E.P.S. TRIAL AND BLACK-OUT

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23740, 11 September 1942, Page 4

E.P.S. TRIAL AND BLACK-OUT

SEARCHING TEST FOR ORGANISATION EARLY ALARM CAUSES SURPRISE Most people Were taken by surprise last evening by the sirens sounding the alarm for the E.P.S. trial and blackout, because the emergency signal came while it was still daylight, at 6.23. The test was on the same searching basis as the previous one, and that, coupled with the unexpected time, made it useful in exposing weaknesses which can be remedied. Even a preliminary review immediately after the all clear at 7.50 showed several ways in which the general system could be improved, and it is expected that detailed reports .will reveal minor faults. An unrehearsed effect was a failure in the ordinary telephone system to the Central Reporting Point, which threw the organisation back on to its emergency methods of communication, the runner service and a small independent telephone exchange connecting a few key points. These functioned satisfactorily until the ordinary telephone lines could be used again in a quarter of an hour. Aerial observation was not- possible because of the weather, but observers at Cashmere Hills, said many lights were to be seen after darkness had fallen. They tonsidered from knowledge of their own district that many persons were having meals in lighted rooms when the sirens sounded and continued after darkness had fallen. Some householders in the south of the town said that, because of the wind, the sound of the sirens was very faint. The Regional Commissioner (Colonel W. T. Churchward) said that from his observations the work of personnel was generally better in last evening’s trial than it had been in the previous one. In the suburban areas he had visited the black-out had been very good, but there had been a few bad breaches in the central area. Householders, he said, should distinguish between a “brown-out” (which complied with the reduced' lighting restrictions) and the black-out, which was required after the alarm had sounded. Ordinary Holland blinds were not sufficient for. a black-out. Colonel Churchward said he had visited the dressing station and wardens’ post in the Shirley district, and had found them working efficiently. It was possibly the best E.P.S. dressing station he had seen. He had also inspected the Fire Unit headquarters, which was operating satisfactorily with a good staff. Colonel Churchward saw less traffic in the suburbs that he visited than he had done during the last trial. The position as to motor-car lights was better than it had been previously Observers in other parts of the town, however, said that some streets still carried a good deal of motor-traffic with bright lights.