It's all about tools

The old joke goes, "he who dies with the most toys wins"...  Well, its also he who goes into a crisis with the most tools wins, or better yet survives.  Now in all honesty, tools without skills or knowledge may as well be badminton racquets.  but after 30 years in the construction industry i know for sure, I KNOW how to use this equipment. And while learning bushcraft to deal with the "natural" environment is important, the cities and buildings won't just disappear leaving you in the woods.  You will have to deal with damaged structures, you will want and need to salvage supplies, you may need to rescue people.  And the time to prepare for that is now.

Now a lot of these are fairly common hand tools, so why have them separated in my evac gear?  Well, two reasons.  First, they are cheap and in an emergency i don't want to scramble around looking for stuff.  If time is short, pry bars and axes are not going to be my priority, so I'm time shifting.  Second, if i had to evacuate, having a small stash of repair, salvage, and access tools could be invaluable for rescuing other survivors,  unforeseen situations, or returning home.  If the crisis is weather, these tools would be on hand to safely get in my house, or salvage things, since my main tools would be buried deep within the damaged structure.

I have a larger crow bar in the bottom of my trailer, but these there are my go to access/wrecking tools. After my CERT class, I took a good hard look at what the most effective tools my selective demolition subcontractor used on the last reno job and asked him about them.  Both of these leverage tools offer maximum strength, but are light enough to carry all day if needed. These small bolt cutters are hardened and can cut almost any padlock or chain, and make light work of fences and concrete reinforcing wire that could be a big factor in a structural building collapse.

My big ropes that are stashed in my trailer, but I keep a multitude of pulleys, eyebolts and anchors that can be used for rescue, but also with my tarps to create temporary shelters.  I also keep a hardened cable to use with padlock to secure may trailer or a generator on site.

There are some other things that I also carry from electrical wire, to wrenches and drivers,  that i'm not listing, but are standard gear for the type of repairs that i may run into.

These axes really need no explanation, but obviously firewood and site clearing.  This mini shovel was a great find. Its small and light so it fits my space and weight requirements, but sturdy enough to handle any task that may come up in the field.

A lot of this is geared toward reacting temporary shelter in an evacuation, but the other key use is gaining access to possible secured but abandoned shelter oppertunities that may arise.  While i would hate to think about the possibility that there could be a situation where I was foraging through structures after a massive loss of life event,  having these tools on hand could be the difference between shelter and surviving the night, and freezing to death.