How to stay WARM even if the POWER goes out. Man in heavy coat and gloves, looking cold.

January 2025: Winter Cold, Warm and Safe

It seems inevitable that when we have ice, snow, and cold, there are going to be power outages. Have the means to keep your family safe and warm during a power outage or other emergency.

One of the first things you can do to stay warm is to put on extra layers of clothing to trap and hold warm air around your body. Sheltering is all about maintaining your body’s core temperature. Stay hydrated and eat high-calorie foods to generate heat from your metabolism. Stay away from alcohol and caffeine because they cause your body to lose heat faster.

If the outage lasts for more than a couple of hours, isolate one or two rooms from the rest of your house and make them your warm rooms. You don’t have to heat the whole house. Choose a south-facing room with windows to let in as much sunlight and warmth as possible during the day, then cover the windows with blankets at night. Block drafts from doors and windows with blankets or towels. You can even set up a tent in the room, or create one with blankets and couch cushions like you did when you were a kid. It’s kind of a room within a room. Get all of the family inside to help keep each other warm. 

Even without a power outage, as we do what we can to stay warm, the increased usage of furnaces, space heaters, and fireplaces also means an increase in home fires. You can decrease to possibility of a home fire if you have chimneys, flues, and HVAC systems cleaned and inspected every year. Do NOT use your oven, stove, or BBQ grill to heat your home.

Before using a space heater, make sure it is operating properly and there are no loose or frayed wires. Be sure space heaters, or any other source of heat, have at least three feet of clearance when operating. Turn them off and unplug them when you leave the room or go to sleep. 

Prevention is the best medicine, but even with our best efforts, home fires are still possible. We still need to make plans and preparations for a home fire. 

One of the most important things you can do to warn if there IS an emergency is to install smoke, carbon monoxide, and natural gas detectors. Have at least one smoke detector per floor, inside each bedroom, and in the halls leading to the bedrooms. Install interconnected smoke detectors if possible.

Have home fire extinguishers in areas where fires are most likely and create or update your home fire escape plans. As always, teach fire safety and fire protective actions.

Visit the following pages for more information on Sheltering at Home in the Cold and what to do for a Structure Fire.


Do This: 

  • Have your HVAC system serviced at the beginning of winter and summer.
  • Gather a supply of blankets and warm clothing.
  • Have fireplaces and woodstoves cleaned annually.
  • Check portable space heaters and replace them if there are worn or loose wires, or if they are not functioning properly.
  • Install smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, and natural gas detectors on each floor of your home.
  • Practice home fire escape plans and protective actions.


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For the Workplace: If cold weather or disasters disrupt your building, you may need to work elsewhere. If no alternate location is available, you might have to temporarily scale down operations until normal conditions return. Planning for alternate locations, scaling down, and restarting operations are key to business continuity. Learn more with the free online Business Continuity Training Unit on “Alternate Locations, Devolution, Reconstitution,” and find planning tools in the Be Ready Business Library. Share this training with your employer to prepare your workplace for 2025.  


For the School: If cold weather or other disasters happen, how is your school going to provide shelter to keep you safe and comfortable? Schools need to identify water, food, heat/cooling, sanitation, and communication issues in their sheltering locations. Consider asking your school about their sheltering protocols and what to expect as a parent. If your school doesn’t have a plan, encourage your school to Make a Plan to be more prepared in 2025. 


For the Community: If the snow gets deep in your community, consider unburying the fire hydrants near you. This will help firefighters act much quicker when fires occur. Also, ask your city or county Emergency Manager where the community shelters may be located if you can’t stay in your home or building.


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