Evening star., 1941-10-20
Leaders Push Plans to Create
DC. Air Raid Warden Corps
Key Workers in Civilian Defense Setup
To Be Named at Meetings Saturday

A civilian defense system without
an efficient air raid warden service
would be about as useful as tele-
! phone system without wires, musec
the man with the worried express
sion.
Il guess Ill do a lot Of worrying
until we get this thing started" he
said
You've probably guessed the mar
is Col. Lemuel L. Bolles, executive
director of civilian defense for the
District. The thing" he wants to
get started, of course, is the Dis
/ trict's own air raid warden service
nerve center of the setup for safe
guarding Washington's civilians in
/ time of war.
Confident of Cooperation.
1 Sitting in his Office at the Dis
| trict Building, Col. Bolles hastened
| to explain his furrowed brow wasn't
caused by any anxiety over how
/ District residents will respond to the
call for voluntary civilian defense
service
I'm Just impatient to get going,
he said. This air raid warden
service is our most important JOB
now
tual establishment of this vital
service will be taken next Saturday
night, when mass meetings will be
held simultaneously in every sec
ton of the city under the leader
ship of the Federation of Citizens
Associa tions and the Federation of
Civic Associations.
Dual Purpose Involved.
A mass meeting will be held in
each area covered by citizens
association for a dual purpose
l. To nominate a person to serve
as deputy AFRAID warden and three
others to serve as assistants.
2. To establish permanent COM
mittee on civilian defense. consist
ing of three to five members.
The warden service setup. en-
bodying the best features of the
London plan. which proved its worth
during the German assault on the
British capital. is simple in form
said Col. Bolles.
Since the District has no wards
or precincts comparable to such
subdivisions in other cities. the
boundaries of citizens association
areas will be used instead. The
citizens groups are being used as a
starter; after the initial mass meet
ing the organization of the service
must necessarily become COM
munity affair.
Committees to Be Formed.
After the first nominees for deputy
and assistant deputy wardens have
been made and forwarded to Com
missioner John Russell Young, CO.
ordinator of civilian defense for the
Metropolitan Area, the permanent
committees formed by the associa-
tions will take the second step.
This involves subdividing citi-
Zens' association area into zones,
sectors and groups and nominating
the personnel for warden service.
Appointments to all posts will be
made by Commissioner Young after
he has satisfied himself that nomi-
nees are competent persons who
have the confidence of their COM
munities.
The smallest geographical unit,
under the plan, is the sector, each
of which will contain about 500 per-
sons. Every sector must have a
warden post consisting of a senior
warden and four or more assistant
wardens. In emergencies a 24-hour
service would be maintained with
each warden serving at his post for
six hours.
The next unit will be the zone.
which will be composed OF to Is
sectors. the number depending on
the size of the whole area. One re-
qulrement of a zone will be that its
boundaries shall not be more than
eight minutes distant from any
given point within the zone-and
that means walking time in
"blackout." Each zone will have a
zone warden and two assistants.
Group" Is Third Unit.
The third geographical unit is the
group" unit, which corresponds to
the boundaries of the citizens asso-
citation. The staff of each group will
consist of the deputy warden and
the three assistant deputy wardens.
to be nominated at next Saturdays
mass meetings.
At the top of the structure will be
a chief warden for the entire metro
pohtan area, to be appointed by
Co-ordinator Young. Several as
sistantS to the chief warden prob
ably will be needed, and, in addi-
tion, each Of the suburban areas
Of Washington will be represented
on the staff of the chief warden.
These steps will not complete the
organization OF this service, how
ever. Besides the warden posts in
the zones, sectors and groups, every
building housing 100 or more per-
sons will be required to have a war
den to take charge of protective
measures within the building.
Similarly, all industrial and COM
mercial establishments and the util-
tiles and all educational institutions
must have their own wardens. All
of the volunteers used in this sup
Elementary warden service will be
responsible to their zone or sector
wsrdens.