September 23, 2025 • 27 mins
Most people say they’re prepared for an emergency… but the numbers tell a different story. In honor of National Preparedness Month this episode digs into FEMA’s 2024 National Household Survey on Disaster Preparedness... and the results will definitely surprise you!
We're discussing what households worry about most (hint: it’s not food), why basic medical needs rank lower than you’d expect, and why fewer than half of you all have ever practiced your disaster plan. It’s not about doom-and-gloom, it’s about clarity and confidence when things don’t go as planned.
Real talk: emergencies don’t wait for your Wi-Fi to load. If your “plan” is to just text your loved ones, you may be setting yourself up for stress at the worst possible time. That’s why we’re breaking down what really matters: the supplies you should keep handy, the importance of a designated meet-up spot, and why having a go-bag trumps winging it on any given Sunday.
Think of this episode as offering you some preparedness insight... without the panic. We've got practical steps that you can start today that will give you (and the people you care about) more peace of mind when the unexpected hits.
What you'll hear in this episode:
- Why FEMA’s latest household survey says we’re not as ready as we think
- The top concern people have in a disaster
- Underrated safety essentials that often get overlooked
- Why “just texting” won’t cut it when communications go down
- A simple “Rule of Threes” to get your plan in motion
- Easy wins you can knock out this week
Life Safety Associates specializes in emergency response training for corporate ERT Teams. We help businesses create competent and confident first responders who are ready to handle unexpected emergencies. For more information you find us @lifesafetyassoc or email@lifesafety.com.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jimmy (00:00):
Hey, what's happening?
It's another Life and SafetyPodcast with Jimmy and your girl
, megs.
Hello, today we're going to betalking about emergency
preparedness because it isEmergency Preparedness Month Oot
, oot, oot, oot.
So during research for this,yes, we do do research.
(00:21):
I know it just kind of soundslike we're willy-nilly.
Nine and a half out of tentimes it is willy-nilly, yeah,
but meg's actually did someresearch on this one.
Um, and I was like what are wegoing to talk about?
We've talked about earthquakepreparedness.
We've talked about, you know,fire stuff.
We've talked about other things, but what is exactly is
emergency preparedness month?
(00:42):
So we're going to just kind of,but what exactly is emergency
preparedness, ma?
So we're going to just kind of.
So Megan found an interestingFEMA study on emergency
preparedness and so she'll reada couple of quick stats and then
we'll kind of, you know, jumpin like we do.
So, with that being said, whatstat are you going to start off
(01:03):
with, megs?
Megan (01:07):
said um, what's that you're gonna start off with next
?
Um, let's start off with aservice concerns during a
disaster, because that is whatmy page is already on, so
service concerns, not surface.
Jimmy (01:14):
Yes, service.
Megan (01:15):
I heard surface.
Oh, I apologize.
Jimmy (01:17):
Yeah, I think it's because you're talking into your
hand yes, that is true.
Megan (01:22):
Um so, fema, they did a help me with my words.
Survey.
Yeah, thank you.
Fema did a survey in 2024 about, you know, disaster concerns
and preparedness and things likethat.
They did it across the whole USand they surveyed a bunch of
(01:47):
different people and so theyfound that about 67% of people
were very concerned about goingwithout water during an
emergency.
So the question that they askedwas in the event of a disaster
or emergency, how concerned areyou about going without?
(02:14):
The following so 67% wereeither very concerned or
extremely concerned about goingwithout water.
That was the most.
The next thing people wereconcerned about was energy, then
basic needs, then health andmedical, then communication,
then safety and security, thenhazardous materials management
and then transportation Came inlast, with only about 42% of
people being worried abouttransportation.
Jimmy (02:37):
That's kind of interesting.
Every water, definitely everykind of what's the needs of
water or state of life only.
Every kind of person has theneed of water or stay alive.
Before we started recording wekind of talked about this and
whatnot and I for some reasonthought the basic need was right
behind water.
Megan (02:59):
Yeah, they're pretty close 66% versus 65%.
Jimmy (03:08):
But energy.
Megan (03:10):
Yeah.
Jimmy (03:11):
Why.
Megan (03:13):
Cooking things, heating water, I don't know.
Jimmy (03:16):
That would be basically to me.
Energy to me is like agenerator, battery pack.
Megan (03:24):
Yeah, like getting your phone charged, exactly.
Jimmy (03:28):
So that's pretty interesting.
I would say water your basicneeds like food, cooking,
heating, shelter.
Yeah, place these in therestroom.
(03:49):
You know, I assume basic needsalso kicks in, is there close?
Megan (03:55):
on that?
Jimmy (03:56):
no, I think that falls under basic needs, you know,
warm clothing, things like that.
So that's kind of mind-boggling, I mean.
I know it's only 1%, but it'sstill.
Megan (04:08):
That's still.
Yeah, I find it veryinteresting and I definitely I
don't know I'm fascinated by,like the ranking of this, so to
speak.
Like this is not at all how Iwould have ranked things Like
for me, you know, probably wouldhave been basic needs up there,
health and medical would havebeen basic needs up there,
health and medical wouldn't havebeen, you know probably second
(04:30):
for me.
Jimmy (04:30):
What's the health and medical on?
Megan (04:31):
this one, it's fourth at what percentage?
at uh, 60 percent.
So 60 people are worried abouthealth and medical.
Wow, especially like during adisaster, like you have no idea,
like who's gotten injured, likeif you have to provide, like
you know, emergency medical care, first aid, things like that, I
(04:52):
feel like that should be like avery high concern.
And I don't know if that justcomes from working here for so
long that you know my mindautomatically goes to the worst.
Like what injuries are welooking at?
Are we looking broken bones,life threatening, bleeding, you
know, heart attacks, things likethat, um, and that, like you
know, need outside medicalintervention.
(05:12):
But maybe my mind just goesdark quicker.
Jimmy (05:16):
But well, no, I think there's something to that.
I think the other thing on theflip side of that is well, what
about yourself, or your family'smedicines?
and medical needs, not just theemergency.
I got an ouchie, I got to stopthe bleeding thing.
To what about people that aremaybe diabetic or need a blood
(05:40):
pressure medicine or who youknow who knows what right that
if they don't have it'sdefinitely going to lead to a
longer or bigger issue.
Yeah, absolutely, that wasreally interesting.
Yeah, and then what were thelast three?
I can't see your face, I'msorry.
(06:01):
No, you're fine, just tell me Ican't see your thing.
So, I'm sorry.
No, you're fine, just tell me.
Megan (06:03):
Safety and security was down at number.
I can count six, which is alsocrazy to me, Like I don't know.
I feel like safety and securitywould be higher on the list.
Yeah, and then we've gothazardous materials management,
and then transportation.
Jimmy (06:24):
I would love to understand what the hazardous
materials thing is.
Megan (06:30):
Mm-hmm.
Jimmy (06:31):
Yeah, yeah, like.
What does that mean?
Like gas and propane andnatural gas stuff.
Megan (06:40):
Yeah, I imagine like anything that could be
considered hazardous, likemaking sure that it's not being
hazardous, so like yeah, like ifa gas main ruptures or things
like that yeah, I mean there's.
Jimmy (06:55):
I mean I teach has that response, but there's like seven
definitions, oh my god, of whathazardous material is yeah
depending what you look like,what agency you're talking about
.
Megan (07:04):
So I imagine this is like an everyday person type of
definition, so like what aneveryday person would consider
to be hazardous.
Jimmy (07:14):
So gas and diesel fuel and natural gas, things like
that, so like gas, like petrol,like a car, so I mean, but
that's their transportation.
I see that being ranked thelowest for sure.
Like I mean you, can you knowyou're trying to get all
shuffled legs?
Ride your feet right.
I've never heard that before,so you know?
Megan (07:40):
um, yeah, and I mean shelter in place is a common
phrase for a reason.
Jimmy (07:45):
Sure, we shelter in place .
That's something different.
Megan (08:01):
So I would rank it.
Jimmy (08:02):
Water basic needs safety and security, energy,
communications and the rest.
Health and medical.
Oh, health and medical, Imissed that one.
Uh, probably top three.
Yeah, so probably water, basicneeds um health and medical
safety, and then everything elsefair.
I agree, I agree it's kind offalse to the wayside.
Megan (08:21):
And some of these can absolutely be fit.
In others, Like you could arguethat water is a basic need, you
know.
You can argue that, likemedical is a basic need, Sure so
, but you know, with the topicswe're given, and the way they
phrased the question.
Jimmy (08:41):
You know how concerned are you about these things and,
to be fair, the stats that we'rereading are it's not at all,
are slightly or somewhatconcerned.
So is that what you're reading?
The gray?
Are you reading the extremelyor very concerned?
Megan (09:03):
I'm reading the extremely or very concerned.
I'm reading the extremely orvery concerned.
So 67% of people are extremelyor very concerned that they're
going to have to go withoutwater, versus the 33% that are
either not at all, slightly oronly somewhat concerned.
Who are those people?
I don't know.
That's what I'm saying.
Who's not worried about basicneeds during?
Jimmy (09:23):
an emergency.
Who's not worried about basicneeds during an emergency?
So full disclaimer team.
I can't really see the statsMegan's looking at.
So that's why I kind ofquestioned that.
But it's kind of like that'sfascinating.
It's even more fascinating now,like when I saw like the whole
thing.
Like what the cheese?
Oh, what are we?
Megan (09:43):
doing here, yeah, but it's like I don't know.
I'm just I'm intrigued at whatkind of person is not concerned
about these things.
Jimmy (09:53):
So let's play devil's advocate and say maybe the
person that took the survey isit's very prepper, it's a
prepper, and they have all thisstuff at the house already and
they're like I'm not concerned,okay, okay, I can see that.
I'm hoping, yeah, yeah, whatwere you looking at my boobs for
?
We do it.
Megan (10:13):
Oh, your shirt.
There's a brand logo on it,yeah, and I'm confused by the N,
because it's a mountain, butit's also a tree.
Jimmy (10:21):
Mm-hmm, it's the forest.
Yeah, it's like Tahoe Mm-hmm,I'm wearing my Ernie shirt.
Shout out to the South ShoreErnie's.
You know, you know.
If you don't, you need to findout.
It's one of the best breakfastand lunch places around, one of
my absolute favorites.
Megan (10:45):
I've never been Now I'll have to go next time I go up to
Tahoe.
Jimmy (10:49):
Yep, and across the street is Bert's.
You can't make this stuff up.
Oh my gosh, yep.
What does Bert's sell?
They're in breakfast and joint,too Interesting, yeah.
Breakfast, lunch and place yeah.
Or 10 am, so their breakfastjoint too interesting, yeah.
Breakfast lunch place, um, yeah.
Or tanneries, yeah, yeah.
(11:10):
All right, you got good grass.
So emergency, uh, preparednessstuff.
So what was this?
Can you find the stat againabout the um, how nobody has
enough water, or something likethat?
What was the stat, did you?
Yeah, um, so I'll try toremember and then megan can
correct me once he finds it.
(11:32):
It's, it was something like um90 of the people don't have
enough water for like 72 hoursor like that.
Um, so water, as we're talkingabout, that, that's definitely,
as we've established, is thenumber one most important thing
there.
I always tell people threegallons of water per person per
(11:58):
day.
It's a lot of water in a store.
I get it.
I get it, and there's lots ofthings to consider.
You know where to store it, athow to store it, things of that
nature.
But the reason why I say that islike, think about one gallon to
drink, about one gallon to cookin, boil, things like that, and
(12:21):
at least another gallon forsanitary reasons.
You know, know, washing yourhands, washing your face, your,
your body in general, and thenjust washing away waste, you
know it's a good thing.
Um, so at least that.
And think about this.
You're gonna be stressed out,you're gonna be um, you're gonna
(12:41):
be outside longer than you'reused to.
You might be not have your airconditioning or your fan, and
you might just be doing um,there's more work, so you might
be more high, the either themiddle, so you're just drinking
more water.
So I thought that was a reallyinteresting one.
Um, can you find it?
Or?
Megan (13:01):
you know I'm trying to.
There's so many stats on this.
This is an actually fascinatingthing to look at.
There's a lot of stats.
It's the 2024 NationalHousehold Survey on Disaster
Preparedness by FEMA, but Ican't find exactly the
(13:21):
information on water.
But they have it broken down bylike so many different
categories.
They have like results by age,results by ethnicity, results by
like geographic location, likeright now I'm looking at the
ones by age, and so it's likepeople that are 18 to 59 years
(13:42):
old.
You know, only 27% of people inthat age range have
participated in an emergencydrill, versus people who are 60
or older only 7% of them haveparticipated in an emergency
drill.
You know, or like people,percent of people who have an
emergency plan, in that 18 to 59percent, or 18 to 59 years old,
(14:06):
58 percent of people have anemergency plan, versus for uh,
more than 60 years old, only 52percent have an emergency plan.
Um, and then they have it, youknow, broken down by uh well,
like the region stuff you justsaid in there.
Jimmy (14:23):
How am I find?
Megan (14:24):
it Results by geographic location.
So let's go with that sametopic of have an emergency plan
52% in the Midwest, 54% in theNortheast, 63% in the South, 51%
in the West and then 72% NA.
(14:44):
What does NA mean?
No idea, but you know if you'renot in the Midwest, northeast,
south or West, I guess.
Jimmy (14:58):
So maybe Hawaii or?
Megan (14:59):
Alaska Maybe.
Jimmy (15:00):
Well, I feel like those polls would be probably way more
prepared.
Well, that's good.
It's kind of interesting thatthere's lots of Ritual Action
Plans in places where they haveextreme weather and things like
that right and other liketornadoes and hurricanes and
flooding and lions and tigers,oh my Whereas in California we
(15:30):
have earthquakes and sunburnsand wildfires.
I guess, yeah, I always don't.
This is something very callousand I don't mean to just tell
them callous.
I don't always think ofwildfires as air quote.
Big deal, I think, because youfought them, yeah, um, it is a
big deal and I don't again, Idon't mean to sound callous.
There's lots of houses lost,lots of wives and you know, but
(15:53):
I definitely I think it's just away of living, it's, it's
preparedness stuff.
Megan (15:59):
So I guess I always kind of let that fall on the wayside
yeah, and I also feel like youknow, like you said, you work to
fight them like that was yourjob, was dealing with them.
So I'm sure you like build up a, not necessarily a tolerance,
but like a you know, you'reexposed to it so much that it's
just not as scary to you.
Jimmy (16:16):
Yeah, probably callous.
I mean, I have a callous likeyou can put a callus, like you
can put a callus in her hand,right um this one's interesting
uh.
Megan (16:26):
This is uh broken down by home ownership thank you, um,
but so for if we're going for ifthey have an emergency plan, 59
of people who own versus only50 of people who rent.
Jimmy (16:43):
So 59 and 50?
Mm-hmm, Okay.
So yeah, I mean that kind ofmakes sense Tracks.
Right, If you own your house,you're going to have an
emergency plan.
Well, you kind of have tobecause of your insurance.
Yeah, and it's your investment.
You don't want to be out whereit's going to be somebody who
has to do the best, who's beenrinsed, is like, yeah, I care
about my family and mybelongings, but I really maybe
(17:06):
not care about the structurebecause I don't own it.
Maybe you know.
Megan (17:11):
I would argue.
Either way, you should have apreparedness plan Agreed.
Jimmy (17:15):
You should have an idea of what you're going to do.
Megan (17:19):
Which sort of let's talk about emergency plans.
Which sort of let's talk aboutemergency plans?
I think one of the big thingsabout emergencies is that you
have to prepare ahead of time,because if you just put it off
until something bad happens,it's exponentially harder to
deal with it in an emergency andmake up a plan while the
(17:41):
emergency is happening versushaving a plan in place.
You know, there's the.
The one of the sayings is likepreparedness isn't paranoia,
it's peace of mind.
That was one of the things thatI read while I was doing some
research.
But you know, if you're like, ohwell, I'll just wing it or I'll
just look it up online, youknow, like I'll look up how to
(18:03):
use my you know little cookstove top thing that I prepared,
or I'll look up how to purifywater Well, what if the internet
isn't working and you can'tlook it up?
You know, like you have to knowthis stuff beforehand.
You can't rely on being able to, like, search it up, or oh well
, you know, we don't have tocome up with a place where we
know we'll meet, because I'lljust text them and you know,
(18:24):
I'll just text so-and-so andthen we'll know where to meet.
Well, what if you know phonelines are down, you have to have
made those plans ahead of time.
Jimmy (18:32):
Yeah, it's really interesting because I'm sitting
here listening to you and I waslike that's not even on my radar
to text somebody where I'm atto do those things.
Like we have a plan, so I don'teven think about that.
Like why would I need to textyou if you do the plan, go to
(18:53):
the place we're supposed to meetat.
You know, get there when youcan.
That's our plan.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Megan (19:00):
But you also, I would argue, are a lot more prepared
than an everyday Joe.
Sure, sure, I mean, you know,as we're reading these things,
not a lot of people have a planin place.
So it's like, well, how do Iknow that my loved one is okay?
Because I have no way ofcontacting them and we have no
plan in place of how to figureout you know, yeah, no,
(19:23):
absolutely.
Jimmy (19:30):
to figure out.
You know, yeah, no, absolutely.
Um, we definitely have anemergency plan.
Like our family does thingslike that.
Something that I'm slacking on,um, this kind of always falls
on me, which totally makes senseto make these plans and to kind
of help out is now that our son, now that jameson doesn't live
at home, he lives in a differentpart of the state.
You know how to communicatewith him during emergency.
(19:51):
So we know, and his plan, likehis apartment had food and water
and things like that where hewas living Probably not enough
for what he eats.
You know the amount of water heconsumes, yeah, but he
definitely has.
You know, there's a plan there.
Megan (20:12):
Just to add in the good rule of thumb is be prepared for
at least 72 hours, so haveenough food and water for 72
hours.
Jimmy (20:19):
Absolutely, and it's the thing is like with him.
know it is where his job is toget home, you know if you can
yeah, get home if you can, andhome base is home base and we
have stuff there that will takecare of things.
And then again we are a littlemore prepared than most.
(20:39):
We have the ability to leaveour house if we need to and we
have meeting spots and thingslike that that I don't want to
tell people about Fair, justbecause, but yeah, you know, so
that's my lacking.
So we were kind of talkingbeforehand that how often should
you go to your emergencypreparedness plan, and I think
(21:02):
you made a really good pointabout saying you should have
like three things to tackle orsomething like that.
I don't want to totallymisquote you.
Megan (21:09):
No, yeah, absolutely.
I think the three things wasanother statistic from FEMA
where it was, like you know,from 2024 versus previous years,
there's a significant jump ofpeople who have had, who have
(21:31):
taken at least three sort ofsteps towards being more
prepared.
Yeah, and a lot more people aredoing that, which I think is
great, and the more prepared youare and the more aware you are
that you even need to beprepared is great.
But, you know, make a plan withyour family.
I think the big ones are make aplan with your family, make a
go bag and then, you know, makesure you have, like, enough food
(21:55):
and water.
I think are the big three ones.
And if you only like, you know,by the end of the week, maybe
after listening, this is like,do one thing to get you a little
bit more prepared.
Jimmy (22:05):
Yeah, if we're ever giving you homework after
listening to the podcast, right,so three things Come up with a
plan, practice your plan Rightand then talk about your plan.
So I guess, maybe come up withit, talk about it and then do it
(22:27):
.
Try to do something at leastonce a quarter.
We tell our clients if you candrill into medical things and
stuff like that, practice it atleast once a month.
That's ideal, because then youget the understanding and the
idea of things.
A month that's ideal becausethen you get the understanding
and the idea of things, whereasyou know we have lives, we have
(22:51):
things going on outside of work,things like that.
So maybe once a quarter, maybeyou and your family just have a
conversation, something we didwhen the kids were little,
because the kids liked it,especially Jameson is I used to.
I taught him at a young age howto climb out a window.
You know how to pop the screensout.
Yeah, you know, probably not mybest.
(23:12):
You know parenting thing allthe time.
I taught him how to check thedoor for heat and he'd take the
door in and the rest of thedoors happened, you know.
So it's not the best thing, butwe always talked about and we
played those things and you knowat least a little bit.
So that was practice, our plan.
And then when the kids wouldcome home from school and I said
, what do you guys do today?
Like, oh, dad, we did theemergency evacuation plan.
(23:33):
We had to go outside and lineup awesome, how would you do
that here, it's at home?
And the kids would be like, oh,I don't know.
And then that's when I wouldlead into say, yeah, the windows
, let's see how you have thehouse, check the door for heat,
what are we going to meet at?
And they would meet at.
And they would say, we meet atHector and Stephanie's house,
(23:54):
all right, and who used to beour neighbors?
And they'd go to the front lawnand they'd knock on the door
and saying, hey, can we use yourphone to call 911?
Our house is on fire.
So that, so three things.
On past what you need to do asyour plan, I would say three
things.
To look for Water, shelter andfood yeah, at least once a
(24:21):
quarter, every three months.
Lots of threes here.
Practice something, yeah, atleast once a quarter every three
months lots of threes here.
Megan (24:28):
Practice something, yeah, and I would argue, also check
the expiration dates on yourfood water et cetera et cetera.
I think that one is not of thethree but I think once a year
somebody you know hosts like abarbecue or something and they
(24:49):
will eat any of their about toexpire food products and then
replace those and you know thatmakes sure that you know how to
cook them, you know that youlike them and they're edible to
you, things like that.
That was my funny bone.
Jimmy (24:58):
Yeah, that was funny for me, not so funny for you, all
right team, so make sure you'reprepared for me and not so funny
for you, alright team, so makesure you're prepared.
Listen to our fire preparednesspodcast.
Listen to the earthquakepreparedness podcast if you want
some ideas from us.
Readygov, the FEMA's website,helps out with that stuff.
(25:21):
Yeah, absolutely, those aregreat resources.
Red Cross is going to have somestuff like that on there and
there's just tons and tons ofstuff on the interwebs nowadays
and the internet and YouTube andwherever you watch videos just
like that and find stuff thatworks best for you and your
environment, that's a good one.
(25:42):
Yeah, it's cool if you knowwhat these folks are doing out
in the wilderness.
Awesome.
I live in a city.
Like what am I gonna do here?
Megan (25:52):
yeah, and like if you're not comfortable, like you know,
doing something on the list,well then, find a replacement,
find um or like a differentthing.
You know, if it's not somethingyou can do, either physically
or mentally, figure out some wayelse to have that goal
accomplished, you know.
Jimmy (26:12):
Sure, sure, all right, you be safe Peace.
Hey, what's happening?
It's another Life and SafetyPodcast with Jimmy and your girl
, megs.
Hello, today we're going to betalking about emergency
preparedness because it isEmergency Preparedness Month Oot
, oot, oot, oot.
So during research for this,yes, we do do research.
(00:21):
I know it just kind of soundslike we're willy-nilly.
Nine and a half out of tentimes it is willy-nilly, yeah,
but meg's actually did someresearch on this one.
Um, and I was like what are wegoing to talk about?
We've talked about earthquakepreparedness.
We've talked about, you know,fire stuff.
We've talked about other things, but what is exactly is
emergency preparedness month?
(00:42):
So we're going to just kind of,but what exactly is emergency
preparedness, ma?
So we're going to just kind of.
So Megan found an interestingFEMA study on emergency
preparedness and so she'll reada couple of quick stats and then
we'll kind of, you know, jumpin like we do.
So, with that being said, whatstat are you going to start off
(01:03):
with, megs?
Megan (01:07):
said um, what's that you're gonna start off with next
?
Um, let's start off with aservice concerns during a
disaster, because that is whatmy page is already on, so
service concerns, not surface.
Jimmy (01:14):
Yes, service.
Megan (01:15):
I heard surface.
Oh, I apologize.
Jimmy (01:17):
Yeah, I think it's because you're talking into your
hand yes, that is true.
Megan (01:22):
Um so, fema, they did a help me with my words.
Survey.
Yeah, thank you.
Fema did a survey in 2024 about, you know, disaster concerns
and preparedness and things likethat.
They did it across the whole USand they surveyed a bunch of
(01:47):
different people and so theyfound that about 67% of people
were very concerned about goingwithout water during an
emergency.
So the question that they askedwas in the event of a disaster
or emergency, how concerned areyou about going without?
(02:14):
The following so 67% wereeither very concerned or
extremely concerned about goingwithout water.
That was the most.
The next thing people wereconcerned about was energy, then
basic needs, then health andmedical, then communication,
then safety and security, thenhazardous materials management
and then transportation Came inlast, with only about 42% of
people being worried abouttransportation.
Jimmy (02:37):
That's kind of interesting.
Every water, definitely everykind of what's the needs of
water or state of life only.
Every kind of person has theneed of water or stay alive.
Before we started recording wekind of talked about this and
whatnot and I for some reasonthought the basic need was right
behind water.
Megan (02:59):
Yeah, they're pretty close 66% versus 65%.
Jimmy (03:08):
But energy.
Megan (03:10):
Yeah.
Jimmy (03:11):
Why.
Megan (03:13):
Cooking things, heating water, I don't know.
Jimmy (03:16):
That would be basically to me.
Energy to me is like agenerator, battery pack.
Megan (03:24):
Yeah, like getting your phone charged, exactly.
Jimmy (03:28):
So that's pretty interesting.
I would say water your basicneeds like food, cooking,
heating, shelter.
Yeah, place these in therestroom.
(03:49):
You know, I assume basic needsalso kicks in, is there close?
Megan (03:55):
on that?
Jimmy (03:56):
no, I think that falls under basic needs, you know,
warm clothing, things like that.
So that's kind of mind-boggling, I mean.
I know it's only 1%, but it'sstill.
Megan (04:08):
That's still.
Yeah, I find it veryinteresting and I definitely I
don't know I'm fascinated by,like the ranking of this, so to
speak.
Like this is not at all how Iwould have ranked things Like
for me, you know, probably wouldhave been basic needs up there,
health and medical would havebeen basic needs up there,
health and medical wouldn't havebeen, you know probably second
(04:30):
for me.
Jimmy (04:30):
What's the health and medical on?
Megan (04:31):
this one, it's fourth at what percentage?
at uh, 60 percent.
So 60 people are worried abouthealth and medical.
Wow, especially like during adisaster, like you have no idea,
like who's gotten injured, likeif you have to provide, like
you know, emergency medical care, first aid, things like that, I
(04:52):
feel like that should be like avery high concern.
And I don't know if that justcomes from working here for so
long that you know my mindautomatically goes to the worst.
Like what injuries are welooking at?
Are we looking broken bones,life threatening, bleeding, you
know, heart attacks, things likethat, um, and that, like you
know, need outside medicalintervention.
(05:12):
But maybe my mind just goesdark quicker.
Jimmy (05:16):
But well, no, I think there's something to that.
I think the other thing on theflip side of that is well, what
about yourself, or your family'smedicines?
and medical needs, not just theemergency.
I got an ouchie, I got to stopthe bleeding thing.
To what about people that aremaybe diabetic or need a blood
(05:40):
pressure medicine or who youknow who knows what right that
if they don't have it'sdefinitely going to lead to a
longer or bigger issue.
Yeah, absolutely, that wasreally interesting.
Yeah, and then what were thelast three?
I can't see your face, I'msorry.
(06:01):
No, you're fine, just tell me Ican't see your thing.
So, I'm sorry.
No, you're fine, just tell me.
Megan (06:03):
Safety and security was down at number.
I can count six, which is alsocrazy to me, Like I don't know.
I feel like safety and securitywould be higher on the list.
Yeah, and then we've gothazardous materials management,
and then transportation.
Jimmy (06:24):
I would love to understand what the hazardous
materials thing is.
Megan (06:30):
Mm-hmm.
Jimmy (06:31):
Yeah, yeah, like.
What does that mean?
Like gas and propane andnatural gas stuff.
Megan (06:40):
Yeah, I imagine like anything that could be
considered hazardous, likemaking sure that it's not being
hazardous, so like yeah, like ifa gas main ruptures or things
like that yeah, I mean there's.
Jimmy (06:55):
I mean I teach has that response, but there's like seven
definitions, oh my god, of whathazardous material is yeah
depending what you look like,what agency you're talking about
.
Megan (07:04):
So I imagine this is like an everyday person type of
definition, so like what aneveryday person would consider
to be hazardous.
Jimmy (07:14):
So gas and diesel fuel and natural gas, things like
that, so like gas, like petrol,like a car, so I mean, but
that's their transportation.
I see that being ranked thelowest for sure.
Like I mean you, can you knowyou're trying to get all
shuffled legs?
Ride your feet right.
I've never heard that before,so you know?
Megan (07:40):
um, yeah, and I mean shelter in place is a common
phrase for a reason.
Jimmy (07:45):
Sure, we shelter in place .
That's something different.
Megan (08:01):
So I would rank it.
Jimmy (08:02):
Water basic needs safety and security, energy,
communications and the rest.
Health and medical.
Oh, health and medical, Imissed that one.
Uh, probably top three.
Yeah, so probably water, basicneeds um health and medical
safety, and then everything elsefair.
I agree, I agree it's kind offalse to the wayside.
Megan (08:21):
And some of these can absolutely be fit.
In others, Like you could arguethat water is a basic need, you
know.
You can argue that, likemedical is a basic need, Sure so
, but you know, with the topicswe're given, and the way they
phrased the question.
Jimmy (08:41):
You know how concerned are you about these things and,
to be fair, the stats that we'rereading are it's not at all,
are slightly or somewhatconcerned.
So is that what you're reading?
The gray?
Are you reading the extremelyor very concerned?
Megan (09:03):
I'm reading the extremely or very concerned.
I'm reading the extremely orvery concerned.
So 67% of people are extremelyor very concerned that they're
going to have to go withoutwater, versus the 33% that are
either not at all, slightly oronly somewhat concerned.
Who are those people?
I don't know.
That's what I'm saying.
Who's not worried about basicneeds during?
Jimmy (09:23):
an emergency.
Who's not worried about basicneeds during an emergency?
So full disclaimer team.
I can't really see the statsMegan's looking at.
So that's why I kind ofquestioned that.
But it's kind of like that'sfascinating.
It's even more fascinating now,like when I saw like the whole
thing.
Like what the cheese?
Oh, what are we?
Megan (09:43):
doing here, yeah, but it's like I don't know.
I'm just I'm intrigued at whatkind of person is not concerned
about these things.
Jimmy (09:53):
So let's play devil's advocate and say maybe the
person that took the survey isit's very prepper, it's a
prepper, and they have all thisstuff at the house already and
they're like I'm not concerned,okay, okay, I can see that.
I'm hoping, yeah, yeah, whatwere you looking at my boobs for
?
We do it.
Megan (10:13):
Oh, your shirt.
There's a brand logo on it,yeah, and I'm confused by the N,
because it's a mountain, butit's also a tree.
Jimmy (10:21):
Mm-hmm, it's the forest.
Yeah, it's like Tahoe Mm-hmm,I'm wearing my Ernie shirt.
Shout out to the South ShoreErnie's.
You know, you know.
If you don't, you need to findout.
It's one of the best breakfastand lunch places around, one of
my absolute favorites.
Megan (10:45):
I've never been Now I'll have to go next time I go up to
Tahoe.
Jimmy (10:49):
Yep, and across the street is Bert's.
You can't make this stuff up.
Oh my gosh, yep.
What does Bert's sell?
They're in breakfast and joint,too Interesting, yeah.
Breakfast, lunch and place yeah.
Or 10 am, so their breakfastjoint too interesting, yeah.
Breakfast lunch place, um, yeah.
Or tanneries, yeah, yeah.
(11:10):
All right, you got good grass.
So emergency, uh, preparednessstuff.
So what was this?
Can you find the stat againabout the um, how nobody has
enough water, or something likethat?
What was the stat, did you?
Yeah, um, so I'll try toremember and then megan can
correct me once he finds it.
(11:32):
It's, it was something like um90 of the people don't have
enough water for like 72 hoursor like that.
Um, so water, as we're talkingabout, that, that's definitely,
as we've established, is thenumber one most important thing
there.
I always tell people threegallons of water per person per
(11:58):
day.
It's a lot of water in a store.
I get it.
I get it, and there's lots ofthings to consider.
You know where to store it, athow to store it, things of that
nature.
But the reason why I say that islike, think about one gallon to
drink, about one gallon to cookin, boil, things like that, and
(12:21):
at least another gallon forsanitary reasons.
You know, know, washing yourhands, washing your face, your,
your body in general, and thenjust washing away waste, you
know it's a good thing.
Um, so at least that.
And think about this.
You're gonna be stressed out,you're gonna be um, you're gonna
(12:41):
be outside longer than you'reused to.
You might be not have your airconditioning or your fan, and
you might just be doing um,there's more work, so you might
be more high, the either themiddle, so you're just drinking
more water.
So I thought that was a reallyinteresting one.
Um, can you find it?
Or?
Megan (13:01):
you know I'm trying to.
There's so many stats on this.
This is an actually fascinatingthing to look at.
There's a lot of stats.
It's the 2024 NationalHousehold Survey on Disaster
Preparedness by FEMA, but Ican't find exactly the
(13:21):
information on water.
But they have it broken down bylike so many different
categories.
They have like results by age,results by ethnicity, results by
like geographic location, likeright now I'm looking at the
ones by age, and so it's likepeople that are 18 to 59 years
(13:42):
old.
You know, only 27% of people inthat age range have
participated in an emergencydrill, versus people who are 60
or older only 7% of them haveparticipated in an emergency
drill.
You know, or like people,percent of people who have an
emergency plan, in that 18 to 59percent, or 18 to 59 years old,
(14:06):
58 percent of people have anemergency plan, versus for uh,
more than 60 years old, only 52percent have an emergency plan.
Um, and then they have it, youknow, broken down by uh well,
like the region stuff you justsaid in there.
Jimmy (14:23):
How am I find?
Megan (14:24):
it Results by geographic location.
So let's go with that sametopic of have an emergency plan
52% in the Midwest, 54% in theNortheast, 63% in the South, 51%
in the West and then 72% NA.
(14:44):
What does NA mean?
No idea, but you know if you'renot in the Midwest, northeast,
south or West, I guess.
Jimmy (14:58):
So maybe Hawaii or?
Megan (14:59):
Alaska Maybe.
Jimmy (15:00):
Well, I feel like those polls would be probably way more
prepared.
Well, that's good.
It's kind of interesting thatthere's lots of Ritual Action
Plans in places where they haveextreme weather and things like
that right and other liketornadoes and hurricanes and
flooding and lions and tigers,oh my Whereas in California we
(15:30):
have earthquakes and sunburnsand wildfires.
I guess, yeah, I always don't.
This is something very callousand I don't mean to just tell
them callous.
I don't always think ofwildfires as air quote.
Big deal, I think, because youfought them, yeah, um, it is a
big deal and I don't again, Idon't mean to sound callous.
There's lots of houses lost,lots of wives and you know, but
(15:53):
I definitely I think it's just away of living, it's, it's
preparedness stuff.
Megan (15:59):
So I guess I always kind of let that fall on the wayside
yeah, and I also feel like youknow, like you said, you work to
fight them like that was yourjob, was dealing with them.
So I'm sure you like build up a, not necessarily a tolerance,
but like a you know, you'reexposed to it so much that it's
just not as scary to you.
Jimmy (16:16):
Yeah, probably callous.
I mean, I have a callous likeyou can put a callus, like you
can put a callus in her hand,right um this one's interesting
uh.
Megan (16:26):
This is uh broken down by home ownership thank you, um,
but so for if we're going for ifthey have an emergency plan, 59
of people who own versus only50 of people who rent.
Jimmy (16:43):
So 59 and 50?
Mm-hmm, Okay.
So yeah, I mean that kind ofmakes sense Tracks.
Right, If you own your house,you're going to have an
emergency plan.
Well, you kind of have tobecause of your insurance.
Yeah, and it's your investment.
You don't want to be out whereit's going to be somebody who
has to do the best, who's beenrinsed, is like, yeah, I care
about my family and mybelongings, but I really maybe
(17:06):
not care about the structurebecause I don't own it.
Maybe you know.
Megan (17:11):
I would argue.
Either way, you should have apreparedness plan Agreed.
Jimmy (17:15):
You should have an idea of what you're going to do.
Megan (17:19):
Which sort of let's talk about emergency plans.
Which sort of let's talk aboutemergency plans?
I think one of the big thingsabout emergencies is that you
have to prepare ahead of time,because if you just put it off
until something bad happens,it's exponentially harder to
deal with it in an emergency andmake up a plan while the
(17:41):
emergency is happening versushaving a plan in place.
You know, there's the.
The one of the sayings is likepreparedness isn't paranoia,
it's peace of mind.
That was one of the things thatI read while I was doing some
research.
But you know, if you're like, ohwell, I'll just wing it or I'll
just look it up online, youknow, like I'll look up how to
(18:03):
use my you know little cookstove top thing that I prepared,
or I'll look up how to purifywater Well, what if the internet
isn't working and you can'tlook it up?
You know, like you have to knowthis stuff beforehand.
You can't rely on being able to, like, search it up, or oh well
, you know, we don't have tocome up with a place where we
know we'll meet, because I'lljust text them and you know,
(18:24):
I'll just text so-and-so andthen we'll know where to meet.
Well, what if you know phonelines are down, you have to have
made those plans ahead of time.
Jimmy (18:32):
Yeah, it's really interesting because I'm sitting
here listening to you and I waslike that's not even on my radar
to text somebody where I'm atto do those things.
Like we have a plan, so I don'teven think about that.
Like why would I need to textyou if you do the plan, go to
(18:53):
the place we're supposed to meetat.
You know, get there when youcan.
That's our plan.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Megan (19:00):
But you also, I would argue, are a lot more prepared
than an everyday Joe.
Sure, sure, I mean, you know,as we're reading these things,
not a lot of people have a planin place.
So it's like, well, how do Iknow that my loved one is okay?
Because I have no way ofcontacting them and we have no
plan in place of how to figureout you know, yeah, no,
(19:23):
absolutely.
Jimmy (19:30):
to figure out.
You know, yeah, no, absolutely.
Um, we definitely have anemergency plan.
Like our family does thingslike that.
Something that I'm slacking on,um, this kind of always falls
on me, which totally makes senseto make these plans and to kind
of help out is now that our son, now that jameson doesn't live
at home, he lives in a differentpart of the state.
You know how to communicatewith him during emergency.
(19:51):
So we know, and his plan, likehis apartment had food and water
and things like that where hewas living Probably not enough
for what he eats.
You know the amount of water heconsumes, yeah, but he
definitely has.
You know, there's a plan there.
Megan (20:12):
Just to add in the good rule of thumb is be prepared for
at least 72 hours, so haveenough food and water for 72
hours.
Jimmy (20:19):
Absolutely, and it's the thing is like with him.
know it is where his job is toget home, you know if you can
yeah, get home if you can, andhome base is home base and we
have stuff there that will takecare of things.
And then again we are a littlemore prepared than most.
(20:39):
We have the ability to leaveour house if we need to and we
have meeting spots and thingslike that that I don't want to
tell people about Fair, justbecause, but yeah, you know, so
that's my lacking.
So we were kind of talkingbeforehand that how often should
you go to your emergencypreparedness plan, and I think
(21:02):
you made a really good pointabout saying you should have
like three things to tackle orsomething like that.
I don't want to totallymisquote you.
Megan (21:09):
No, yeah, absolutely.
I think the three things wasanother statistic from FEMA
where it was, like you know,from 2024 versus previous years,
there's a significant jump ofpeople who have had, who have
(21:31):
taken at least three sort ofsteps towards being more
prepared.
Yeah, and a lot more people aredoing that, which I think is
great, and the more prepared youare and the more aware you are
that you even need to beprepared is great.
But, you know, make a plan withyour family.
I think the big ones are make aplan with your family, make a
go bag and then, you know, makesure you have, like, enough food
(21:55):
and water.
I think are the big three ones.
And if you only like, you know,by the end of the week, maybe
after listening, this is like,do one thing to get you a little
bit more prepared.
Jimmy (22:05):
Yeah, if we're ever giving you homework after
listening to the podcast, right,so three things Come up with a
plan, practice your plan Rightand then talk about your plan.
So I guess, maybe come up withit, talk about it and then do it
(22:27):
.
Try to do something at leastonce a quarter.
We tell our clients if you candrill into medical things and
stuff like that, practice it atleast once a month.
That's ideal, because then youget the understanding and the
idea of things.
A month that's ideal becausethen you get the understanding
and the idea of things, whereasyou know we have lives, we have
(22:51):
things going on outside of work,things like that.
So maybe once a quarter, maybeyou and your family just have a
conversation, something we didwhen the kids were little,
because the kids liked it,especially Jameson is I used to.
I taught him at a young age howto climb out a window.
You know how to pop the screensout.
Yeah, you know, probably not mybest.
(23:12):
You know parenting thing allthe time.
I taught him how to check thedoor for heat and he'd take the
door in and the rest of thedoors happened, you know.
So it's not the best thing, butwe always talked about and we
played those things and you knowat least a little bit.
So that was practice, our plan.
And then when the kids wouldcome home from school and I said
, what do you guys do today?
Like, oh, dad, we did theemergency evacuation plan.
(23:33):
We had to go outside and lineup awesome, how would you do
that here, it's at home?
And the kids would be like, oh,I don't know.
And then that's when I wouldlead into say, yeah, the windows
, let's see how you have thehouse, check the door for heat,
what are we going to meet at?
And they would meet at.
And they would say, we meet atHector and Stephanie's house,
(23:54):
all right, and who used to beour neighbors?
And they'd go to the front lawnand they'd knock on the door
and saying, hey, can we use yourphone to call 911?
Our house is on fire.
So that, so three things.
On past what you need to do asyour plan, I would say three
things.
To look for Water, shelter andfood yeah, at least once a
(24:21):
quarter, every three months.
Lots of threes here.
Practice something, yeah, atleast once a quarter every three
months lots of threes here.
Megan (24:28):
Practice something, yeah, and I would argue, also check
the expiration dates on yourfood water et cetera et cetera.
I think that one is not of thethree but I think once a year
somebody you know hosts like abarbecue or something and they
(24:49):
will eat any of their about toexpire food products and then
replace those and you know thatmakes sure that you know how to
cook them, you know that youlike them and they're edible to
you, things like that.
That was my funny bone.
Jimmy (24:58):
Yeah, that was funny for me, not so funny for you, all
right team, so make sure you'reprepared for me and not so funny
for you, alright team, so makesure you're prepared.
Listen to our fire preparednesspodcast.
Listen to the earthquakepreparedness podcast if you want
some ideas from us.
Readygov, the FEMA's website,helps out with that stuff.
(25:21):
Yeah, absolutely, those aregreat resources.
Red Cross is going to have somestuff like that on there and
there's just tons and tons ofstuff on the interwebs nowadays
and the internet and YouTube andwherever you watch videos just
like that and find stuff thatworks best for you and your
environment, that's a good one.
(25:42):
Yeah, it's cool if you knowwhat these folks are doing out
in the wilderness.
Awesome.
I live in a city.
Like what am I gonna do here?
Megan (25:52):
yeah, and like if you're not comfortable, like you know,
doing something on the list,well then, find a replacement,
find um or like a differentthing.
You know, if it's not somethingyou can do, either physically
or mentally, figure out some wayelse to have that goal
accomplished, you know.
Jimmy (26:12):
Sure, sure, all right, you be safe Peace.
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