AIR RAID SHELTERS DESCRIBED

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 206, 28 May 1938, Page 15

AIR RAID SHELTERS DESCRIBED

Outdoor And Indoor Types

Dominion Special Service.

Christchurch, May 27.

A Wellington resident now visiting London has described in a letter received in Christchurch air raid shelters which are on exhibit in Britain.

“The other day,” the letter says, “I inspected a specimen air raid shelter. It accommodates 21 persons. There are two types approved by the authorities, one set in basements or basement corridors and an outdoor type.

“The latter has a roof of rust-resist-ing lock-sheet steel which curves upward and locks in the form of an arch and can withstand tremendous pressure. Apparently it has sandbags to a depth of-three or four feet piled on top. The inside type also has a special ceiling of patent lock-sheet steel, supported by steel channels to withstand the force of explosions and weight of collapsed masonry. There are splinterproof steel doors —two, with an air-lock chamber in between where refugees remove gas-contaminated clothes and shoes. The doors are of rubber, to make them gas tight. Fitments over the windows (if any), light and ventilation are worked electrically, but, in preparation for electricity failing, there is a wide band of luminous paint to light the inside of the shelter and the ventilator can be hand-worked. “All manner of equipment is stored inside—food, packs of cards, water supply, lavatory, tools for effecting an emergency exit when doors are damaged, books, medicines, bandages, etc. I have made inquiries and as far as I can gather there is one firm in London that has preparations—one of the banks. No one else seems to be intending to do so.”