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Summer 2012

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Derecho Thunderstorm, No Phone Service, No Air Conditioning: Top 3 Reasons to Like Your AC Company

Why "like" or "follow" your air conditioning company on Facebook or Twitter? To communicate and get help in an emergency. We all learned the importance of social networks from the Derecho thunderstorms on June 29. At Polar Bear Air Conditioning, although our phone lines were powered by generator and our crews were working, our phone company did not have power and therefore our customers could not reach us through our main number, even forwarded to our cell phones. Over one million DC area residents also lost power in our homes, but many of us were able to travel to Wifi hot spots with power to recharge our devices and access the Internet.

For those customers who were able to access our website, we posted an emergency number on our homepage. Wouldn’t it be great in a similar State of Emergency to receive a Tweet or Facebook post from your air conditioning and heating company, with an emergency number to reach us? Polar Bear Air Conditioning will do this in all future emergencies that involve heating, air conditioning and communication issues for our customers. But we need your help. In the coming weeks, we will be contacting our customers and asking you to like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter, or you can do that now by going to our Facebook Page and our Twitter account. We will ask you if you only want to be contacted in emergencies, or would like to receive newsletters and special offers no more than 4 times a year. You can also opt to be contacted by email. We will never sell or share your information, and you will not receive more than 4 promotional emails a year.

We hope to not experience another Derecho for several years. However, our goal is to be ready to communicate with and help our customers through all States of Emergency in all four seasons. Have a quiet and cool summer.

How to prepare for an emergency

Being prepared for an emergency is an important part of owning a home. You will want to be prepared for every potential situation, from power outages during a summer thunderstorm to house fires. While you may have home insurance to recover any loss of property or damages, you can also help protect yourself and your family by having an emergency preparation checklist on hand.

Here are a few things to make sure that you are prepared for an emergency. There may be things you will want to add that are specific to your home and area, but this is a good general list to get you started. You can find more information at www.ready.gov.

Make sure you have a list of all pertinent numbers on hand, such as the gas company and the number to your local HVAC and plumbing company.

Have an emergency exit plan. Some families choose to run drills to make sure everyone in the home knows how to get out safely. Every family should at least have a plan that everyone is aware of in case of a fire or other emergency. If you own a business, make sure you schedule routine fire drills.

Update all fire extinguishers and smoke alarms in your home – Fire extinguishers have an expiration date, and they should be inspected regularly. Check the inspection tag to make sure that it has been inspected within the last year.

Test smoke alarms and CO alarms on a regular basis. Change batteries twice a year.

Build an emergency kit. It should include food, water and supplies for at least 72 hours. Adequate water is 1 gallon per person per day. Water purification tablets or bleach (16 drops per gallon) can also be used.