Emergency Reference Cards
Print on cardstock · Cut out · Laminate · Keep in wallet or go-bag
Set printer to actual size (no scaling). Use 110lb cardstock for durability.
💧 Water Purification
- Boil: 1 min rolling (3 min above 6,500ft)
- Bleach 8.25%: 8 drops/gal, wait 30 min
- Iodine: 5 drops/qt clear, 10 drops cloudy
- Filter turbid water first (cloth/coffee filter)
- Safe: faint chlorine smell after treatment
- Dehydration: dark urine, confusion, no tears
📡 Morse Code
SOS: ···−−−··· dit=dot dah=dash
📻 Emergency Radio Freqs
- NOAA Weather: 162.400–162.550 MHz
- VHF Calling (HAM): 146.520 MHz
- Marine Ch 16 (Distress): 156.800 MHz
- CB Ch 9 (Emergency): 27.065 MHz
- CB Ch 19 (Highway): 27.185 MHz
- Aircraft Guard: 121.500 MHz
- FRS Ch 1: 462.5625 MHz
🏥 Wound Care
- STOP BLEEDING: Direct pressure 10+ min, elevate
- CLEAN: Irrigate with clean water under pressure
- CLOSE: Butterfly strips or sutures if deep
- COVER: Clean dressing, change daily
- INFECTION (act <24hr): spreading redness, pus, red streaks, fever, warmth
- Do NOT remove embedded objects
💧 Bleach Treatment Ratios (8.25%)
| 1 quart | 2 drops |
| 1 gallon | 8 drops |
| 5 gallons | 40 drops (~½ tsp) |
| 10 gallons | 80 drops (~1 tsp) |
| 55 gallons | ½ cup |
Wait 30 min. Water should smell faintly of chlorine. If no smell, repeat dose, wait 15 min more.
🚑 START Triage
RED (Immediate): Life-threatening, treatable now
YELLOW (Delayed): Serious but stable — can wait hours
GREEN (Minor): Walking wounded — treat last
BLACK (Expectant): Unsurvivable or deceased
Steps: 1) Walking? → GREEN. 2) Not breathing after airway → BLACK. 3) RR>30 → RED. 4) No radial pulse → RED. 5) Can't follow commands → RED.
🌿 Universal Edibility Test
- Identify — research first if possible
- Test one plant part at a time
- Smell — unpleasant odor: reject
- Skin test — rub on wrist, wait 15 min
- Lip test — touch to lips, wait 3 min
- Mouth — hold on tongue 15 min, spit
- Eat 1 tsp, wait 8 hours
- Eat small portion, wait 8 more hours
Never: milky sap · umbrella flowers · red berries
🔥 Fire Starting
Triangle: Heat + Fuel + Oxygen
Tinder: dry grass, bark dust, cattail fluff, fatwood
Kindling: pencil-size dry twigs, split wood
Fuel: wrist-size dry hardwood
Lays: Teepee (quick heat) · Log cabin (long burn) · Star (fuel-efficient)
Natural spark catchers: char cloth, amadou fungus, birch bark
🪞 Signaling
Ground signals (10ft letters, open ground):
V = Need help X = Need medical help → = Going this way
Signal mirror: Hold near eye · V-fingers at arm's length · Target in V · Tilt mirror so sun's reflection fills V · Sweep toward aircraft
Whistle: 3 blasts = distress. Repeat every 3 min.
Rule: 3 of anything = distress
🧭 Navigation Without Compass
Shadow stick: Mark tip → wait 15 min → mark again → line = E-W. Left foot on first mark = facing North.
North Star: Big Dipper outer bowl × 5 lengths = Polaris (North)
Watch (N. hemisphere): Hour hand → sun, bisect to 12 = South
Moss: North side of trees (verify with multiple trees)
🪢 Essential Knots
- Bowline: Fixed loop, won't slip — rescue, rigging
- Clove hitch: Quick attach to post — stakes, lashing
- Square knot: Join ends — bandages (not load-bearing)
- Sheet bend: Join ropes of different thickness
- Trucker's hitch: Mechanical advantage — load tie-down
- Figure-8: Stopper knot — prevent rope slipping through
🤖 Bunker Bot Setup
- Install Ollama: ollama.ai
- Download model:
ollama pull phi3:mini - Start server:
ollama serve - Open index.html in browser
- Click Bunker Bot button (top right)
Small (4GB RAM): phi3:mini, gemma3:4b
Large (16GB+): llama3:8b, mistral:7b
Works fully offline once model downloaded
🦷 Dental Emergencies
- TOOTHACHE: rinse warm salt water; clove oil on cotton; ibuprofen for pain/swelling
- ABSCESS (swelling, fever): salt-water rinses; needs antibiotic (e.g. amoxicillin) — see dosing tool
- KNOCKED-OUT TOOTH: hold by crown, not root; reinsert in socket or keep in milk/saliva; act <30 min
- LOST FILLING: temporary fill with sugar-free gum or dental wax; keep clean
- BROKEN TOOTH: rinse; cover sharp edge with wax; protect from cold/heat
⚡ Solar / Power Troubleshooting
- Nothing charging: check fuses & breakers first; check polarity (+/−)
- Low/no panel voltage: clean panels; clear shade; check for cracked cells & loose MC4 connectors
- Voltage at panel, none at controller: broken wire or blown inline fuse between them
- Battery won't hold charge: check water level (flooded); test resting voltage — 12.0V = ~25%, 12.7V = full
- Inverter off/beeping: low battery cutoff or overload — shed loads, recharge
- Order to check: connections → fuses → battery voltage → panel voltage → controller → inverter
🔥 Fire — Fight or Flee
- PEOPLE OUT FIRST — no possession is worth a life
- Small fire: smother/cool — water, damp blanket, sand, earth
- Keep water + sand buckets by every stove and flame
- NEVER water on: grease/oil (smother w/ lid), fuel, electrical (cut power)
- Remove the fuel — drag burning items from what hasn't caught
- Prevent: sweep chimneys, store fuel sealed & outside, never leave flame unattended, cut firebreaks
👓 Vision & Eyes
- Spare glasses in your kit + write down your prescription on paper
- Pinhole trick: look through a tiny hole in card — sharpens distance vision
- Protect: eye cover for chopping/grinding/chemicals — blindness is permanent
- Snow/sun: slit-goggles from card/bark stop snow blindness
- Vitamin A (liver, eggs, orange/green veg) prevents night blindness
- Chemical splash: flush eye with clean water 15–20 min immediately