WORK OF E.P.S. WARDENS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 93, 21 April 1941, Page 11

WORK OF E.P.S. WARDENS

, (To the Editor.)

Sir,—Your report on April 5 of the E.P.S. test raises a vital question. In any emergency the district wardens are to report to headquarters everything needing attention in their districts, and men of the necessary units (fire, first aid, etc.) will be sent to the locality. The wardens' districts are large. One district, for example, covers approximately the area between Kelburn in the west, Lambton Quay and Willis Street in the cast, Bowen Street in the north, and Aro Street in the south. Now on Saturday there were only five theoretical points of damage in all Wellington. I suggest that if there is a destructive earthquake, or an air raid, or a hit-and-run bombardment, the warden of this one district will be lucky if he has only five trouble-spots to locate and report on. The success of the whole E.P. Scheme depends on each district having a large warden's group, with patrols1 for every street and a good communications system. Two examples will show, however, that reporting, damage is only a small part of thenjob. First, if incendiary bombs are dropped, or a severe earthquake comes, | there must be enough wardens' patrols in every street to try to put out incipient fires, or at least to check them until a patrol car, or the brigade, can arrive. Secondly, if a person is overcome by asphyxia due to bombblast, smoke, or other causes, resuscitation must start instantly. The wardens' patrols must be trained to cope with anything that happens, whether fire, casualties, panic, or the need for rescuing men and women from fallen i buildings, until the reports have gone ' through and the specialist units have !arrived. If every street is to be patrolled, and runners, records men. telephone men, and reserves are allowed .for, each central district will need at least 300 wardens' men. Suburban districts may need fewer men. Taking an average of only 160 men for 25 districts, 4000 men are needed in the wardens' group. The vast majority at present are in other units, and it will be surprising jf there are 800 wardens' men in all Wellington. We need five times that -number. Two things are urgently needed. First, a public appeal through the Press, by radio, on the screen, and by posters displayed in all public of--1 fices, vehicles, and public places, giving full details of who the district wardens are, their addresses, and their districts, and urging men to join the wardens' groups. Secondly, immediate action by the authorities to guide and help district wardens in organising their districts and in training their men. Until the wardens' group is fully manned and organised, the E.P. Scheme cannot function properly.—l am, etc., E.P.S.