How To Signal For Help While Stranded
September 13, 2011, Submitted by: Ken Tweet
How do I signal for help if I am lost or stranded somewhere off the beaten path or roadway? Here are a few ideas for signaling to others, or rescuers, of your location.
First, if you are stranded in a vehicle or a crashed plane for example, no matter what the season, it is usually best to stay with the vehicle. This will provide some form of shelter, as well as materials that you could use for your survival. It will be easier for others to spot the vehicle than it will be to spot you walking in the woods.
Signaling for help
Consider keeping any or all of these items in each of your survival kits.
A mirror. Keep a small mirror which can be used for signaling (or snap off the rear-view mirror in the vehicle and use it). You can get a small inexpensive cosmetic mirror at nearly any store (you may also find a ‘survival mirror’ which has a spotting hole in the middle). If a search plane is flying nearby, simply reflect the suns rays towards the airplane or helicopter. Similarly, angle towards a moving vehicle or search party some distance away.
A fire and smoke. Have a means to build a fire (matches, lighter, magnesium firestarter) . Once a fire is built, and hot, you could drop some green evergreen boughs on it which will produce a lot of smoke. Oil from your vehicle when spread on a fire will create lots of smoke. Throwing a tire onto a very hot fire will create billows of smoke once the tire begins burning. A fire at night will create a significant Infrared heat signature for anyone searching with IR devices.
A flag. Tie some length of bright colored material to a long stick or branch to wave around if you spot rescuers.
A whistle. The sound of a whistle will pierce the air much further than your shouting voice!
An air horn… one of those things that people use at sporting events, etc. You can get these at most any sporting goods store, and they are LOUD.
A radio transmitter. A CB radio or personal hand held type radios may capture someone within range.
Anything out-of-the-ordinary in an otherwise natural setting will attract attention. In a clearing, align a bunch of logs or big branches into an SOS pattern. Be creative and use what you have on your person, in your kit, or in your vehicle to attract attention. A mylar ‘space blanket’ typically has a highly reflective surface which will be very visible from above if laid on the ground (secure the corners with rocks so it won’t blow away!). Use your imagination with materials on hand to attract attention.
Add to this list by leaving a comment with your own ideas of how to signal for help during an emergency!
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It’s hard to beat a good quality pealess whistle such as the Fox 40 for such purposes.
Don’t start a forest fire like the lady that caused the Rodeo-Chediski fire did.
Three objects at the vertices of a triangle is an international help signal. These can be fires, rocks, whatever, the more visible the better.
Half burned logs in the snow will work well.
VERY BEST thing to do (when hiking or camping) is to let someone know where you are going and when you’ll be back or call them. Leave clues for a search and rescue team such as a note on the dashboard or your car (but don;t say when you are coming back…there are thieves about. A bootprint on a piece of tinfoil is a very good clue.
There is a book that I recommend anyone read (actually two) by Cody Lundin, “98.6 degrees, the art of keeping your ass alive.”
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=cody+lundin&x=0&y=0
All of this mans books are great reads, and keepers.
Excellent advise and use of a relatively small amount of items easily packed in a survival kit backpack. It is a good idea to have a survival kit in the trunk of your car as well as first aid supplies. Many of the survival backpack kits lack a mirror or air horn for signaling rescuers. Because of this article I will be adding these items to mine!
Scatter all kinds of trash ,litter; rippout your door panels,bright beer cans,frito wrappers,put them in a pattern around you, kind a spread apert a bit. . This will help search planes find you.You could also write help with rocks ,logs,cloths etc. Next time you are in a store after that, but a compass and map.
One of the best signal mirrors I found are old CD’s, the reflections are intense, more so than most mirrors. You can also buy those very intense whistles that are much louder than the standard ones, I think they are called typhoon whistles if I can remember it. If you can build a fire then I would try to spell out help or sos with the fire, sounds crazy but someone up in a plane would really be alerted to this more than a fire or even smoke. Many pilots just do not care about smoke, think it is something other than someone in need of help.
What a great idea about using old CD’s for a survival signal mirror! Thanks-