WAYS WITH BOMBS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 6, Issue 135, 23 January 1942, Page 16

WAYS WITH BOMBS

Fawkes celebrations were curtailed last November, for in the case of fireworks familiarity breeds contempt, and after all incendiary bombs are merely a larger variety of firework. If we had spent the usual days before November 5 allowing small boys to let off crackers behind us we would now be in a position to sneer at the hissing and general exhibitionism of an incendiary, bomb, and it would be with complete sangffoid that we would deal it the fate of the little princes in the Tower. However, sincé the last two Guy Fawkes Days have passed without fireworks we can condition ourselves only by attending the demonstrations which fromm time to time are staged for our benefit. Four hundred women, representatives of different organisations, attended a demonstration of ways with bombs at the Wellington Central Fire Station the other day. The first demonstration was with a ‘German bomb, torpedo-shaped and finned. After that we had to carry on with the British variety, which owing to its greater length and _ sticklike shape, is rather easier to handle. The fire brigade chief began by showing the usual composition of a fire-bomb, the detonator in the tail, inflammable material inside the bomb, and the inflammable casing itself. The force of Janding is usually sufficient to explode the detonator, which ignites a length of magnesium ribbon and then the thermite inside the casing. By this time sufficient heat has been generated to ignite the magnesium casing itself And burning magnesium ignites in a somewhat spectacular way. Before-And After If possible, of course, the bomb should be disposed of before the fireworks start. It can be picked up in the hand (there is no dangér of explosion) and plunged straight into a bucket of water. If, however, you ‘fail to arrive on the scene within two minutes of the bomb’s landing, the flare and spluttering will have already started. If you have a bucket of water and the bomb is still approachable, approach the bomb and douche it thoroughly with the water. Or, alternatively, use your E.P.S. shovel to pick up the bomb and throw it into the bucket of water. Sand may be used to smother the bomb, but it is advisable to remember that you need a great deal of sand to cover it completely, and even then the bomb may go on burning a long time under the sand. So after putting on the sand, the bomb should be picked up in the shovel and plunged into a bucket of water. Sand is chiefly valuable in that it prevents the bomb from spreading, A hose is invaluable in dealing with small fires. According to the Wellington (Continued on next page) if is perhaps regrettable that Guy

(Continued from previous page) Fire Brigade, it’s all one whether you use a fine spray, an ordinary jet, or a deluge; it puts the bomb out in the end. Fine spray or deluge results in a less melodramatic extinction; the ordinary hose jet has the effect of causing a slight explosion which, according to the Fire Brigade, is mere sound and fury, signifying nothing. , The four hundred women watched breathlessly while one of their numbcr_ intrepidly picked up a_e spluttering bomb, approached other fierce blazes with a bucket of water or a bag of sand, and extinguished with hose and bucket pump a fire in a box of shavings. Another four, two directing hoses and two working bucket pumps, saved from destruction a blazing gable. The four hundred went home somewhat more confident on the score of their bomb dealings. It was perhaps regrettable that in the next day’s paper an indignant correspondent should have pointed out that German incendiary bombs are somewhat harder to handle than British, and that we are not likely to be called upon to extinguish British |

bombs in any case.

M.

B.