TEST OF SIRENS

Evening Post, Volume C, Issue 40, 17 February 1942, Page 6

TEST OF SIRENS

NO "ALL-CLEAR"

A test of the siren warning system in the city and suburbs about 8 o'clock last night created a good deal of interest, arid also a good deal of uncertainty and, for some people, alarm. The public has been told that there are two types, of signals, intermittent siren wails to denote emergency and danger, and the long drawn-out "all-clear," sounded for two minutes. No allclear was given last night. . The test was made to ascertain the immediate availability of personnel at the 30 or so siren and whistle points, and the. instruction'was that (when the test came at some surprise hour) the sirens Were to sound for 30 seconds All posts were, manned promptly and from that point, of view, the test was very satisfactory. But for people who put out 'their lights and then rushed round in the1 dark for black-out screens, or sat in the dark, and for wardens and E.P.S members who started out for their posts, the test was unsatisfactory. The warden in one area &ent out on patrol and stayed on patrol, satisfying himself that the black-out was carried out properly. He remained out until 9 o'clock before he gave it up. He was not pleased. Very many homes were blacked-out and kept blacked-out unnecessarily, said.the manager of a substantial city business today (he is also a longstanding member of the E.P.S.). His own home was one of them, and he blacked-out for an hour. He recognised that the single blast was not the standard alarm, but it was a siren, and he and thousands more people did their best and played safe. "If at the end of the check-up on the men at the siren posts the standard 'all-clear' had been sounded, people would feel a lot better about it," he said. "I am not suggesting that tests should not be held; what happened last night is proof of the need of a great many more tests, even in so simple a thing as sounding the 'all-j clear' to clear-away mental alarm after it has been created." '