Emergency Services Chair Flo Hoylman sends along some lessons learned from the recent PG&E power outage:
Lighting ideas
- I purchased two solar powered lights for less than $20 each. They have their own stand, so I can direct the light in different directions.
- Use a mirror by the light to increase the amount of light.
- Use lots of solar lights with sensors. We put those in bathrooms and bedrooms, and they detect movement in the dark and light up. Motion sensors make them last much longer.
- Use LED lights; they take less energy.
- Put a solar garden lamp, the kind you shove into the ground, into a deep bowl of sand on the dining room table, and it will illuminate the entire room with a gentle glow; the little dimples on the glass made a beautiful pattern! At Goodman’s I was advised to purchase lamps with a brightness of 5 lumen vs. 2 lumen. The clerk also said that when they begin to fade in a year or so, I could purchase replacement batteries for $1 each. I never knew they had replacement batteries!
- Consider installing solar panels with battery backup. Also, a generator that runs on natural gas, propane (or gasoline in a pinch).
AccuWeather is predicting no rain until Nov. 23, so red flag fire warnings could continue for the next few weeks.