Best 'building disaster' light

bj

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Feb 14, 2003
Messages
126
Location
bowie, md
Best \'building disaster\' light

As part of our ongoing anti-terrorism/disaster posture, the management here recently bought a bunch of 'industrial' 2D lights for the offices (I know, but nobody asked me). It got me thinking, though. What are the desirable characteristics of a light for this purpose? Assume there's been some event, power is out, maybe smoke, it's probably daylight. What type of beam (shape, color, etc) will pierce through the smoke without glaring back at you? I guess you want a tough construction, with the ability to use lithiums for long shelf life (or should you not limit yourself and replace the batteries every so often)?

I'm interested in your thoughts in general on this subject, which hopefully will never come up... 'Course now that we have soldiers with M-16's at the gate, you gotta at least consider it.

I've got my required Arc-AAA on my keychain, as well as an Ultra-G and Inova X5T in my bag. May not be optimal, but it's something. I guess another consideration would be cost, I mean if we start talking $100+ per light, that can be pretty hard to justify (even in the DoD).

Thoughts?

-bj
 

BentHeadTX

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Sep 29, 2002
Messages
3,892
Location
A very strange dark place
Re: Best \'building disaster\' light

bj,
For a bright spotlight, it would be the Elektrolumens Blaster II 3D light. It uses the 30mm optics to make a blinding spot that would pierce through smoke and it is heavy enough to beat people with if you have too. The thing runs around $60 a pop so it is not too heavy on the pocketbook.
 

tsg68

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Mar 1, 2003
Messages
1,248
Location
Breukelen, NY established 1646
Re: Best \'building disaster\' light

For a smaller personal light I would go with the Arc LSH-P, has better throw than most small LS lights and a longer run time than a Surefire incandescent (it could take a while to negotiate smoke and debris filled hallways) only needs one 123A battery and fits in a little belt sheath, very unobtrusive. I know it's a pricey buy, but hey, as long is the Govt. is spending $170 a pop on escape hoods they might be able to swing a few of these at a contract price.

Later,
TSG /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 

Tomas

Banned
Joined
Jun 19, 2002
Messages
2,128
Location
Seattle, WA area
Re: Best \'building disaster\' light

Hmmmmmmm ... That's a tough one.

Ideally the lights should be bright, project well but still have a large enough spill to be useful for area lighting, have LEDs to reduce the "bad bulb" experience, have lithium batteries so that they have a chance of being useful after a few years of sitting, be compact and lightweight for eaase of use, and not be a "desirable" personal light so that they are still around when needed ...

Just off the top, I don't think there IS such a light. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

For reference my old employer used to have the MIL spec "bent-head, olive drab, 2 D cell" flashlights in all the emergency kits, and at emergency stations, plus most of us had company provided 2AA penlights on or near us most of the time. Not all that effective or high tech, but at least something was available.

Details: The emergency kits and emergency stations all had glow-in-the-dark signs, the batteries in the 2D flashlights were changed yearly, and the buildings had generator and battery backup power (battery minimum 8 hours, generator minimum 7 days - the 4 story location I worked at the longest had 16 hour and 30 day standby - that was 36,000 gallons of diesel IIRC). The durations were based on full building load, all essential equipment running. We also had bunches of plug-in portable spotlamps that ran off the same emergency power.

I don't know how they are equipped these days, I left them in '95 after 25 years.

tomsig02.gif
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 

bj

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Feb 14, 2003
Messages
126
Location
bowie, md
Re: Best \'building disaster\' light

Well, we don't get escape hoods... That's for the Pentagon folks, not mere R&D folks (I guess we're more easily replaced). /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Could one of our firefighters chime in on the pencil beam approach for cutting through smoke? Seems I've heard this both ways.

I doubt my bosses would spring for Arcs for us, but one can dream. If I were to invest in my own light, though, that'd be on the table. I'd be a least a little concerned about so small a light getting dropped or not being an obvious grab as you're going out the door.

Good start, keep 'em coming!

-bj
 

BentHeadTX

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Sep 29, 2002
Messages
3,892
Location
A very strange dark place
Re: Best \'building disaster\' light

bj,
Just paint the Blaster II with orange and yellow paint! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yellowlaugh.gif Engrave some markings on it to give that horrid government style that people would not want around the house. Put it in one of those break glass boxes if your bosses are really paranoid about it. Whatever you do, don't let anyone know that it is a cool light to have.
 

shrap

Enlightened
Joined
Apr 3, 2003
Messages
276
Location
Northern California
Re: Best \'building disaster\' light

$60 is a lot for a light that is not intended to be used regularly. An Arc LS would be outright laughable - its too expensive and small. Seriously though: big, fat, brightly colored lights are preferred.

If I was looking for a 'building emergency distribution' light, I would buy a bunch of cheap lights and use lithiums, or make a regular battery replacement schedule. While us on CPF would not be found with at least one light on us, other people would not be so lucky. I would consider easy access to be more important than beam quality, seeing as people will be distributed randomly throughout the building, and there will be more than one light needed.
 

James S

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Aug 27, 2002
Messages
5,078
Location
on an island surrounded by reality
Re: Best \'building disaster\' light

Seems that the best disaster light that you can have is the one you are most likely to have with you when it happens. If you have to go to a supply closet to pass out something then chances are it's not going to work.

At any given moment I have at least one photon style light on my keychain and an ArcAAA in my watch pocket. If I have my bag or briefcase with me then I at least have a BB500 in brinkman 2AA with me, sometimes more.

I actually think that a madmax or badboy modded light would be a good light for this purpose. But that is getting up there in price for something you're not going to use.

If you want something cheap to throw into the desk and forget about then there are some plastic lights by garrity that have very good reflectors. They aren't LED's or anything fancy, but I've got a couple of garrity 2AA "Glo-Lights" with a translucent case with glow stuff in it. The light has the typical 2AA lamp in it, but the reflector is far superior to what you will normally encounter in this price of light, it has a "pencil thin" beam with a pretty good throw. I think they can be had for $5 or so, throw in some lithium AA's drop it into your bottom desk drawer and you should be good for several years.

That being said, if you're posting around here then you'll want to get more lights as time goes by to keep it company in the drawer there /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 

FC.

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 23, 2001
Messages
1,301
Location
Pittsburgh
Re: Best \'building disaster\' light

If you need a light to see through smoke, you will probably stop breathing in less then a minute. Heavy smoke - 20 seconds.

For general emergency, get streamlight lightbox power-fail model, it hangs on a wall and powers up on it's own when power goes out. You can remove it and use as a handlight.

str45129_bei.jpg
 

James S

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Aug 27, 2002
Messages
5,078
Location
on an island surrounded by reality
Re: Best \'building disaster\' light

lightbox are excellent lights, but also expensive. In looking around my desk I've decided I left out an obviousl candidate! The Brinkman legend 2CR123 light! This thing is very bright. Costs $20 with batts, which are already lithium so will last quite a while in the drawer.

I only have a couple of incandescent lights that are not in the "to be modded" bin and this is one of them. That should tell you that it's a pretty nice light.
 

FC.

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 23, 2001
Messages
1,301
Location
Pittsburgh
Re: Best \'building disaster\' light

James, I'll have to agree with you. It is an excellent light!

p.s. G2 is also fairly cheap. And yellow! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 

Stainless

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Dec 7, 2001
Messages
1,584
Location
A very dark world.
Re: Best \'building disaster\' light

I went though the whole thought process about a year ago, when deciding what to get for some friends who worked about twenty floors up. Short version - I went with the Pelican Stealthlight. Designed as a dive light, it has the most penetrating beam that I personally have ever handled. I put 4 AA lithium batteries in, and a cut down "Nite-ize" wrapper for a better grip. Shock resistant, water PROOF, they come with lanyard and a "LOCKING" switch. An aluminum tube type whistle might be a good addition.
The biggest problem with disaster planning, is that you will really NEVER KNOW what would be the best tool until it happens - impossible to predict. I think they cost less than $20 each, and they are solid little units.
 

Gadgetman7

Enlightened
Joined
Nov 5, 2001
Messages
318
Location
Georgia
Re: Best \'building disaster\' light

If you're concerned about explosive environment you need a light designed for that. I think some of Pelican and Streamlights are designed for explosive environments and are relatively inexpensive. They also come in bright yellow and the larger ones fit your requirements for bright and big.
 

paulr

Flashaholic
Joined
Mar 29, 2003
Messages
10,832
Re: Best \'building disaster\' light

I think talking about these lithium powered mini lights is ridiculous. They would just disappear. There should be SLA powered emergency lights permanently mounted in the stairwells and hallways as needed. If there's going to be portable lights they should be the ugly yellow industrial lights, kept in the cabinets with the fire extinguishers. The batteries don't need decades of shelf life. The building is not a lifeboat and it receives regular maintenance. The law probably requires that the fire extinguishers be checked once a year and also that the smoke detectors get their batteries changed annually. The flashlights can also get battery changes at that time. It would just go into the regular maintenance checklist, no big deal. And frankly, if cutting through smoke is going to be a problem for the flashlight, you're going to be more interested in breathing gear than more light.
 

tsg68

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Mar 1, 2003
Messages
1,248
Location
Breukelen, NY established 1646
Re: Best \'building disaster\' light

Run time needs to be considered too though, here in NYC a bright lithium incandescent could die before you get out of a building depending on where you are. Buildings here are big. as well as Subway tunnels, you lose power there and need to walk out there is no light whatsoever other than the conductors flashlights. I still think LED is the way to go. Shock or dropping could kill an incan.

Later,
TSG /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 

SteveD

Newly Enlightened
Joined
May 8, 2003
Messages
76
Re: Best \'building disaster\' light

If I was stuck in a building, and the flashlight I was carrying was my only way to see to get out, or help people, I would not want to have to relay on my surefires. I don't mean that they're unreliable, just that they are small, easy for other people (who don't have the $$$'s invested) to misplace, and in dim light that HA color is darn near camoflage. Not to mention that if I was trapped for several hours, I would like the ability to leave it one without worrying about battery life. I'm sure I'll be happy to have my surefire with me, but it'd be nice to have something that was better suited to lantern-style duty.

I think I agree that lithium incans are probably a poor choice. I'm thinking lots of leds, big, heavy, ugly, yellow, loooong battery life in use, and with a positionable head so you can put it on the ground and aim it where you need it.

If it had a drink machine, a rock drill, a police radio and got CNN all the better!
 

James S

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Aug 27, 2002
Messages
5,078
Location
on an island surrounded by reality
Re: Best \'building disaster\' light

Paulr is right. We've been drifting from topic of what should be provided by the building to what we would carry ourselves.

my fault /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I agree, if they are going to be installed by the building folks then they should be big huge nasty SLA powered lightbox'ish things kept up by regular maintenance. A small office in a big building would be much better served by investing in half a dozen of those rather than cases of regular lights for folks to keep in their desks.

If you're carrying something for yourself, then the other entries are good advice. I'm thinking that a streamlight task light would be good. The big incandescent for long throws and signaling and the LED"s for long burn if you get stuck somewhere.
 

JJHitt

Enlightened
Joined
Dec 30, 2002
Messages
356
Location
Houston, TX
Re: Best \'building disaster\' light

Cheap, ugly, rugged and usable....

I'd have to pick a Dorcy Cool-Blue.

Interesting to note that no (or few) incandescent lights have been mentioned.
 

paulr

Flashaholic
Joined
Mar 29, 2003
Messages
10,832
Re: Best \'building disaster\' light

Actually the Streamlight Lightbox is an interesting choice. It's very bright, relatively cheap (SLA powered), ugly as hell and weighs a ton (SLA powered) so it's less likely to be taken home and is harder to misplace by accident. It can be kept on a trickle charger (small wall plug transformer) when not in use, I believe.
 

2dogs

Enlightened
Joined
Oct 21, 2002
Messages
384
Location
Santa Cruz CA
Re: Best \'building disaster\' light

I would echo fc's post. You won't make it through heavy smoke without looking like his avatar. What you do need is run time, adequate brightness, and quantity (price). I'm not against a 2d industrial flashlight and spare batteries for this use. If there is an emergency responce team (ERT)then they can go with a higher priced, brighter lights that would be stolen otherwise. The ERT will probably have hard hats and helmet mounted lights also.

Now if I were to work in that building I would have my own bright light and batteries (G2 and spares carrier), good shoes, water and snacks stashed. Practice "evac" drills with the FD. You will learn they will often "protect in place", that is join you in a safe location in the building and ride it out. Your gear needs to be in a bug out bag (BOB)and when something happens grab it and go!
 
Top