CHECKING FIRE BOMBS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23923, 25 March 1941, Page 9

CHECKING FIRE BOMBS

EMERGENCY DIRECTIONS Methods of dealing with incendiary bombs are outlined in a circular just issued in Auckland by the Emergency Precautions Scheme Organisation. The circular stresses that on no account should ordinary chemical extinguishers be used, while only a. very fine sprav of water is permissible. The usual incendiary bomb, weighing from 2ilb. upward, is composed of an outside casing of magnesium, usually with thermite to ignite it. Igniting on impact, the bomb cannot be extinguished by ordinary means because of its oxygen content. The usual bomb falling from a height of 5000 ft. penetrates ordinary roofing materials. Four inches of reinforced concrete, however, would probably resist penetration. The quickest way to handle a bomb is for the operator to provide himself with a bucket of sand and a longhandle shovel. Three-quarters of the sand is then emptied on the floor about six feet from the blazing bomb and shovelled about it. It; should then prove possible for the operator to work the shovel beneath the incendiary and deposit it on the remaining sand in the bucket-