On February 10, 2003, then-U.S. Fire Administrator David Paulison went on television and told Americans to prepare for terrorist attacks by stocking up on, among other things, duct tape and plastic sheeting to cover up their windows and doors. Now Paulison is the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and another government agency has lent its support to that crazy duct tape idea.
The Environmental Protection Agency said Friday that it has been studying the idea of the duct tape sealed “shelter in place,” and found that it really works. And not only that, now that they’re done, they’re going to study ways to adapt the idea to commercial office buildings and the like, so you can have duct tape and plastic sheeting at work, too!
An ongoing EPA study has confirmed the usefulness of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) guidelines for preparing in-house shelters as protection against airborne biological, chemical, or radioactive hazards. The DHS guidelines recommend that people create in-place shelters in their homes by using an interior room with few or no windows and sealing openings with plastic sheeting and duct tape.
EPA’s National Homeland Security Research Center (NHSRC) evaluated the DHS guidelines. The evaluation’s results (PDF) indicate that proper sealing can make a substantial difference in the effectiveness of the shelter. It is most beneficial, however, if people enter the shelter before the arrival of a cloud of hazardous agent and leave the shelter as soon as the cloud passes over. — Environmental Protection Agency
If you didn’t buy any duct tape three years ago because you thought it was a really stupid idea, now’s your chance to not buy it again — because it’s still a really stupid idea.
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July 11, 2007 8:04 pm
July 26, 2007 4:47 pm
5 Comments
Ahh…what a great country you live in ;-)
This reminds me of civil defense in the fifties with “duck’n'cover” and children hiding under their desks in school to protect themselves from radiation.
My question is how to get out? I mean you will need food, water or sanitation. You could seal yourself into your bathroom…that solves water and sanition but you still need to stock your bath tub with food.
Another thing…how do you get air? I mean fresh air with oxygen…that stuff you need multiple times per minute. Maybe it comes trough the walls (wood)….but hey…then those airborne terrorist bacteria too.
Maybe we just take some plastic bags, put them over our head and seal them with duct tape around our necks. This protects from airborne hazards while maintaining high mobility. You should suggest that to your local congressman or whoever is responsible for the idiotic duct tape idea.
Hell, everyone in Maine has known about the survivability of Duct Tape for 50 years or so. It is anything and everything you want it to be. I can build a duct tape wallet, a duct tape beer can holder, a duct tape chuck norris – the possibilities are endless.
tony
If you research this subject yourself you will discover that duct-tape does not cut off oxegen in the run or the hazards, it only slows the hazard down. In an expedited shelter-in-place environment as described above you protect yourself from the largest portion of the hazard. You only shelter-in-place while the air borne hazard blows away and then you will be instructed to exit the shelter and air out your home. This is not an air tight bomb shelter that you should have weeks of food in. This is an area that you will wait out a few hours while a chemical spill or air borne hazard decreases. This is just one method of sheltering-in-place; in can also be done with air filteration and pressurization, or you can include a portable air cleaner in the exedited SIP.
The old duck and cover method taught is schools in the past protects children from the initial danger of a nuclear attack of flying debris, and is not meant to protect you from radiation. Just like Stop, Drop, and Roll protect you if you are on fire, but remaining in a burning building and continuing to roll will not protect you. You deal will the immediate danger and then do something else to handle the other dangers.
Here is my response to Mr. Paulison’s recommendations. If you’d like to hear an mp3 of this song go to my website at MySpace.
Duct and Cover Reggie Miles © 2006
The threat of war is loomin’,
Anthrax bombs may soon be zoomin’,
To your bedrooms in the suburbs but don’t despair.
From deep within his mountain bunker,
Where Gee Dubbya’s gonna hunker,
A solution to our dilemma he’s sure to share.
Our best scientific minds,
Were charged to seek and find,
An all American answer to our plight,
And with the billions spent,
On defense research by government,
They finally discovered one that works just right.
Yes they’ve found it girls and boys.
Protection from those evil toys,
Affordable and available throughout the land,
Yankee ingenuity,
Has triumphed once again you see,
Providing safety to every woman, child, and man.
And what miracle is this,
That secures our freedom bliss,
And ensures all our blessed liberties?
What treasure is it, made by man,
That can do, what no other can,
This creation of our modern techno-lull-ogies?
It’s the simplest things they say,
That can always save the day,
And it’s oh so very true in this case too.
You needn’t build a big bomb shelter,
You can avoid the helter skelter.
Listen closely here is what they say to do.
Just duct tape and cover your windows and your door,
With plastic sheeting you can buy at any hardware store.
It’s an easy thing to do no matter if you’re rich or poor,
And much cleaner than crawling ‘neath your desk down on all four.
It’s a lesson we’ve all learned in school, fifty years ago.
When we feared that the idea of droppin’ A-bombs would grow.
They’ve changed the words to suit our times.
Yesterday’s duck and cover rhymes.
Are now just duct tape and cover instead.
It kind of makes you wonder,
Why Gee Dubbya’s way down under,
Neath the mountain in his little hidy hole.
When all he needs to do,
Is just follow me or you,
To buy some plastic sheeting and some duct tape by the roll.
Then he could duct tape and cover the Whitehouse windows and door,
With plastic easily bought from any hardware store.
No need to kiss his ass goodbye,
When missiles fall down from the sky,
When he can duct tape and cover instead.
They’ve changed the words to suit our times.
Yesterday’s duck and cover rhymes.
Are now just duct tape and cover instead.
Mr. Michael Hampton, is the world still flat, or is it just your narrow perspective?
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