Why you need an emergency blanket in your emergency kit (2024)

Although the phrase “emergency blanket” may spark visions of a warm, fluffy, blanket that you should keep on hand for power outages or road trips in winter weather, an actual emergency blanket is anything but warm and fuzzy.

If you’ve seen marathon runners wrapping themselves in what appears to be oversized pieces of tin foil as soon as they cross the finish line, or paramedics wrapping injured victims in the same thin shiny material, then you have seen exactly what I’m talking about. These are true emergency blankets.

But, what exactly is an emergency blanket and why are they popping up more and more in first aid kits, camping gear, and on the sidelines of sports games? You may be surprised to learn the answers to these questions, and shocked to realize that in case of disaster, you should own an emergency blanket, too.

First off, what is an emergency blanket?

Originally developed by NASA in 1964 to deflect heat away from spacecraft, emergency blankets — also known as space blankets — resemble a giant sheet of tinfoil more than an actual blanket. However, they are actually made of ultra thin plastic that is coated in vaporized aluminum, which is often referred to in its completion as Mylar.

Weighing only a few ounces and folding completely flat, emergency blankets are super easy to transport and store. With a low production cost that leads to a cheap purchase price, and several life-saving purposes, emergency blankets have quickly become a staple item in emergency preparedness kits.

Here’s how an emergency blanket works

The key quality that makes emergency blankets so fabulous, and what NASA quickly learned, is that not only does the reflective surface of the blankets reflect heat outwards, but that same reflective surface also reflects heat back inwards—heat that would otherwise be lost.

Breaking this down into simplified terms, emergency blankets prevent body heat loss and then use that same body heat to keep a person warm, which in some scenarios can be a life-saving method to ward off hypothermia.

Because the blanket is waterproof, it helps keep rain out, sweat in, and provides a barrier to the wind; all these are factors that can also affect body heat loss.

Still not sure when you’d need an emergency blanket? Here’s when

When people think of making an emergency preparedness kit, their minds often go straight to items such as water, flashlights, and matches, nothing bigger, because exposure to the elements is a threat that often seems too unlikely to consider.

However, hypothermia can be the most dangerous part of many emergency situations and it claims the lives of 1,300 people on average every year in the U.S.

Many people succumb to hypothermia when they get lost or stranded. Whether it be on the side of the road during a blizzard where you need to walk for help, or because you wandered too far off a hiking trail and now can’t seem to find your way back. Being exposed to the elements can cause a rapid drop in body temperature and with no help in sight, hypothermia can rapidly take over, making a cold situation a deadly one. Aan emergency blanket can help keep body heat in and buy critical time for you to find help or for rescuers to find you.

On the other hand, you don’t even need to be in an extreme weather situation to benefit from an emergency blanket. Emergency personnel actually carry emergency blankets with them, because when a person is injured, the body responds with overall stress, which causes a drop in body temperature and can send a person into a state of life-threatening shock. Staying warm helps take some of the stress off of an overwhelmed body system, which is why keeping an emergency blanket on hand in places where injuries are more likely to occur, such as at an athletic event, can be a critical tool in aiding an injured person until help arrives.

In many emergent situations, help might not be available for some time and in these cases emergency blankets can actually be used for more than just keeping you warm. People have been known to use them to collect rainwater, construct a makeshift tarp tent, improvise as a tourniquet, or even act as a reflective SOS symbol to aircraft above. These are all useful aids in situations of natural disaster or wilderness survival.

There are a few places you can store an emergency blanket

What makes emergency blankets so great is that they are so incredibly small and affordable, that you can literally keep them anywhere.

An obvious addition to your family’s home emergency preparedness kit, you should also consider adding a few emergency blankets to your travel safety kit, whether it be part of your hiking and camping gear, your little league soccer supplies, or just safety items you have around the house.

Keeping a supply in your car for situations that may arise when you aren’t home is also a great way to ensure you’ll be able to buy critical time until help arrives should you find yourself lost, stranded, or the victim of a car accident.

Don’t confuse an emergency blanket with a fire blanket

It’s important to remember that an emergency blanket is not the same as a fire blanket. Unlike emergency blankets, fire blankets do the exact opposite of what an emergency blanket does. A fire blanket is designed to keep heat out to protect you from being burned.

Although also an item that every family should have as part of their emergency preparedness plans, you’re not going to want to confuse the two.

Get the Swiss Safe Emergency Blanket at Amazon from $16.49

Prices were accurate at the time this article was published but may change over time.