Atlantic Star Safety

Outdoors

Ah, the great outdoors! Many love it, whether it's just being outside or participating in sports, camping or other such activities. But when you're outdoors, you need to keep certain outdoor safety tips in mind.

Lightening Safety Outdoors

When you find yourself outdoors during a thunderstorm, you should go inside not only to keep dry, but to keep from getting struck by lightening. Is your golf game really worth risking your life? And if you live somewhere like Florida, there doesn't even have to be rain for lightening to strike. When you're ooutdoors and lightening is around, you want to head inside, preferably to a building with a roof, a floor and walls. Picnic shelters, baseball dugouts, garages with the door open, carports, covered patios, golf shelters, camping tents and large outdoor tents are NOT considered safe places to be when lightening looms. If a safe building isn't around, get yourself into a hard-top car. (Convertibles aren't safe during this type of storm either.)

If you can't get to a safe building, remember to stay away from these things:

Trees
Isolated tall objects. Lightening strikes the tallest objects, so remember, if you're standing in an open field, you might be the tallest object. So stay low.
If you're mountain climbing, remove any ropes, especially wet ropes as they are conductors of electricity.
Metal objects

Safety While Camping Outdoors

You've been cooped up all winter, and you're itching to get back to nature and the great outdoors. But you don't want to be itching because of mosquito bites! First of all, keep plenty of bug spray around. Mosquitos can carry West Nile Virus and you don't want them to carry it to you.

Food safety when you're camping is also important. You don't want food poisoning to spoil your outing. To avoid this, try to bring foods that don't need to be kept cold. But what good is camping if you can't have burgers and brats cooked outside? If you must have these, Make sure that you pack them in the cooler on top of ice, then pour more ice over them. To ensure even more food safety, pack the meat when it is partially frozen--especially the things you aren't going to eat until the next day or evening. Also, avoid packing mayonnaise or anything containing it. In fact, don't even take egg or dairy products with you at all. Instead, pack canned foods like pork and beans or canned pastas with sauces are good choices. Also, anything labeled "Just Add Water" is good. Just don't forget to pack the proper utensils.

And speaking of water, pack plenty of safe drinking water. You'll need it to drink, to cook with and to brush your teeth. Also, you want to make sure your utensils are good and clean, and you put any leftover food away to where unwanted critters (even bears) can't get to it. You may even want to consider burning it in the campfire.

Speaking of campfires, here are Smoky Bear's Seven Tips for a Safe Campfire:

If your campsite doesn't already have a fire pit, dig one yourself, but be sure to keep it away from overhanging branches. Circle the pit with rocks or a metal fire ring.
Clear a five-foot area around the pit down to the soil.
Keep a bucket of water and a shovel nearby.
Stack extra wood upwind and away from the fire.
Do not discard the match you used to light the fire until it is cold. You may even want to wet it.
Never leave a campfire unattended.

Follow these tips for a safe summer!