Emergency Use

We all know that we should keep a flashlight around in case of emergencies. I'd like to hear from any of you that have actually used a flashlight in a real emergency/urgent situation.

As for me, I have been lucky. Other than some power outages, the only time I had to use a flashlight in an emergency situation was on a campout with a bunch of Scouts. A very severe thunderstorm blew in one night. After determing that it was not safe to stay in the tents, I grabbed my 3 D Cell Mag Light and went from tent to tent telling all the Scouts and other adults to move to a low concrete building nearby. Thunder, lightning, pouring rain. Tornadoes in the general area. We had to stay in there about 45 minutes until the storm blew over. I did manage to get my Coleman Lantern in the building too - because naturally, I was the only one that managed to remember my flashlight. Fortunately none of the tents or gear was damaged. Just very wet.

I always carry a MiniMag flashlight, and a Photon Micro Light on me. Just in case.

In college I drew a lot of kidding because I owned THREE flashlights (A 2N-cell Tekna micro-light, a mini-mag, and a 5C Kel-lite with a horribly overdriven halogen lamp). Of course, I had none of these with me when the power went out during an EE lecture in a windowless auditorium - pitch blackness in the middle of the day. Fortunately some girl had one of those disposable key ring squeeze-lights (those were the pre-Photon days)and that was the only light we had to get 70-80 people down the stairs and out of the building.

Afterwards I carried at least the minimag wherever I went, drawing even more comments (and this from a school full of geeks) until there was another power failure as I waited in line at the dining hall. (Obtaining late night study food qualified as an emergency at the time.) When the power went out, I produced the maglite, paid for my stuff, waited for a friend to get his food, got condiments for the burgers and fries, and left - all the time my light was the only one in the dining hall. Yes, I would like to report that I hung around and helped others, but there was no real danger, and this was at 10PM during FINALS week - every man for himself!

I carried the maglite daily for 11 years, until replacing it with a 3P in 1999, then a Scorpion, then an E1, and now an E2. I will never be without a flashlight.
Of course, I am still a geek...

-BCK

I don't know if this qualifies, but once when I was snowmobiling at night, I took a mogul the wrong way and dumped the machine straight into the opposide bank of a ditch, immediately knocking out the engine, extinguishing the magneto-driven headlamp, and filling every crevice with snow.

So I pulled off the seat, and produced a huge Eveready sealed beam lantern from the underseat compartment and used that to work on the motor (mostly just getting the snow & water out of places it didn't belong) until I'd finally cleaned it out enough to allow it to re-start.

Needless to say, I drove considerably slower going down the mountain than I did going up.