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By the creator of The Prepper’s Information to Submit-Catastrophe Communications, and Zombie Decisions
Hikers have lengthy been conversant in the advantages of avoiding cotton clothes and materials in any respect prices in relation to maneuvering out within the backcountry. It’s due to this that many solely use wool socks and different artificial supplies for his or her clothes. However what about wool blankets?
Is there nonetheless room for wool in relation to a survival scenario? Let’s take a deep dive into the topic to see if wool blankets nonetheless have a spot on this planet of emergency preparedness.
Why wool blankets?
As you probably already know, the chief downside with cotton is that after it will get moist, it loses 100% of its capacity to maintain you heat. In distinction, wool can nonetheless maintain you heat even when it does get soaked. This in itself is a big motive why so many individuals inside the out of doors, search-and-rescue, and navy world rely so closely on all these blankets.
For instance, at the least till 2010, it seems that the chief means by which the Norwegian navy would maintain casualties heat as they have been being evacuated was with wool blankets. EMS responders in Norway used wool blankets mixed with sizzling IV fluids till 2002, as nicely. They’ve largely resorted to “bubble wrap” since then, regardless of the heck meaning.
Why is it so vital to maintain casualties heat?
As a result of in case you don’t, they find yourself with an elevated threat of every kind of issues.
Image in your thoughts that you’ve discovered your self coping with the aftermath of a twister. You crawl out of your devastated residence to search out that there’s somebody throughout the road that’s been extensively lacerated by glass shards that have been blown by the air.
Tornadoes convey rain (sideways), so their denim denims are soaked, and they’re beginning to shiver. They’re in an austere surroundings, you could have zero thought how lengthy will probably be till they will get correct medical care, and now they’re rising hypothermic as nicely.
Research have proven that hypothermia with trauma victims is related to elevated morbidity and mortality. One of many methods this performs out is with a rise within the likelihood that they may come down with some kind of wound an infection.
That is why researchers have studied the advantages of wool blankets for these instances.
The US Military has spent a little bit of time finding out this up to now.
In “Evaluation of Hypothermia Blankets Utilizing an Superior Thermal Manikin” by Okay. Barazanji of the US Military Aeromedical Analysis Lab and JP Rugh of the Nationwide Renewable Power Lab, it was discovered that inserting a wool blanket between a casualty and the stretcher that they’re on decreases their warmth loss by 30%. If, along with this wool blanket, a reflective blanket is wrapped round them as nicely (on the skin of the wool blanket), then an further 30% lower within the lack of warmth takes place.
One other research additionally discovered that utilizing a wool blanket mixed with a reflective blanket appears to be the magic mixture for casualty evacuation.
Wool blankets with casualty evacuations save lives.
Much more attention-grabbing, I feel, is the truth that this Barazanji research discovered that wool blankets labored higher than electrical blankets. That’s excellent news once you’re working in an austere surroundings (aka, nearly all catastrophe scenes).
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There are some elements about wool blankets you must find out about.
Earlier than you rush out and purchase each wool blanket yow will discover, I’ll level out that I’ve personally discovered it extremely troublesome to discover a wool blanket that hasn’t been inundated with fire-retardant chemical compounds.
This has all the time been one thing that involved me. Your pores and skin does take up issues by the surroundings round it, and having a chemical-laced blanket wrapped round me has by no means settled nicely with me. Evidently the analysis helps my intestine feeling right here as nicely. Are these chemical compounds secure for normal, every day contact with? Determine for your self, however I say no.
I perceive that nearly each merchandise of clothes and blanket you employ has chemical compounds in it that could possibly be deemed dangerous and that you would be able to’t remove 100% of the chance from every day life, however I do attempt to be picky about what I’m prepared to come across.
Seeing a wool blanket that proudly advertises “Flame-resistant!” to me is a motive to go and store elsewhere. Particularly contemplating that wool is of course flame resistant as it’s, I don’t see the rationale to behave as if all people with a wool blanket is juggling lit campfire logs or has a household historical past of spontaneous human combustion.
Should you exit and store for a wool blanket, I’d maintain all that in thoughts.
I did some heat testing with some completely different blankets round the home.
To get some exhausting knowledge on how several types of blankets retain physique warmth, I gathered quite a lot of similar-sized blankets from round the home and used a ThermoPro TP50 thermometer to trace the temperature beneath them. What I did was wrap myself utterly within the blanket whereas sitting in a chair with the thermometer in my lap.
I recorded the ambient room temperature proper earlier than testing, sat for ten minutes wrapped within the blanket, after which instantly recorded the temperature beneath the blanket wrap.
Here’s what I discovered:
Fleece Blanket
The fleece blanket was the everyday “fluffy” blanket that appears like a Snuggy. Lots of people flip to all these blankets as a result of they’re low cost, they aren’t cotton (“Cotton kills”), and so they’re comfy.
The room temperature instantly previous this take a look at was 68.7 levels Fahrenheit. After ten minutes below the blanket wrap, the thermometer learn the temperature as being 72.5 levels. The temperature was solely raised 3.8 levels Fahrenheit.
This was considerably stunning to me as I assumed that with all the little air pockets which might be inherently part of fleece blankets, there can be quite a lot of trapped warmth right here. At the very least inside the time span of ten minutes, that wasn’t the case.
My ideas listed here are that maybe fleece can entice extraordinary quantities of warmth, offered it’s a part of a layering system. After I put on a fleece jacket, if it’s windy exterior, the chilly rips proper by it. If I’m carrying one thing that blocks the wind as nicely, fleece jackets can shortly develop into nearly too sizzling. Admittedly, there’s one other variable there as a result of there’s a second layering, however that’s what leads me to surprise if that’s how fleece blankets work.
“Mexican” Blanket
I’m not likely certain of the correct time period to name these, however they all the time seem like a poncho, so the time period appears becoming. These are usually a polyester mix, and you may usually discover these at novelty seashore shops for round $20. That’s the place I received mine.
The ambient room temperature earlier than the take a look at was 68.2 levels Fahrenheit. After ten minutes below the wrap, the thermometer learn 72.9 levels, making for a temperature distinction of 4.7 levels.
Wool Blanket
For this, I used an Arcturus Navy Wool Blanket from Prepared Made Sources. The room temperature right here was 66.2 levels Fahrenheit. After ten minutes wrapped within the wool blanket, the thermometer learn 77.2 levels Fahrenheit. The temperature was raised 11.0 levels.
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Right here’s what my experiment confirmed…
There actually wasn’t even a contest between any of the opposite blankets in comparison with the wool blanket. No person apart from the wool blanket reached double digits within the temperature, which, to me, is an excellent inkling as to why search-and-rescue and different organizations often embrace wool blankets in a part of their preparedness measures.
On the very least, with winter approaching, I’d extremely advocate you contemplate stashing away just a few wool blankets within the trunk of your automotive. If you find yourself trapped on an interstate for hours on finish within the useless of winter, this straightforward, cheap step may simply save a life.
So far as flame retardant chemical compounds go, I’ll additionally level out that the Arcturus blanket I used wasn’t sprayed with something, that means that being wrapped with the heart of a fireplace extinguisher wasn’t one thing that I needed to fear about.
So whether or not you reside in Twister-Ville, Hurricane Land, or simply someplace the place you often end up driving by heavy snow and ice, could I counsel contemplating the concept of selecting up a wool blanket. Professionals all through the world like them, sheep like them, and, for what it’s price, I like them too.
However what are your ideas? Do you could have wool blankets as a part of your survival package? Or do you employ one thing else? Tell us within the feedback part.
About Aden
Aden Tate is an everyday contributor to TheOrganicPrepper.com and TheFrugalite.com. Aden runs a micro-farm the place he raises dairy goats, a pig, honeybees, meat chickens, laying chickens, tomatoes, mushrooms, and greens. Aden has 4 revealed books, What Faculty Ought to Have Taught You, The Devoted Prepper, An Arm and a Leg, The Prepper’s Information to Submit-Catastrophe Communications, and Zombie Decisions. You will discover his podcast The Final American on Preppers’ Broadcasting Community.
