3 Ways To Send Emergency Signals You Need Help

If you are ever stranded in the wilderness, a key to survival is knowing how to send emergency signals to search and rescue parties where you are and that you need help. This article presents three ways to send emergency signals that you need help.

Emergency Signals Method #1

If you have the tools to create fire and debris you can burn, you can create a well-known distress signal: three fires in a triangular pattern. This emergency help signal has the advantage of the smoke being visible for miles during the day, and the fires are even more visible at night. Build your three fires far enough apart to be distinctly separate fires and yet close enough that they are manageable and clearly in a triangle configuration.

Make sure they are in a clear, open area far enough away from anything else that may catch fire. To start the fires, you will need the driest wood and kindling you can find, and to keep them burning perhaps for days, you will need a good stock of dry fuel. To increase the smoke (primarily effective only during the day), add fresh leaves, green ferns, green grasses, and damp wood. You can burn more dry materials to get brighter, more visible fires at night and to keep yourself warmer.

When you are rescued (or otherwise finished your emergency signaling), be sure to fully extinguish your fires with water or soil until there are no glowing embers.

Emergency Signals Method #2

The second method, which is mostly useful only for planes and helicopters flying by, is to create an “SOS” signal on the ground. SOS is an international distress call that stands for “Save Our Ship”. To create an SOS signal, spell out the letters “SOS” on the ground in an open area with whatever materials or debris you can find. Reflective or brightly colored materials are best, because they reflect the sunlight and stand out against a sand-colored or green forest background. However, you can also use rocks, brush, or branches if that’s all that’s available.

In addition to spelling out “SOS”, you can create large geometric figures to attract attention since such shapes are unusual in nature. When a rescue party arrives, disband your SOS signal so future passersby don’t think someone needs help in that area.

Emergency Signals Method #3

A third method to create an emergency signal is use Morse code, named after Samuel Morse who created a way to convey letters using a series of dots and dashes or short flashes and long flashes. To use this method, you will need a bright flashlight, headlights, or shiny surface that will reflect sunlight. Whatever method you have available, you will flash on for a half a second for a “dot” and flash on for longer (perhaps a second or two) for a “dash”. If you are reflecting sunlight, this will be very effective, but harder to do because you have to aim the reflection to your potential rescuers.

Anyway, the symbol for “S” is dot – dot – dot, and the symbol for “O” is dash – dash – dash. So, to signal “SOS”, flash dot-dot-dot, dash-dash-dash, dot-dot-dot (i.e., …—…). You can avoid confusing S’s and O’s by remembering that you want to communicate quickly and “SOS” is a short, quick sequence; thus, use “…—…” which is shorter than “—…—“.

If you have access to a two-way radio (e.g., FRS or GPRS), you can also signal the “…—…” SOS signal by pushing and holding the button in short pulses. If you repeatedly do this … perhaps on 5-minute intervals, someone will eventually detect your SOS signal, and they can triangulate your location based on the radio waves emitted.

You can use any one, two, or all three of these methods depending on the resources you have available. However, regardless of which one(s) you use, be sure to stop the emergency signals once you know your rescuers have located you and are on your way so others don’t think there are people in the area that still need rescuing.