Pick the warm room by where the trees are

Quick answer: Stay 30 feet or more from any downed line and call the utility. Pick one small room that no big tree can fall on. Heat it with bodies, blankets and a closed door. If you burn anything for heat, a working carbon monoxide alarm comes first.

Around two in the morning an ice-loaded limb lets go, and it sounds like a rifle shot. Then another. By the second night of an ice storm you stop flinching, and that's when people get careless.

The ice does the damage in two waves. The first is the storm itself, when wires and branches come down under the weight. The second is the cold that follows when the power doesn't come back. Most advice covers the second wave. This piece covers the first, because it decides where you'll be standing when the second one arrives.

The limb doesn't fall when the ice does

Branches coated in ice are under strain for hours. They often let go later, when the temperature climbs a few degrees, the ice starts to shift, or the wind picks up. A clear, sunny morning after the storm is not a safe morning. It's the morning limbs drop.

So treat the yard as closed until the thaw is well along. Don't walk under the big trees to check the damage. Don't start the truck parked beneath the old oak. Ideally you moved it before the storm, onto the driveway apron or the street, away from anything tall. If you didn't, leave it until the ice has come off.

Look up before you step out, every time. Look at the roof edge too, where ice slides off in sheets.

Don't take a ladder or a chainsaw to any of it yet. A limb bent under ice and hung up in other branches is under tension, and when you cut it, it can snap in a direction you didn't plan for. A limb touching a wire is a job for the utility or a licensed tree crew. Your driveway can wait three days. Your face can't.

Every wire is live until the utility says otherwise

A downed line can look dead and be carrying full current. It can sit quiet in the grass, then jump when a branch shifts or the grid re-energizes without warning. Utilities consistently advise the same thing: stay back at least 30 feet, farther if you can, keep kids and pets away, and call the utility and 911.

Don't touch anything that's in contact with a line. That covers a fence, a puddle, a tree, a car and the shovel you'd like to use to push it aside.

If a line lands on your vehicle while you're in it, the standard guidance is to stay put and call for help. The exception is fire. Then you open the door, jump clear without touching the car and the ground at the same moment, and shuffle away with your feet together in small steps.

One more spot gets missed. Where the service line reaches your house, an ice-heavy tree can rip the mast and meter box right off the wall. If the line to your home is hanging, sagging or sparking, stay away from that corner of the house. Don't touch the panel. The utility has to disconnect it before an electrician can repair it.

Choose the room with a map, not a hunch

Everybody says to pick a small room. True, a small room is easier to warm. But the first test is different. Walk outside before the storm and look at which trees could reach which walls.

The best room is on the side of the house away from the big trees, with an interior wall or two, a door that closes, and a way out that doesn't go past the tallest limbs. The bedroom under the maple fails that test, however snug it looks. The family room on the far side of the house passes.

Then set it up:

• Hang a blanket over the doorway or put a towel along the bottom of the door to hold in the heat.
• Hang blankets over the windows too. Glass is where the room loses most of its warmth.
• Move mattresses or cots in. Get off the floor, which is the coldest surface in the house.
• Put flashlights and a battery lantern in the room. Skip candles. A candle knocked over in the dark is a worse problem than the dark.

Dress in layers, wool or synthetic against the skin, and wear a hat indoors. Cotton that gets damp stays cold. A sleeping bag rated for the temperature beats three quilts. Eat regularly and drink water. Your body makes the heat, and it needs fuel to do it.

Heat that won't hurt you

The cold in your house is a problem you can solve. Carbon monoxide is a problem you can't see coming, and it kills people in ice storms every year. The CDC's guidance is blunt. Never run a generator, grill, camp stove or charcoal burner inside your home, your garage or near a window. Never heat the house with a gas oven.

Put a battery-powered or battery-backup CO alarm in the sleeping area, and test it before the storm, not during. Our piece on generator rules covers the 20-foot distance and why you never plug one into a wall outlet.

If you want a heater in the room, a few things are non-negotiable:

• Use only a heater made and labeled for indoor use, with a tip-over shutoff and, for propane, a low-oxygen shutoff.
• Follow the manual on ventilation and fuel. Kerosene heaters take the correct kerosene and nothing else, and some places restrict them, so check your local rules.
• Keep it at least three feet from anything that burns, and never leave it running while you sleep.

A fireplace works if the chimney was inspected this year and the damper is open. A neglected flue is how a warm night turns into a chimney fire.

Running the car for heat or to charge a phone is the other trap. Clear the tailpipe of snow and ice first, and never do it inside a garage, even with the door open.

If you can go somewhere with power, such as a relative's house, a hotel or a shelter your county opens, going is a sound decision, not a failure. Staying put is a choice, not a badge.

Pipes, food and the signs you can't ignore

Frozen pipes cost more than the storm. Let faucets drip, open the cabinets under sinks to let room air reach the pipes, and know where your water shutoff is before you need it. Never thaw a pipe with an open flame.

Keep the refrigerator and freezer closed. FoodSafety.gov says an unopened fridge keeps food safe for about four hours without power, and a full freezer about 48 hours (24 if it's half full). Cold outside doesn't change those numbers. Cash matters too, because card readers go down with the grid. Our piece on cash you can actually reach covers how much.

Know the signs of hypothermia: shivering that won't stop, slurred speech, confusion, drowsiness. In infants, look for bright red, cold skin and very low energy. Any of these means you call 911 and warm the person gradually, starting with the core.

A battery radio will give you the utility's updates when the cell towers are jammed or down. Here's the case for the radio that still works, and what a week without power takes if this one drags on.

Then walk down the street

Once the limbs have stopped falling, check on the neighbor who's 80, the one who lives alone and the family with a baby. Knock from a safe distance, stay out from under the trees, and bring something: a thermos of hot coffee, a spare lantern, a hand with their driveway.

And if you borrowed a chainsaw, return it with a sharp chain and a full tank.