SOUNDING SIRENS

New Zealand Herald, Volume 80, Issue 24760, 7 December 1943, Page 2

SOUNDING SIRENS

EMBARGO B,EMOTED

FACTORIEB AND FIRE UNITS Authority to remove the restrictions on the .use of warning sirens and to permit of their normal operation was issued yesterday by the Mayor, Mr. J. A. O. A Hum, in his capacity as District Controller of the Emergency Precautions Service Mr. A Hum said that he had been advised by the Minister of Civil Defence, the Hon. D. Wilson, that the embargo on the sounding of sirens, imposed about two years ago so that there would be no confusion with the emergency signals, could now be removed, i "The permission to use sirens will include factories and other industrial organisations, and sirens at- street intersections operating on conjunction with the fire brigade," said Mr. Alltim. "The sirens will also be sounded on the fire engines, and in suburban areas will be used for fire alarm purposes. The concession now granted will be of great value to industrial plants and to the fire brigades, and the public should not be confused. "It should be remembered that the emergency warning is given by intermittent operation of the sirens, five seconds on and five seconds off, for two minutes. The use of sirens bv the industrial plants and fire brigades will be confined to one long continuous blast. It is therefore important that factory and other sirens should not be used in such a manner as to be coni fused with the emergency signals." The use of fire sirens will be resumed after noon to-day. Mr. W. L. Wilson, superintendent of the Auckland Metropolitan Fire Brigade, stated last night that many of them had been used for emergency purposes since they were ! banned, and all were in working order. ! The wartime grey of the fire engines is i now giving way to the "fire brigade ' red." All machines at the central station have been repainted and only a few in suburban stations remain to be restored to their usual colour. The steel helmets issued to members of the brigade after Japan's entry into the war are now being replaced by the more familiar brass helmets.