What if? What about Portland Civil Defense?

Part of being prepared is thinking about the “what if”s of the world..

And today I ask you to think about “What if, North Korea did fire rockets at the US Mainland? & What if they could in fact reach us here in Portland?”

I mean really, have you ever considered such a scenario? As far fetched as it sounds, what would you do?

Where would you find shelter? How could you help your community?

All things that have not really been considered in over 60 years..

Quite often we focus greatly on our preparedness with regard to earthquakes and tsunamis, but as much as a hate to think about it there are other very real world threats out there to consider and in the “Prepper” mindset this is one of those.

The entrance to Kelly Butte Civil Defense Center, Photo Credit: http://kellybutteunderground.blogspot.com/

Portland built a state of the art Civil Defense command center underground at Kelly Butte in 1957 that was featured in a CBS documentary. “A Day Called X” (posted below). There was also once a strong Civil Defense program here in Portland where Volunteer firefighters were trained and citizens were taught a variety of survival methods from seeking shelter to sealing windows against gas attacks.

We were also reminded of this threat after 9/11 when we say many hardware stores sold out of plastic sheeting and duct tape as a result of warnings concerning dirty bombs. Heck right after 9/11 none of us had any idea what might be coming. We put out our flags and tried to prepare the best we could.

Though many things have changed over the years. Kelly Butte is now closed, ( I wish it was a museum, hint hint city of Portland 🙂) and we are no longer living in fear of global nuclear war. But clearly global threats still remain.

So I leave you with the above questions and hope that you for a few minutes ponder the “What if?”

Watch “A Day Called X” filmed in and about Portland Oregon (1957)

Joshua Patterson
Portland Preparedness Center.

More from the City of Portland about Civil Defense in Portland 1936-1963
http://www.portlandonline.com/auditor/index.cfm?a=324746&c=51815

More photos and about Kelly Butte Civil Defense Center http://kellybutteunderground.blogspot.com/

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Anteros Oberon

Independent Journalist at LIFE: From the end of the world

A science and tech geek Anteros started LIVE from the end of the world to create a place that supports and shares the stories of themselves and other independent journalists on events that affect our city, and our world. They have worked in Tech, Media and Radio Since 2012.

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