San Antonio’s Office of Emergency Management has a winter preparedness guide available online and encourages residents to plan ahead for storms and extreme cold.
Tips include adding items to home emergency kits, such as:
- Rock salt or to melt ice on walkways
- Sand to improve traction
- Snow shovels and other snow removal equipment
- Sufficient heating fuel, such as dry, seasoned wood for your fireplace or wood-burning stove
- Warm clothing and blankets
Additional tips include:
- Create a family communications plan.
- Listen to a NOAA Weather Radio or other local news for updates or alerts from the National Weather Service.
- Minimize travel, but if it’s necessary, store a disaster supplies kit in your vehicle.
- Bring pets and companion animals inside and move livestock to sheltered areas with access to water.
- Know where your electrical breaker box is located in the house.
- Locate gas and water shutoff valves.
- Fully charge electronic devices and extra chargers. Keep a car charger for your cellphone.
- Cover pipes and faucets outside.
Officials with the city, Bexar County and partners, including CPS Energy and the San Antonio Water System, encourage residents to remember the four P's when it comes to preparations: people, pets, plants and pipes.
In a news release, officials recommended that people dress in layers and also check on family and friends who might be more vulnerable to the cold.
San Antonio Fire Department officials also recommended in the release:
- Keep anything that can burn at least 3 feet away from heating equipment, such as the furnace, fireplace, wood stove or portable space heater.
- Install and maintain carbon monoxide alarms to avoid the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.
- Never use your oven to heat your home.
- Never use a generator indoors.
- Always plug portable heaters directly into a wall socket (no power strips).
- Remember to turn portable heaters off when leaving the room or going to bed.
- Never leave children unattended in a room with a space heater.
- Test smoke alarms at least once a month.
Also, noted in the release, 14 warming centers will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Jan. 15.
They are:
- Central Library, 600 Soledad St., San Antonio
- Schaefer Library, 6322 Hwy. 87 E., San Antonio
- Mission Library, 3134 Roosevelt Ave., San Antonio
- Cortez Library, 2803 Hunter Blvd., San Antonio
- Bazan Library, 2200 W. Commerce St., San Antonio
- Guerra Library, 7978 W. Military Drive, San Antonio
- Maverick Library, 8700 Mystic Park, San Antonio
- Igo Library, 13330 Kyle Seale Parkway, San Antonio
- Encino Library, 2515 E. Evans Road, San Antonio
- Thousand Oaks Library, 4618 Thousand Oaks, San Antonio
- Tobin Community Center, 1900 W. Martin St., San Antonio
- Harlandale Community Center, 7227 Briar Place, San Antonio
- Cuellar Community Center, 5626 San Fernando St., San Antonio
- Hamilton Community Center, 10700 Nacogdoches Road, San Antonio
Residents may use VIA Metropolitan Transit to travel fare-free to or from these locations. Passengers need to alert the bus operator when boarding or alert the reservation agent when booking a VIAtrans trip, according to the news release.
