NEW AIR WARDENS
SCHOOLS IN BRITAIN
The proposed schools for air wardens, to which Sir Samuel Hoare referred recently, must be distinguished from the1 two existing air-raid, precautions schools at Falfield and Easingwold, .says the "Manchester Guardian." These latter are intended for men who wish to qualify as instructors in anti-gas measures, decontamination; and the like, and already men from all police forces and fire brigades, as well as a good many railwaymen, civil servants, and others, have been trained there/ These men will train others throughout the country in the technique of dealing with the results of air raids. .■:■;.
The' duties of air wardens will be different. They will be responsible men of at least thirty, years of age, not members of the Territorials or the reserve, level-headed-men known and respected by their neighbours. They will act as links between the population and, the local A.R.P, organisation. Their duties will be, on the one hand, to report fires and the fall of bombs to the authorities and, on the othier hand, to assist their neighbours in carrying out the necessary precautions,, ■ ■ '
They will require a certain amount of the technical.knowledge that is taught at Falfield and Easing wold— they must, for'instance, understand anti-gas precautions and how to fit a respirator and recognise a gas bomb when they see it, but it will be,perhaps more important1 that they should have a thorough knowledge of the local air-raid precautions system, ■so as to help locally in applying it.
These.men will be volunteers, and some 300,000 will be wanted. They* will operate from fixed posts in their areas, two or three wardens being assigned to each post, and there will be one post for every 500 inhabitants in a residential area or for every square quarter-mile, in business and industrial areas. In practice a warden will have charge of two or three streets—perhaps only .on 6 street' in densely-populated areas.
All this, one may add, was announced in March, 1937, but it is still not known when the schools for air wardens will come into existence, nor where they will be. • •'■■■:■■ - V
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19380405.2.92
Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 80, 5 April 1938, Page 11
Word Count
350NEW AIR WARDENS Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 80, 5 April 1938, Page 11
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