How to deal with Radioactive Fallout, Construction updates at Fortitude Ranch locations, End of Year Holiday Sale on Memberships, another news media video on Fortitude Ranch, and advice on the best items for collapse barter in this issue
How serious is radioactive fallout? How will Fortitude Ranch deal with fallout?
David Jones (FR WV Ranch Manager, former Army NBC Officer) and I are often asked about how we’ll handle radioactive fallout at FR, so we’ve prepared this brief summary.
Unlike ground zero of a nuclear weapon detonation or nuclear power plant accident, fallout is usually relatively low level radioactive. Highly radioactive material can cause lethal doses in minutes or hours, but the dispersed fallout from a detonation of meltdown many miles away requires relatively little shielding and is a health threat only for long term exposure.
At Fortitude Ranch we have thorough plans and equipment to deal with the radioactive fallout threat. We have survivable communications equipment so we can get reports of fallout, and radiation detectors in case there are no reports or they are incorrect. More important: we have experts in measuring and managing exposure to radiation. Most of our sleeping quarters are underground or positioned to avoid fallout contamination. Members who are in a vulnerable to radiation room would be moved if necessary. We stockpile sandbags so we can add several feet of earth to sidewalls if we need to bolster shielding.
While not as well known, the best way to deal with radioactive fallout is to remove it. Simply scraping off and carting off the fallout (likely quite visible as ash) can remove the radioactive material. We have dosimeters to monitor exposure, but unlike the exciting scene in the recent movie “Chernobyl” (worth watching), you can work for hours shoveling up and wheel barreling off the radioactive top layer with no harmful health effects. Fallout radiation also decays fairly rapidly.
At one of our new locations we are erecting a building that will provide great shelter not with the traditional approach of earth shielding, but by shedding fallout. This new design has a metal roof that will direct fallout and rainfall (hosing it down if no rain) into concrete side trenches that flow downhill and away from the compound to deposit the radiation in a safe, off site area.
Photos of an “Economy” room at Fortitude Ranch West Virginia
Most of our underground economy rooms at FR WV are 10-foot square, with a variety of bed options. The one below is a sofa bed:
The ceiling is 2 inches of wood (milled on site by portable saw mill), a metal tray that was the form for the 8 inches of steel reinforced concrete above the wood, and 3 feet of earth above that. Steel I-beams also support the arched concrete roof.
We often put in fold down desks and seats so members can use their bedrooms for other purposes.
Some of our supplies are in basement rooms that, if needed, we could convert to sleeping quarters if (unlike the previous article in this issue) there is highly radioactive fallout or threats that lead us to relocate members from above ground rooms into underground quarters. Radiation would not harm our supplies, so they could be moved to exposed areas. But for better shelf life, we prefer to keep them in our cool basements.
Tis the season to be prepping… Fortitude Ranch Holiday Season Sale
There is no better gift to give this season than the gift of peace of mind and security in these uncertain times. A Fortitude Ranch membership is a one of a kind, affordable gift at approximately $1,000 per person per year. It can be purchased personally or for a loved one. The best part is, once purchased, it can be bequeathed, sold, or transferred, making it a wise investment as well!
Most of us have basic insurance policies according to our lifestyle needs. Whether it be life, health, home, renter’s, car, boat, motorcycle or flood. However, many lack actual preparedness insurance to provide a safe haven in a time of crisis or collapse.
If you have been waiting, then now is the time to act. Come January first, prices will increase to cover inflation and growing overhead expenses. Take advantage of this holiday sale of 12% off current prices!
For more information contact [email protected] for WV or [email protected] for CO.
From all the staff at Fortitude Ranch we wish you and yours Happy Holidays and a Prepared New Year.
More great free publicity for Fortitude Ranch, this time a round the world network
Click the link to watch this short video on Fortitude Ranch that aired on a worldwide TV news network run by China Global Television Network:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF0Jgb-bWfk
What is arguably the best investment you can ever make? Ammunition
While most preppers list gold as a valuable collapse currency, we believe it is better to have 
items that will be highly valued in barter. Both as a good/safe investment now, and definitely during and after a collapse, we believe the best investment you can make (and need to make now) is bulk ammunition buys of standard calibers.
Food will also be valuable for barter in a collapse, but is not as shelf stable, compact, and easy to transport as ammo. Just as we recommend our members stockpile an AR or 12 Gauge Pump Shotgun at their Fortitude Ranch “home fort” we also recommend you stockpile (ideally locked up in your room or locker at FR) .223/12 gauge ammunition. These are also popular calibers for other preppers and hunters, so should be very useful in collapse barter. Even if someone does not want to use your ammo, it would be recognized as an ideal “barter currency” and could facilitate a trade for you to make the exchange work.
If you ever want to liquidate your ammo investment, you could likely go to a gun show in a state/locality with less onerous bureaucrats and sell it there. If a socialist, anti-gun President is ever elected the price of guns and ammo will likely sky rocket, even before any legislation can be passed.
Some other items that have similar though not as good value or ease of sale (would not want to stockpile too much of them) include: vitamins (not as shelf stable and expiration date may pass—but cool underground storage they’ll be potent for decades), whiskey (drinking, surgical disinfectant—recommend plastic bottles and not premium brand), and MREs (the military meals, long shelf life, high calories, nutritious). All the above would be great supplements to your Ammo stockpile, valuable either for trade or use.
Quick Survey request: Interested in a Fortitude Ranch condo option?
We are periodically asked about having a small cabin or Tiny Home or condominium option at Fortitude Ranch. If we add condos, our plan is to put them inside, surrounded by a “normal” walled Fortitude Ranch facility, so the Condominium building would have great collapse time security provided by the Fortitude Ranch guards and walls. We are considering this, and request your input (via quick email) via this very short survey:
- Are you interested in buying an affordable “Fortitude Condo”: A condominium (owned) protected inside a Fortitude Ranch compound?
- If located in southeast Colorado (flat ground, protected by FR compound, near Arkansas River for year-round water), how likely would you be to buy?
- How much would you be willing to spend for a small 10 x 20-foot condo?
- How much would you be willing to spend for a 30 x 30-foot condo?
Please copy and paste these questions into an email, type in your answers, and email to: [email protected]
Feel free to send additional suggestions, ask questions in your email.
Thank you for your input!!!