Emergency Reference Cards

Print on cardstock · Cut out · Laminate · Keep in wallet or go-bag

Set printer to actual size (no scaling). Use 110lb cardstock for durability.

💧 Water Purification

  • Boil: 1 min rolling (3 min above 6,500ft)
  • Bleach 8.25%: 8 drops/gal, wait 30 min
  • Iodine: 5 drops/qt clear, 10 drops cloudy
  • Filter turbid water first (cloth/coffee filter)
  • Safe: faint chlorine smell after treatment
  • Dehydration: dark urine, confusion, no tears
Last Light Survival Guide

📡 Morse Code

A ·−B −···C −·−·D −·· E ·F ··−·G −−·H ···· I ··J ·−−−K −·−L ·−·· M −−N −·O −−−P ·−−· Q −−·−R ·−·S ···T − U ··−V ···−W ·−−X −··− Y −·−−Z −−··1 ·−−−−2 ··−−− 3 ···−−4 ····−5 ·····0 −−−−−

SOS: ···−−−···   dit=dot dah=dash

Last Light Survival Guide

📻 Emergency Radio Freqs

  • NOAA Weather: 162.400–162.550 MHz
  • VHF Calling (HAM): 146.520 MHz
  • Marine Ch 16 (Distress): 156.800 MHz
  • CB Ch 9 (Emergency): 27.065 MHz
  • CB Ch 19 (Highway): 27.185 MHz
  • Aircraft Guard: 121.500 MHz
  • FRS Ch 1: 462.5625 MHz
Keep radio on scan. Announce position.

🏥 Wound Care

  • STOP BLEEDING: Direct pressure 10+ min, elevate
  • CLEAN: Irrigate with clean water under pressure
  • CLOSE: Butterfly strips or sutures if deep
  • COVER: Clean dressing, change daily
  • INFECTION (act <24hr): spreading redness, pus, red streaks, fever, warmth
  • Do NOT remove embedded objects
Seek medical care at first opportunity

💧 Bleach Treatment Ratios (8.25%)

1 quart2 drops
1 gallon8 drops
5 gallons40 drops (~½ tsp)
10 gallons80 drops (~1 tsp)
55 gallons½ cup

Wait 30 min. Water should smell faintly of chlorine. If no smell, repeat dose, wait 15 min more.

Use unscented bleach only

🚑 START Triage

RED (Immediate): Life-threatening, treatable now

YELLOW (Delayed): Serious but stable — can wait hours

GREEN (Minor): Walking wounded — treat last

BLACK (Expectant): Unsurvivable or deceased

Steps: 1) Walking? → GREEN. 2) Not breathing after airway → BLACK. 3) RR>30 → RED. 4) No radial pulse → RED. 5) Can't follow commands → RED.

Treat most saveable lives first

🌿 Universal Edibility Test

  1. Identify — research first if possible
  2. Test one plant part at a time
  3. Smell — unpleasant odor: reject
  4. Skin test — rub on wrist, wait 15 min
  5. Lip test — touch to lips, wait 3 min
  6. Mouth — hold on tongue 15 min, spit
  7. Eat 1 tsp, wait 8 hours
  8. Eat small portion, wait 8 more hours

Never: milky sap · umbrella flowers · red berries

When in doubt, don't

🔥 Fire Starting

Triangle: Heat + Fuel + Oxygen

Tinder: dry grass, bark dust, cattail fluff, fatwood

Kindling: pencil-size dry twigs, split wood

Fuel: wrist-size dry hardwood

Lays: Teepee (quick heat) · Log cabin (long burn) · Star (fuel-efficient)

Natural spark catchers: char cloth, amadou fungus, birch bark

Prepare tinder before striking spark

🪞 Signaling

Ground signals (10ft letters, open ground):

V = Need help   X = Need medical help   → = Going this way

Signal mirror: Hold near eye · V-fingers at arm's length · Target in V · Tilt mirror so sun's reflection fills V · Sweep toward aircraft

Whistle: 3 blasts = distress. Repeat every 3 min.

Rule: 3 of anything = distress

Last Light Survival Guide

🧭 Navigation Without Compass

Shadow stick: Mark tip → wait 15 min → mark again → line = E-W. Left foot on first mark = facing North.

North Star: Big Dipper outer bowl × 5 lengths = Polaris (North)

Watch (N. hemisphere): Hour hand → sun, bisect to 12 = South

Moss: North side of trees (verify with multiple trees)

Travel straight lines; mark your path

🪢 Essential Knots

  • Bowline: Fixed loop, won't slip — rescue, rigging
  • Clove hitch: Quick attach to post — stakes, lashing
  • Square knot: Join ends — bandages (not load-bearing)
  • Sheet bend: Join ropes of different thickness
  • Trucker's hitch: Mechanical advantage — load tie-down
  • Figure-8: Stopper knot — prevent rope slipping through
Practice until automatic

🤖 Bunker Bot Setup

  1. Install Ollama: ollama.ai
  2. Download model: ollama pull phi3:mini
  3. Start server: ollama serve
  4. Open index.html in browser
  5. Click Bunker Bot button (top right)

Small (4GB RAM): phi3:mini, gemma3:4b

Large (16GB+): llama3:8b, mistral:7b

Works fully offline once model downloaded

Last Light Survival Guide v1.0.0

🦷 Dental Emergencies

  • TOOTHACHE: rinse warm salt water; clove oil on cotton; ibuprofen for pain/swelling
  • ABSCESS (swelling, fever): salt-water rinses; needs antibiotic (e.g. amoxicillin) — see dosing tool
  • KNOCKED-OUT TOOTH: hold by crown, not root; reinsert in socket or keep in milk/saliva; act <30 min
  • LOST FILLING: temporary fill with sugar-free gum or dental wax; keep clean
  • BROKEN TOOTH: rinse; cover sharp edge with wax; protect from cold/heat
⚠ Facial swelling spreading to eye/neck = emergency · See pdfs/where-there-is-no-dentist

⚡ Solar / Power Troubleshooting

  • Nothing charging: check fuses & breakers first; check polarity (+/−)
  • Low/no panel voltage: clean panels; clear shade; check for cracked cells & loose MC4 connectors
  • Voltage at panel, none at controller: broken wire or blown inline fuse between them
  • Battery won't hold charge: check water level (flooded); test resting voltage — 12.0V = ~25%, 12.7V = full
  • Inverter off/beeping: low battery cutoff or overload — shed loads, recharge
  • Order to check: connections → fuses → battery voltage → panel voltage → controller → inverter
Measure with a multimeter in DC volts · See Energy section

🔥 Fire — Fight or Flee

  • PEOPLE OUT FIRST — no possession is worth a life
  • Small fire: smother/cool — water, damp blanket, sand, earth
  • Keep water + sand buckets by every stove and flame
  • NEVER water on: grease/oil (smother w/ lid), fuel, electrical (cut power)
  • Remove the fuel — drag burning items from what hasn't caught
  • Prevent: sweep chimneys, store fuel sealed & outside, never leave flame unattended, cut firebreaks
If beyond a bucket — flee, save people, make distance

👓 Vision & Eyes

  • Spare glasses in your kit + write down your prescription on paper
  • Pinhole trick: look through a tiny hole in card — sharpens distance vision
  • Protect: eye cover for chopping/grinding/chemicals — blindness is permanent
  • Snow/sun: slit-goggles from card/bark stop snow blindness
  • Vitamin A (liver, eggs, orange/green veg) prevents night blindness
  • Chemical splash: flush eye with clean water 15–20 min immediately
Lose your glasses and you're combat-ineffective — plan ahead