Evening star., 1941-10-09
Move 10 SET Up
D. {. Air Raid
Plan Launched
Civic Leaders Meet
As Preliminary to
Selecting Wordens

The District last night called on
Its citizens to serve as air raid
wardens and set in motion the ma
chinery for their selection.
More than 100 presidents and
leaders of civic associations turned
out for the special session called
Jointly by the presidents of the Fed
GRAFTON of Citizens Associations and
the Federation of Civic Associations.
Meeting at the District Building,
the leaders heard an appeal for CO.
operation from Engineer Commits
sioner Charles w. KutZ and an out
line of a proposed air raid warden
Setup by Col Lemuel L. Bolles, exec
utive director of civilian defense for
the District. Harry N. Stull, presi-
dent of the Federation of Citizens
Associations, presided
IF we have that element of lead
ership which we claim" Mr.. Stull
declared, now is the time to show
it."
Launches Third Step.
Both Gen. Kutz and Col. Bolles
told the gathering preliminary work
to enroll auxiliary firemen and
police was already under way and
that selection of air raid wardens
was the third step.
Under the program adopted, each
citizens association will call a mass
meeting of the community it serves
on a date to be set by the District
defense co-ordinator, who is Com
missioner John Russell Young. At
each such session nominations will
be made to the Commissioners of one
deputy warden and three assistant
deputy wardens. A permanent ex-
ecutive committee also will be set
up by each meeting to subdivide the
area into zones, sectors and warden
posts.
Wardens so selected by the Com
missioners will serve the residential
area. the meeting was told Ar
rangementS for establishment Of
wardens in commercial districts are
being worked out by the Board Of
Trade.
Bolles Outlines Setup.
Briefly, the following setup was
explained by Col. Bolles:
The smallest unit will be the
building warden for each building
housing 100 or more persons. This
is part of the basic unit known as
the warden post and directed by as
sistant wardens
Next administrative unit Is the
sector, which is one block or 100 per-
sons, but the number of persons
rather than the territory is the test.
If there are 1000 persons in a block,
two sectors are formed. If there are
500 in five blocks that is one sector.
A senior warden is in charge.
Next is a zone consisting Of from
four to Is warden posts and headed
by precinct warden.
Next is the group. Each citizens
association area as indicated on a
boundary map is a group. The
/ deputy to be elected at the mass
meeting is in charge of this.
At the top is the chief warden and
his assistants for the whole Metro
| politan Area. The session last night
urged early appointment of the
chief warden by Commissioner
Young.
Mr.. Stull made it clear that the
movement is not citizens associa-
tion project but community af-
fair. The associations, he said, are
only the means of getting the prof.
ect started. They were chosen for
this role because of their geograph-
ical distribution, he declared.
Training Necessary.
Persons named as air raid war
dens will require extensive training
in their dutiles, which involve first
aid, reporting fires and bombs to q
central control station, and watch
Ing for lights in blackoutS.
"If you stop to think that the
lives of your family, your own life
and perhaps your property niay de-
pend on what the warden does" Co. d.
Bolles stated, you will select good
ones"
The warden jobs will be 24-nour
| responsibilities if the alert is sound
ed, but ordinarily will only function
on return of the warden to his resi-
dence after working hours, Col.
Bolles continued.
Wardens will work with police, he
said, but are not police and do not
have police powers.
Explanatory pamphlets will be is
sued to the civic leaders in about
a week, it was stated.
Need for organization of the serv-
ice was outlined by Gen. Kutz.
I'VE would be less than intelli-
gent" he said, mot to be warned by
the experience of other cities"
Would Publicized Meetings.
Col. Bolles compared 1t to taking
out accident insurance.
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