Eight chapters follow the order that matters when a house loses power: decide your limits, establish the warm zone, check heat and pipes, account for power, stage supplies, then test the plan.
1. Set the Exact Conditions That Mean Stay, Act, or Leavepp. 3–6A completed Blackout Limits Sheet identifying what fails without electricity, who makes the final decision, immediate exit conditions, early relocation thresholds, two destination options, and every unconfirmed dependency.
2. Choose and Map the One Warm Zone Your House Can Supportpp. 7–10A warm-zone diagram marking occupants, doors, windows, vents, exits, alarms, thermometer, sleeping positions, safe heater location if applicable, temporary heat-loss barriers, and the order in which the room will be set up.
3. Approve One Backup-Heat Plan—or Mark It Unsafepp. 11–14A heater readiness card classifying each available option as green, yellow, or red, with its permitted location, startup and shutdown sequence, clearances, ventilation requirements, fuel and runtime, detector checks, supervision rules, and failure signs. If nothing qualifies, the owned decision is heat retention plus earlier relocation.
4. Finish a Pipe Freeze-Response Card for Your Housepp. 15–18A pipe freeze-response card with a photographed and labeled main shutoff, vulnerable-pipe map, required tool location, and separate actions for a warm house, a cooling house, a suspected frozen pipe, and an active leak or burst.
5. Calculate a 72-Hour Stored-Power Budget Without Guessingpp. 19–22A completed 72-hour stored-power budget listing each load's watts, daily hours, three-day watt-hours, priority, assigned power source, cold-weather limitation, charging schedule, and a 20 percent operating reserve.
6. Stage a 25-Item Outage Station and Produce the Gap Listpp. 23–28A physically staged outage station containing all useful on-hand supplies, plus an inventory recording quantity, exact location, condition, test or replacement date, responsible person, and a purchase gap list ranked by life-safety value.
7. Write the First 12 Hours as a Timed Action Cardpp. 29–33A first-12-hours action card divided into the first 5 minutes, first 30 minutes, first hour, hours 1-4, hours 4-8, and hours 8-12, with named responsibilities, checkboxes, temperature and battery logs, and trigger points that override the timeline.
8. Run a One-Hour Drill and Rank the Three Gaps That Matter Firstpp. 34–101A completed one-hour drill score sheet showing retrieval and setup times, missed steps, unsafe assumptions, unavailable equipment, and the three highest-priority gaps with an owner, due date, and professional-help flag.
