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Letter Re: Hunkering Down or Storing Gear in a Commercial Building
Mr. Rawles,
As always I enjoy the site and the support you provide. I would like to mention
a few items that have come up lately here in South Florida with regards to
survival in an urban area. This may be of particular concern to any of your
readers that live in urban areas or for those that are not yet at a point
in their preparations, or lives, to be able to move to a better, less populous
location.
First, as has been mentioned on this web site, in your novel "Patriots",
and by every credible “prepper” in the world, a person retreating
to a safer location must have a primary, alternate, contingency, and emergency
plan.
The method of getting out of urban areas during an emergency is problematic,
particularly if you did not leave when you could (i.e. Hurricane Katrina).
This can lead to your routes being miles long roadblocks. However, if you live
near a coast, inlet, canal, interior waterway, river, creek, or major city
(above ground) drainage system, you may be able to use them in a boat, canoe,
kayak, zodiac, dingy, on foot, or with duck-waders to find better routes. Obviously
in the case of inclement weather these may not be options on the worst days,
but may be excellent routes during the ‘lemming run’ to get out
of the area. Many concerned people in my area include these routes of escaping
the city and urban sprawl in their plans.
Second, the wide availability of commercial property for use (particularly
in the current economy) is staggering. A simple examination of the properties
available for use by your close friends and family may surprise you. Over several
planning sessions and field trips we found many urban cache locations, significant
shelter options, and overwhelming amounts of storage space in places that were
rented, leased, and sometimes owned by members of our group. With these locations
it is always good to fully understand the government restrictions on use, function,
zoning, storage, and occupation of commercial property. That being said, some
commercial sites offer significant security advantages over homes in neighborhoods
(not to mention apartments!), can easily be ‘hardened’ without
letting the nosey neighbors knowing, and are often full of useful storage space,
accesses, exits, entries, storage space, subterranean layers, and did I mention
storage space? One of our associates has a commercial building with a separate ‘hidden’ space
inside in which a fully stocked “bug out vehicle” waits for action
in a regularly maintained state. This vehicle has its own locked bay which
can only be opened from the inside after a trip into the basement or via a
large air duct to gain access to the room. His regular business operates on
the other end of the building so none of his road-crew employees spend enough
time to even know the building has a bay on the other side. The other end of
the building faces a small maintenance path for the phone company box and is
fenced in and has plenty of “junk” camouflaging its true purpose.
Other examples of commercial property use is in the planning of cache locations
and in situations where you may need to bunker down with your family or “prepper” network
during trying times. Warehouse districts that are not contiguous to shopping,
tourist, entertainment, or government buildings offer potential safety during
riots, looting, government action, or general unrest. These warehouse districts
often see little or no activity during even the most destructive of riots.
If one has access to these types of areas, it is a relatively simple operation
to put up an innocuous name on the fence and receive deliveries (or just bring
stuff yourself) and have no one bat an eye. The districts may even have enough
24-hour traffic to mask late night movement if you are only using the warehouse
space as a pre-positioning and construction site for your burial cache boxes,
tubes, and such, since the neighbors may get a bit nosey with you burning the
midnight oil in your workshop/garage with your ‘survivalist nonsense.'
Third, unless you are have never heard of OPSEC,
commercial properties can allow you to hide in plain sight. If someone has
a TEOTWAWKI need
or economic-depression reason to operate in an urban location, you can easily
blend in with local traffic and business populations if they exist. If you
are in a manufacturing or construction area wear some roughed up ‘Dickies’ work
clothes and have a dirty pickup truck. In an office complex, have some light
business attire with a jacket/blazer so as not to stick out. If you happen
to be in a meat packing district or medical complex, have some ‘scrubs’/lab
coat or coveralls available. As long as no one is looking for you,
visit the local ‘roach coach’, ration station, trading post, or
gas station so you can keep aware of local government, gang, crime, or quisling
activities and be able to be ‘seen’ as a local (if being seen is
an option or necessity). You should be able to move any vehicle inside buildings
to hide them or work on them and to keep them out of view from outside observers.
You may be able to set up extensive security systems, passive/active surveillance,
power devices, and even communication systems. Some locations even offer the
ability to tap into sewage, storm drain, and other access points.
Fourth, if you have some property available you may be grow food (this must
be carefully done if industrial chemicals are in the area). If outdoor
growth is not a viable option, try indoor crop growth with lamps, skylights,
or
mirrors. As growing things indoors can be difficult at first, it may
be good to practice
this well in advance of the need to do it for your life.
Finally, let me say that none of the aforementioned tips can replace a move
to less populous, rural locations, far from those who will become
mindless mobs in an emergency. These ideas/tips are only presented as limited
alternatives for those, like me, who are months or years away from
realistic retreats to safer environs and for those unlucky few who may get
caught up
behind the wrong side of a line during hard times. Regards, - I.S.
JWR Replies: That is an interesting approach. I might add
just one proviso: If you plan to hide supplies (or even yourself) behind a
"blank" roll-up
door
in a chaotic situation, then do not leave the ignition key in the
company forklift, or leave a pallet jack outside of your storage space.
Either of those could be used by goblins to quickly use leverage to their advantage
in prying-up
the door!
