Fallback Engineering Project
The 72-Hour Plan
A practical household continuity system for the first three days after normal services stop behaving normally.
Status
Building
Current version
0.1
Last updated
July 2026
Maintainer
Eric / KM7GHS
What this plan is
The 72-Hour Plan is a household operating system for disruptions that last longer than expected but do not require pretending civilization has ended.
It is built around realistic Arizona and Southwest failure cases: power outages during extreme heat, water interruptions, wildfire or evacuation, cellular and internet outages, vehicle trouble, temporary displacement, severe weather, supply problems, and medical or logistical disruptions inside the household.
The objective is continuity: keep people and pets hydrated, maintain a safe temperature, preserve communications and mobility, manage sanitation and medical needs, retain access to important information, and reduce rushed decision-making.
Operating concept
1. Stabilize
Confirm immediate safety, account for people and pets, identify the actual failure, and stop preventable damage.
2. Establish continuity
Bring water, temperature, lighting, food, power, medical, sanitation, communications, and transportation systems online.
3. Reassess
Decide whether to remain, relocate, evacuate, request help, or transition into a longer-duration plan.
Stored components are not a plan. A plan defines how the components work together, who operates them, what failure looks like, and what happens next.
The twelve systems
Water
Stored water, rotation, portable supply, filtration, purification, heat consumption, and pet requirements.
Food
Shelf-stable meals, no-power options, cooking, water use, dietary needs, and rotation.
Power
Battery banks, portable power, solar, vehicle charging, load priorities, and runtime estimates.
Lighting
Room lighting, personal lights, task lights, spare batteries, and night safety.
Medical
First aid, prescriptions, heat illness, hygiene, PPE, training, and pet medical needs.
Communications
Phones, alerts, broadcast radio, amateur radio, printed contacts, maps, and family procedures.
Shelter & temperature
Cooling, shade, ventilation, seasonal clothing, sleeping arrangements, and relocation triggers.
Sanitation
Toilet failure, waste handling, cleaning, hand hygiene, water conservation, and contamination control.
Transportation
Vehicle readiness, fuel or charging, routes, maps, go-kit placement, and moving communications.
Documents & money
Identification, insurance, emergency contacts, cash, account information, and offline copies.
Pets
Water, food, medications, restraint, comfort, records, evacuation, and temperature management.
Information
Situation awareness, weather, local instructions, radio references, procedures, and decision logs.
Current readiness baseline
This table is the current working baseline. It will be updated as each system is inventoried and tested.
| System | Current state | Next action |
|---|---|---|
| Water | Inventory required | Calculate household and pet requirement; record rotation dates. |
| Food | Building | Create a complete three-day menu using stored food. |
| Power | Testing | Measure essential loads and produce a runtime budget. |
| Lighting | Review required | Assign lights by room and confirm spare batteries. |
| Medical | Review required | Inventory supplies, prescriptions, and training gaps. |
| Communications | Operational + building | Print contact, frequency, and family procedure sheets. |
| Temperature | Planning | Define Phoenix heat outage and relocation triggers. |
| Sanitation | Planning | Create a no-water sanitation procedure. |
| Transportation | Operational + building | Standardize Jeep evacuation and field loadout. |
| Documents | Planning | Build encrypted and printed emergency document sets. |
| Pets | Building | Create a dedicated dog evacuation and care checklist. |
| Information | Building | Assemble offline maps, references, and decision sheets. |
Testing and maintenance
- Monthly: Check critical batteries, medications, stored water condition, vehicle readiness, and urgent expiration dates.
- Quarterly: Run a short no-grid exercise, test communications, prepare a stored meal, and review the household contact plan.
- Twice yearly: Conduct a complete inventory, rotate supplies, update documents, and review seasonal heat or cold requirements.
- After every real event: Record what was used, what failed, what was missing, and what should change.
The test is not whether equipment exists. The test is whether the household can operate it without internet access, perfect lighting, fresh batteries, or an hour to find the manual.
Known gaps
- The complete household inventory and quantities have not yet been documented.
- The extreme-heat power-outage strategy needs measurable stay-or-relocate thresholds.
- Power runtime estimates need real load measurements rather than product-label optimism.
- Water and food plans need full rotation schedules.
- Printed procedures, maps, contacts, and radio references are not yet assembled into one offline package.
- The plan needs at least one complete 24-hour exercise before it can be considered operational.
Next actions
- Complete the household and pet requirements worksheet.
- Inventory existing water, food, medical, power, lighting, and vehicle supplies.
- Build the first power budget using measured loads.
- Create the printed emergency contact and communications sheets.
- Define Phoenix heat relocation triggers.
- Run and document the first no-grid tabletop exercise.
Downloads and worksheets
The printable layer will be added as the system is validated. Planned documents include:
- Master 72-hour checklist
- Household and pet requirements worksheet
- Water calculator and rotation log
- Power budget and runtime worksheet
- Emergency contact and communications sheet
- Vehicle and evacuation checklist
- Quarterly test record
Related Field Notes
Related posts will appear here after the Field Notes category and tagging system is created. Those posts will hold the dated tests, inventories, calculations, failures, and revisions behind this document.
Change log
July 2026 — Version 0.1
- Rebuilt the project as a public WordPress live document.
- Removed paid, free, subscription, and gated-content structure.
- Defined the twelve household systems and the initial readiness baseline.
- Added Arizona heat, vehicle, pet, communications, testing, and offline-document priorities.