose its location dependent there are a few big chemical places near us (not by road but as the crow flies) along with big storage centers filled to the gunnels with solvents (i used to work there) the fire proceadure was to meet in the car park do a head count then get as far away from the place as possible...... That and a port not too many miles away that fetches all sorts into the country...

[Arzosah]

Definitely location dependent, you're dead right there.

Not mentioned in the Red Cross guide, but something I want to do some research on ... what happens to the south of England if France has a prolonged power cut, say of ten days or something. What really, really happens to a nuclear reactor with a power cut of that length? Or of even longer? The information out there is of such varying quality; the French have *so* much nuclear power, and the prevailing wind here in the south is from France often enough to make it a real issue.

Sorry for the hijack when I saw in your post about the port you have nearby, it started me remembering about my long term research project.

As for a chemical plant nearby - I had a virus recently, I was ill for 2 months, really couldn't do anything except heat food and watch tv - all those freeview channels are full of cctv pix of chemical plants and factories exploding - if there was one, it'd be right at the top of my list of preps. Insidious and dangerous, I think. Stay safe!