Mark Megahan
This sprawling underground nuclear fallout bunker is a total blast from the past. Not only is it decked out in hippie friendly style, there’s a swimming pool. One where you never need to worry about sunscreen because it’s almost 30 feet below the surface.
A bunker with ‘ambiance’
When people think of underground survival shelters, they think of dreary claustrophobic tank-like things to hide in, but not for long. This real-life underground bunker sits in Las Vegas and could be a dead ringer for the one used as a set in the movie “Blast From The Past.”
According to Newsweek, “The ambiance of the underground space is very much like what you see in that movie. Perhaps the producers toured this underground house before they created the movie sets, because that was certainly my impression.”
You can thank Girard “Jerry” Henderson for the retro psychedelic feel. The home’s first owner had the house built in the mid-1970’s. It certainly doesn’t look or feel anything like a bunker. There isn’t a square inch of bare concrete in sight. The nuclear fallout shelter custom designed for him and his family “definitely brought back memories from that era.”
The Newsweek reporter was ready to duck and cover by instinct. “I remembered cowering under my school desk while nuclear drills happened. About once a month the air raid siren would go off and the teacher would instruct us kids to get down under the desk and put our head into our hands.”
If you’re going to be stuck living in a bunker, this is certainly the way to do it. “A good friend of ours was involved in buying this underground house and he suggested I move in and manage it.”
Newsweek’s Mark Voelker agreed. “The house is owned by a non-profit that used to be The Society for Preservation of Near Extinct Species but is now the Stasis Foundation.”
A 70’s time capsule
Voelker was fascinated to learn what “a time capsule of that ’70s era” the bunker is. The shelter was “originally built so that the Hendersons could, if they ever needed to, stay in the home for up to one year without having to come to the surface.”
This is no simple “nuclear bomb shelter” meant to get you through the blast for a few hours. This is a full fledged “nuclear fallout shelter.” You can sit out the whole madness in style. The underground space is almost 15,000 square feet.
While a basic “bomb shelter will protect you if that bomb lands right near the shelter,” after a nuclear explosion, “there would be a period of high radiation in the environment.”
That’s not good. If “you wanted to avoid getting sick, you would need to seclude yourself from that radiation for some time, which is what this fallout bunker was built for.” First, it has to withstand the blast.
On the surface, “there’s a normal-looking Spanish-style tiled roof house. But you go into that house and instead of a living room, you see a hallway and at the end of that, to the left, there is an elevator downstairs. You travel 26 feet down and when the doors open again you walk out into this huge underground space.” Then, for even more blast protection, “on top of the home there is a slab of concrete with rebar in it, and on top of that is maybe a meter of earth.” There’s “a backup diesel generator for electricity.”
While “fresh water is supplied by the city water district, and waste water pumped into the city sewer with a lift station, if necessary, the backup diesel electric generator would power the house, including the wastewater pumps. And we have 1,000 gallons of water set aside in tanks.” Then there is the swimming pool. Not just a bunker luxury, it’s a backup water supply. “Having a swimming pool means there’s another 12,000 gallons of water there that could be used for cleaning and bathing.” There’s enough air “to breathe for a few weeks” for a couple of people during any heavy nuclear fallout.
