MacGyver Maker Challenge: Wildfire Escape

Think MacGyver can get you out of a dangerous situation? Welcome to Make's new MacGyver challenge: creatively solve this emergency scenario and your solution could be featured in the next issue of Make: magazine!

Written by MacGyver TV creator Lee David Zlotoff and partner Rhett Allain comes the new challenge: Wildfire Escape! Share your best solutions below for a chance to be in the magazine and win some Make goodies too:

Lee Z wrote the popular MakeShift challenge in Make magazine: 2005-2011. We bring Mac back to help you think and recover from natural disasters, power outages, and other emergencies. There seem to be a lot of them these days. As Lee writes in Make: Volume 82, "We're all MacGyvers now."

Make: Subscribers and Members - You can meet Lee Zlotoff and other guests of our emergency preparedness and survival special issue, at the Make: Volume 82 launch party this Thursday, September 15.

Be sure to join Make: Community or subscribe to the magazine.

By Lee D. Zlotoff and Rhett Allain

The scenario

You have just returned home from a long business taxi trip to find that your neighborhood is now on the path to a wildfire and everyone has been ordered to evacuate - and they are fleeing en masse because the emergency services have made it clear that they will not be coming back for anyone. You rush into the house to gather all the crucial documents and valuables you can, packing your late model automatic small economy car with everything it can hold. But as you jump to start it, you discover... the battery is dead!

The Challenge

Right now, there's no one left to help you get started. And just when you start to realize how bad it could be, all the electricity in the area goes out! So how are you going to start your car and escape before the fire gets to you?

What you haveAnd that's all you have:

A smartphone A two-stroke grass trimmer with pull start and some fuel Chemicals: paint thinner, acetone, paint (latex-based), wasp spray Copper pipe, zinc nails, steel screws, a bunch of nuts and bolts Basic tools: screwdrivers, wrenches, plug-in electric drill, saw, pliers, clamps, hammer Ratchet straps, tarps and tow rope Trolley jack・ Mountain bike ・ Gas powered lawnmower (push, no drive) ・ 2 battery powered flashlights with D batteries (6 total) ・ Old walkman with 2 AA batteries ・ TV remote control with 2 AAA batteries Scuba tank with 1000 psi air 2 extension wands One umbrella

Share your best solutions below for a chance to be in the magazine and win freebies too!

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