SUMMER OF CHAOS 2016 *Preps? Discussion?*

I'm figuring this is why the shooter chose that church.

edition.cnn.com/2015/06/18/us/charleston-south-carolina-shooting/index.html



Glad the guy got caught.

I'd have to check. IIRC, there was an incident several years ago in another state where sumdood just walked right into a church with his shotgun and shot his estranged wife right in the middle of Sunday service, and that's what prompted things.

I know they keep one person in the parking lot, one person in the main entrance/portico, and at least two people in the main sanctuary during services. All have radios with the little earbuds so they can communicate with each other.

Alabama state law says that concealed carry permits are invalid at certain places, like sporting events (we have an attached gym and soccer field for the kids and the Upward Sports program). So they had to draw-up some sort of paperwork/contract designating certain people as "authorized volunteer armed security" or some such.....I believe there was also an insurance component they had to deal with also.


ETA: We'd just built a new church back then, and it was also designed to be a hurricane shelter. So except for the main entrance out front, all the perimeter doors are those heavy duty "exit only" self locking-type doors that you have to have a key to use to get inside. Also, one of the class rooms was designated as the "first aid" room and has some decent FAKs mounted on the walls.

You don't have to take any sort of class to get a concealed carry permit in Alabama, so I believe the "vetting & training" part consisted of an FBI type background check and a pistol shooting class at one of the local ranges for all the non-LEO individuals that volunteered.

^This

During the LA Riots (the only riot I've ever been around except two punk show riots in L.A. and one in Germany for some nuclear disarmament thing in the 80's and those just involved leaving the immediate scene after a brief WTF?! moment) that's all we really did.

Get home, get even more armed, assess water/food/booze/toilet paper in pretty much that order, stay glued to the TV and occasionally look out the windows or over the fence at mayhem.

Always a great idea!

Unfortunately I don't have a filter. I do have water for about a week on hand and food too, but no longer than that. I don't even have running water nearby for me to bring home and filter/disinfect.

I have a jug of unopened bleach I'm saving for water purification and a few bottles of iodine tabs..I suppose I could fill up the tub and sinks then drop some bleach in and have an extra week of water.

I don't know if you can buy foam for home use or not.  Don't know why you couldn't.  Foam can be a bit of a pain, though, if you're trying to make a protective blanket.  Without getting all wonky, a good foam blanket requires some specialized gear and breaks down readily unless it's constantly replenished.  There are also different types of foams for different types of fires.  I personally think a good dry chemical extinguisher is probably a better/easier system if you're talking about extinguishing a liquid fuel fire.  Any extinguisher which is 'B' rated will work on liquid fuel fires.

As far as sprinklers, not a silly idea at all, but likely not that effective in the scenario you describe.  I know that for wildland interface fire protection you can get all kinds of commercial protectionsystems, most of which involve some combination of pre-applied gels and active external sprinklers.  By all accounts they work great.  It's my understanding that those are for more protection from flying embers, though, not serious radiant heat from a nearby structure fire.  I'm not saying such a system would be useless for exposure protection, but we typically use large caliber handlines (250 gpm and higher) if we're trying to keep nearby buildings and shit from catching fire due to a serious fire nearby.  The amount of heat given off by a burning house boggles the mind.  I've been on firegrounds where cars and structures 30-40 feet away from a well involved building were already starting to catch on fire from radiant heat alone before we could get protective lines on them.  A sprinkler wouldn't do much against heat like that.  It would protect from flying embers, though, which might be coming from a building in the area.

Good points. I've been meaning to get some more and will this week sometime. I have on hand about 10 gallon jugs unopened and two 24pks of bottled, but that has to go for my girlfriend, me, and a dog and cat.

How much would be good for us for 1 month? Bear in mind I'm not really a prepper just would like a little insurance.