CIVIL DEFENCE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 6, Issue 156, 19 June 1942, Page 14

CIVIL DEFENCE

[The first of a series of BBC talks for E.P.S. workers and others concerned in civil. defence, presented from the main National Stations in New Zealand on Wednesday evenings at 6.30 p.m. This introductory talk was by Wing-Commander P. I. Hodsoll, C.B., Inspector-General, Ministry of Home Security, and was broad- _ cast here on June 10.)

N this series of talks on civil defence I am hoping to be able to pass on to you some of the practical experience we’ve gained in all different branches of civil defence during the raids which we’ve experienced in Great Britain. But I want first of all to tell you how vitally important it is to have a really well-trained and efficient civil defence service. The object of air attack is to interfere with production and the life of the community, and if this object is to be defeated, the civil defence services must play a major part-they are complementary to the work of the fighting services. And remember that this work is not just passive defence, I like to think

of it as the civilians’ counter-offensive, because that’s what it réally is. The enemy attacks the civil population and the civil population. counter-attacks by organising itself to save every life it can, to reduce the suffering caused by the raids to a minimum and to see that the life of the community can be carried on, no matter how difficult the conditions may be. I assure you, the civil defence services in Great Britain played a major part in defeating the German attempts to deliver a knock-out blow during the Battle of Britain. So I hope you'll all feel that in helping with civil defence, wherever you may be, you are helping in a vital plan and you will make your contribution to our ultimate victory just as surely as if you were in the fighting services themselves.

In order to give you a fair illustration of the numerous duties of the civil defence services I thought it would be a good thing to try and draw a little thumbnail sketch of the way the whole machine works during a raid. I’ll assume that an air raid warning has been received and that the wardens are on patrol and all the services are at their depots and everything is ready to go into action. Presently, as the warden hears the fall of a bomb, he realises that it’s probably in his district. He hears the explosion, and he at once goes as quickly as he can to the scene of the damage. He makes a quick survey, and decides that there are people trapped in buildings. He quickly writes out what we call an "express message," stating the situation briefly. This message is sent by the quickest possible means to the nearest fire brigade station. Another message is sent straight to the contro! depot. The messages are usually sent from the Warden’s Post, and if two wardens have been patrolling together, while one is getting off the message the other is making a more detailed survey of the position and also seeing what immediate help he can give. As soon as the message is sent off, the other warden comes back and helps on the spot. One of the wardens must be on the look-out for the arrival of the services so that he can give them the information about the accident and warn them of any special danger. If the incident is hard to find, he should try and meet the services and guide them to it. As soon as the controller gets the message, he will know first of all that the fire service has been told, and he will then decide to send out at once a rescue party and a first-aid party. He will consult with the officers in charge of these two services, and they'll then decide from which depot or depots help should bé sent, and the message is immediately telephoned stating the number of parties to be sent out and the location of the incident. As soon as the depot receives this message, the appropriate services are at once ordered out. Having arrived on the scene, accompanied if possible, by an officer, they will themselves make a quick reconnaissance. This is most important, especially if rescue work is to be carried on. Time spent in short preliminary reconnaissance is never wasted. It often enables work to be carried out far quicker than just a blind rush at the job without any thought. If the officer in charge considers that further help still is required, he’ll get a warden or the "incident officer" to send a message to control, and he’ll then start his own teams to work in accordance with the plan he has formed. The "Incident Officer" I mentioned the "incident officer." At all big incidents we have a man whose particular job it is to co-ordinate the work of the various services. He is not attached to any of them, but he acts as a link with the control service. He sees that the site of the incident is kept clear, that vehicles are parked out of | the way, that the various services don’t get in each other’s way, and that the necessary priority is given to that service whose work is most urgent. If there is a fire, the fire service will have to do their work before any other action (Continued on next page)

CIVIL DEFENCE (Continued from previous page) can be taken. The incident officer should set up his post near a telephone if possible, or have runners or messengers attached to it, and he indicates his post by a blue and white check flag in daylight and two blue lamps at night. The work goes on, and from time to time the "incident officer" will report progress. In the meantime, the incident may have caused a certain number of people to be homeless, and the warden or the "incident officer’ will report this to the controller, who makes sure that a rest centre or rest centres are open to receive them. The warden should know where the rest centres are, and should be responsible for shepherding the people to them. Once there, they should be looked after and given some hot tea or something to drink until the next morning, when they can be found other accommodation. It’s most important, however, that the rest centres should be cleared during the following day in case of a return raid. If water mains or gas mains are damaged, the warden will make his report, probably in the second message he sent, which should be as soon after his express report as possible, and the controller will order out the necessary squads from the water, gas, or electricity services which have officers working with the control. These squads are sent out and put to work at once. Their task is to take whatever immediate action is necessary to save life and to restore supply. After It’s Over Incidents like this have been going on in a number of different places. As soon as the incident has been cleared up, the squad or squads return to their depot and at once report to the control centre that they’ve finished, and particularly if they’re ready to be called out again. Before the squads are dismissed from an incident, the incident officer, if he is present, or if not, the senior officer or party leader, must satisfy himself that the incident has been entirely cleared and there’s no possibility of anyone remaining unrescued. In doing so, the widest information will be of great value just as it should have been when the party arrived. The Controller is by this time building up-a picture of the raid, and should know just where all his services are and how long they’ve been out at work. Quite often we’ve had to send for reinforcements from outside. You may not be able to do that, but if you can, it’s a help not only to reinforce but also to relieve the members of the squad, who may be very exhausted after their work. As soon as the raid is over, the Controller must at once satisfy himself that he’s in a position to deal with another raid if it should come, and the services be ready if possible. At the same time, the first-aid side of the organisation will operate and continue to operate during the following days until the situation has been completely restored. i That is just a very brief picture of what’s happened. In the following talks I’m going to give you some practical points about the working of some of the civil defence services such as wardens} rescue, first-aid and control.