Forging Freedom · Field Card
Household Emergency Card
Where to meet, who to call, where the shutoffs are. Fill it in once, print it for the fridge.
Your details
- Meet-up spot near home
- Meet-up spot outside the neighborhood
- Out-of-area contact
- Where the water and power shutoffs are
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Pick two meet-up spots
One near the house - the end of the drive, a specific tree, the neighbor’s mailbox - for a fire, when the only goal is out and accounted for.
One outside the neighborhood for when you cannot get back: a church parking lot, a library, a relative across town.
Be specific enough that a ten-year-old could not get it wrong. "The park" is not a meet-up spot. "The flagpole at Veterans Park" is.
Choose one out-of-area contact
Pick someone several states away. Everyone checks in with that one person, and that person becomes the switchboard - so nobody has to reach everybody.
Everyone memorizes the number or carries it written down. A number that only exists in a dead phone is not a contact.
Tell them they are the contact. It is a short, slightly strange phone call, and it is the whole job.
Find your water and power shutoffs
Walk to the main water shutoff and the breaker panel and put your hands on them. Write down where they are in plain words.
If you have gas, find the meter valve too, but leave it alone. Do not turn gas off as practice. Once it is off it should only be turned back on by the utility.
Fill in the card and put it where the family can see it
Fill in the four fields on your Household Emergency Card, then print it or screenshot it.
One on the fridge. One in each vehicle. One in each kid’s bag.
Walk it through once, out loud
Ask the questions rather than giving the answers. Where do we meet if the house is on fire? Who do you call if you cannot reach me? What if it happens while you are at school?
Keep it calm and short. The goal is that the kids have thought about it once already, not that they are frightened of it.