The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-09-24

steam) and thus tend to hug the
 ground. Upper stories would be vir-
 tually immune, and ground floors
 would be adequately sealed by ordi-
 nary closed doors and windows. The
 warden would have his job, surely
 enough, but as was said above, 1t
 would be relatively easy.
 That is not to be said of high ex-
 ploSive. There, we have just three
 things to do, If Q building Is struck.
 First, count of the direct-hit vic-
 tins AS c closed affair. Second,
 rescue the injured and other people
 trapped in the ruins. Third, see
 that shaken structures surrounding
 the destroyed area are promptly and
 completely evacuated, and that first
 aid Is made available to the people
 around about. Pretty much the same
 duty, in the third category, arises
 when the bomb falls in the open,
 and to 1t Is added, of course, the new complication Of impaSyable, streets and broken pipes, mains and cable lines. England has shown us
 that fully half the injuries to per- sons from high explosives have oc. cured in areas fairly removed from tn scene of explosion, through concussion Of air, flying fragments, and Shattering Of glass. Windows frequently blow outward, over a wide area, due to vacuum, and when they do so they splinter into sharp knives flying through the air.
 nf tlaA 4taas Aa the warden Is to be ct the scene of impact, size Up the damage to prop erty and to people, and report 1t through in the quickest time possi- ble. That starts the various mobile services 10 the scene of action, and gets matters into prompt and per- 'manent handling.
 Particularly Is this true with re. gard to the utilities, both private and municipal, whihc must clear up Q street crater with its tangle of broken water pipes, sewers, gas mains, telephone cables, power lines and signal system. No one wants his water supply mingled with sew- age. Escaping gas is 6 bad actor in the vicinity of electrical short circuits. Traffic. especially emer. gen:y runs of fire apparatus, face dangerous hazards and serious con- gestion in broken streets. One of the most important clements of the warden's first reports is his State- ment of the condition of the streets.
 There is also the time bomb:-the high exploive which Is delayed in action for an indefinite period- an hour, a day, three days, even a week. It lodges somewhere, fairly deep-in the basement of a build ing, or in 8 hole Sometimes cover- ed over to be not easily noticeable) and ticks away until its zero hour, The warden has to detect these, re. port them, keep people away, evac~ uate nearby buildings, until the time squad has done its duty and car- ried the unwelcome visitor away.
 Fortunately these bombs are so heavy that 1t requires 8 powerful aircraft to handle them. It will not be an easy performance for a raider. Unless he is a suicide squad man, fond of dive bombing, he will keep high up in the sky,-far too high, at | the speed he is going, to aim at any special target. It will be an expen- Sive game of hit or miss: expensive for us if it hits. which will be in a | small proportion of the trials, and expensive for the enemy anayway. It | will not be. cannot be, anything like the English attacks. At the | worst, it is likely to be few and far | between.
 When, however, we come to the ! incendiary bomb. we encounter an- other brand of cats. Easy, early and, maybe. often. will be the motto. There, indeed, is the problem for wardenS and for all their cooperat. ing community. Our next article | will tell how and why.