London’s' A.R.P. Organisation Impressive

Northern Advocate, 15 December 1939, Page 7

London’s' A.R.P. Organisation Impressive

(Received 11 a.m.), LONDON. December 14.

An Associated Press special correspondent reports on a night tour of London A.R.P., beginning with the regional war room and ending with the fire floats in action on the Thames.

“I saw ,a most complete tion to protect London in The event of air raids,” he states. T “These included stretcher 1, parties, ambulances, rescue squads, auxiliary fire services, decontamination rooms, first-aid depots, all of ■ which comprised a personnel of 150,000. . •i ’f “One-third of the personnel are'pSid men, receiving an average, of £3 ,a week and women £2. • >

Unpaid Volunteers, “The remainder are unpaid volunteers. “The majority of those paid gave up civilian posts on the outbreak of the war. ■ -• “The parties include all grades of society, from- foreign-speaking workers cf Holburn to residents of Mayfair, .the majority undertaking duties which compel' ex- ’ posure to bombs and shrapnel.

“A striking aspect was that there were scarcely any uniforms. ■ * “The women wore slacks and jumpers and the men flannels arid jerseys! “A typical scene was at the lance station at Chelsea, situated' in a large garage. •

Woman In Command-

“The officer in command was a middle-aged woman, who gave a ‘red light’ signal, meaning- that a raid was in progress; upon' which dozens of girls in steel helmets and carrying gasmasks appeared at the double, and started up and drive out unwieldy ambulances,- which are huge Cohvei'.ted commercial vans. ;

“The garage was empty after four minutes.

“The rescue - squads comprise builders’ labourers, ready -to dash out to damaged buildings.”

Anti-Eire Service. At the fire brigade headquarters the visitors saw the control room; from which it is possible to control 2400 mobile fire pumps, compared with a peace-time total of 120. , Nearby was .an auxiliary fire station; where a volunteer staff was sleeping in dormitories.- ••

An alarm was given,. and 50 commandeered taxis hauled 50 fire pumps to the street within a minute. The whole impression was of ;an extraordinary volunteer , spirit- and wonderful organisation. ~