Where Are All The El Paso Fallout Shelters??

Back in the good ol' days of duck-and-cover drills and nuclear anxiety so thick you could bottle it, American cities (yes, even in Texas) actually built fallout shelters. And not the luxury doomsday bunkers that billionaires build under their ranches. We’re talking fluorescent-lit concrete boxes with canned beans, mystery toilets, and enough chalky Civil Defense crackers to feed a school cafeteria for maybe a week.

But here in 2025? Good luck finding one.

Why Fallout Shelters Exist in Texas (Blame the Cold War)

Let’s rewind to the 1950s. The Soviets had nukes, Americans had paranoia, and cities across the U.S. started designating buildings as fallout shelters. You’ve probably seen those little yellow and black radiation signs rusting on some old post office wall. That wasn’t decoration. That was your survival plan, along with “don’t look at the flash and try not to panic.”

In Texas, cities like Dallas and Fort Worth took this pretty seriously. They mapped out hundreds of shelters. Some of them were real bunkers. Some were…basements. If a nuke ever dropped, you and 500 strangers would squeeze into a school basement and wait it out over board games and rationed peanut butter.

What Is the Doomsday Clock and Why Is It Stuck at 89 Minutes to Midnight?

If you're unfamiliar with the Doomsday Clock, don't worry, it’s not a real clock you can check on your phone. It’s a symbolic clock created in 1947 by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Basically, it’s their artsy, nuclear-powered way of saying, “Hey, things are getting kind of bad.” Midnight represents total global catastrophe, and every year, a group of very smart people decides how close we are to the end.

As of 2025, the Doomsday Clock is stuck at 89 seconds to midnight. Yes, seconds. That’s the closest it has ever been. Why? A delightful cocktail of nuclear weapons, climate change, AI risk, political instability, and people thinking “nuking hurricanes” is a sound plan.

The clock started during the Cold War when scientists wanted to warn the public about how close we were to blowing ourselves up. Back then, we were minutes away. Now we’re in TikTok-length countdown territory. So, if you’re wondering whether you should take nuclear preparedness seriously, the Clock says yes...but also, maybe invest in SPF 10,000.

In other words, the planet’s brightest minds have agreed: we are one awkward missile test or bad tweet away from turning this whole thing into a Fallout game.

Are There Any Fallout Shelters in El Paso?

El Paso? We… weren’t exactly a fallout shelter hotspot. There's no citywide bunker map like Dallas has. No preserved Cold War emergency bunker tours like in Austin. What we do have is the legendary El Paso High School, where a network of underground tunnels was reportedly designed to double as a fallout shelter right under the gym. Rumor has it, the military once stored MREs there. Today, you’re more likely to hear about ghosts down there than Geiger counters.

There are also Cold War bunkers at Fort Bliss, but unless you have a military badge, don’t expect to waltz in when the sky starts glowing.

Could El Paso Be a Target in a Nuclear Attack?

Let’s pretend you’re sitting on your couch watching old reruns, and suddenly there’s a flash brighter than Texas summer sun. Where would the first nukes even go?

• White Sands Missile Range (New Mexico) – Just a short drive from El Paso, this historic missile testing site is probably higher on the target list than your backyard BBQ.

• Fort Bliss – As one of the largest military installations in the country, don’t be surprised if it’s on someone’s worst-case scenario list.

• Offutt Air Force Base (Nebraska) – Home to U.S. Strategic Command. That’s where they’d push the big red button in response, so yeah, it’s on the list. Its not close to us, but its still a good fact to know. (Bush was in this bunker when the towers were hit on 9/11)

• San Antonio (Lackland AFB) and Corpus Christi (Naval Air Station) – Other Texas military bases that might get some unwanted attention.

All this is to say: if you’re hoping to survive a nuclear strike by diving into a 60-year-old public shelter, your best bet might be a time machine.

What to Do If a Nuclear Strike Hits El Paso

So what should you do if something nuclear ever happens? FEMA says “shelter in place.” That means find the deepest, windowless room in your house and stay there for at least 24 hours. If you’re lucky, your home has a basement. If you’re in El Paso, you don’t. If you’re really lucky, you live near a hill that might block some radiation.

Otherwise? Maybe go ask El Paso High if they’re opening up the tunnels.