6 Emergency Lighting Options

Emergency Lighting

I don’t know if this is just a Midwest thing or not but when I was growing up, my house as well as the homes of my friends had a junk drawer in the kitchen. All manner of stuff could be found there — band-aids, scratch paper, old pens, keys that nobody knew what they went to, about 12¢ in loose change, a screwdriver, old scissors, and a flashlight.

If it worked at all, the light was dim at best. It usually had just enough juice left to get you from the kitchen to the circuit breaker box. The flashlight was cheap plastic, for some reason almost always either red or yellow. It was, simply put, a piece of garbage compared to what’s available today.

Living in the glow of a kerosene lantern at “The Place” as the sun sets outside the window

Today’s Options

Lighting during a power outage or other disaster is important. It will help prevent you from injury by allowing you to see the coffee table before it jumps up to bite you. It may also be needed to properly treat any injuries.

There is also a very strong psychological element at work. Many people have sort of an innate fear of the dark. This harkens back to the days when the darkness held real threats on a near constant basis. Ending up a happy meal for a bear or other critter was nobody’s idea of a good time.

There are several options for emergency lighting. Let’s run down the list.

Flashlights

These are usually the first line of defense, so to speak. Handheld lights have gotten smaller and brighter over the years. The two that I carry the most are a Streamlight ProTac 1AAA or a Thrunite Archer 1A V3. Both have varying levels of illumination, which can be handy and can also extend battery life.

My family sometimes complains when I hand them a flashlight and it is so bright it nearly blinds them when they turn it on. Not every chore requires 500 lumens, apparently. I suggest having one small light you can keep in your pocket and then at least a couple of good flashlights to keep at home. Tell you what, I didn’t carry a flashlight for quite some time as I never saw the need for it. Once I did, though, I found myself using it just about every single day.

Headlamps

These are great when you need to have both hands free. They’ve come a long way from the days when they were heavy, awkward, and hot. The LED headlamps available today are small and bright. I keep a few of them around for when I’m working on the car or under the sink.

Lanterns

In this category are both LED lanterns as well as liquid fuel ones. Each have good and bad points. The LED models are safer as there is nothing burning to create the light. They are often brighter, too. But, batteries aren’t cheap and larger lanterns can take a number of them. On the other hand, kerosene lanterns are traditional, which makes them pretty cool. But, yeah, fire. These are great for lighting up a room, less awesome for task lighting where you need to direct light to a certain spot.

Oil lamps

These are great for setting a mood and work well to light up a room a bit. I like them and own several, along with a few jugs of lamp oil and some spare wicks.

Candles

I’ve always liked candles and we have a ton of them socked away. Yeah, it is an open flame so you need to be careful, especially where kids and pets are concerned. You can find them cheap right after Christmas. If you attend a church regularly, you might see if you can get their partially used ones. Can’t hurt to ask. Please note — crayons are not substitutes for actual candles.

Solar lights

It has become popular to recommend solar landscape lights for emergency lighting. The idea is to set them outside and let them soak up solar energy all day long, then bring them inside at night. These work…okay. Most of them are bright enough to keep you from bumping into walls but that’s about it. Your mileage may vary.

In a true, long-term grid down scenario, it might be wise to hang blackout curtains over your windows to keep illumination from leaking outside. If you decide to go this route, I’d highly encourage you to try them out. Hang them up, then go outside at night and see what’s visible. Some curtains are better than others. The really good ones aren’t cheap, either.

Take the time to consider your emergency lighting needs and start investing in good quality equipment. Don’t forget spare batteries, too.

About the author

Jim Cobb is a well known freelance author on survival and other topics, and he has graciously offered his material’s use on 3BY. 

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