Evening star., 1942-06-28
District Stages
Second Daylight
Air Raid Test
Appraisal of Success
Awaits Reports Of
Service Chiefs

A war-bound Capital yesterday
went through its second full-scale
daylight AFRAID test within
month and prepared to evaluate the
performances of its civilian defense
services within the next few days.
Between 1905 am. when the
sirens beloved the alarm and 1920
m, when the all-clear was sounded,
Washington seemed almost a de-
serted city as motor vehicles pulled
to the curb and pedestrians were
hustled of downtown streets into
movie Ihouses and stores.
Inspection parties Of District off,
cials roaming the empty streets
came back with impressions of a
much better performance" than
that of June 2.
Await Formal Reports.
While civilian defense officials
awaited formal reports from the
chiefs of services on the details of
the test, the District officials plan
ned to 60 before the House District
Committee tomorrow to push for
revision Of the basic blackout law
OF last December. giving legal status
to civilian defense workers and
broadening the powers of the Com
mlssloners with regard to taking
over private property or its use.
Several civic groups have indi-
Gated their opposition to the pro-
posed amendment. contending it
would give the Commissioners con.
nScatory powers. but District of
nclals say the measure is essential
TO effective operation during an
emergency and that adequate safe
guards exist in the bill to protect
private property.
The Amendment as now drawn
, also proposes to add s60OO0O to the
81 100000 authorized for expenses
/ last fall. Corporation Counsel Rich
mona b. keech, who will testify.
said he will offer an amendment to
increase the total to $4,000 900 which
the District could borrow from the
treasury for civilian defense equip
ment.
Reports trickling into air raid
warden headquarters last night indi-
Gated a "goodly turnout" of both
men and women wardens during the
brief test, an official said last night.
Improvement Reported.
While only a dozen or so of the 6S
areas had filed reports on the morn
ings activities, Leslie C. Rucker,
executive secretary of the service
said there were indications of per
ceptlble improvement" over the last
daylight test.
He declined to release any detailed
ngures because of the fragmentary
nature of the reports. but said the
remaining reports would probably
come in over the week end
Major weakness of the previous
test was in some of the residential
areas where some of the women war
dens failed to turn out or were
without adequate information as to
their duties. 1t was estimated at
that time that only about rs per cent
| coverage was given and that some
$4,000 more women wardens were
needed to bolster the daytime pro-
tectlve service. At that time there
were an estimated $4,000 women
enrolled.
1t was indicated that on the re-
turn here of Chief Air Raid Warden
William Mileham Monday some EN-
couraging" information may be
available on the state of the whole
warden service including perform
ance yesterday and in the blackout
of June II.
Commercial Area Defects.
In the commercial sections. j. j.
Hasley, deputy warden in charge,
planned to erase the few flaws that
marred the participation of the busi-
ness section in the test. These flaws
were mainly too many gatherings
too close to large glass doors and
windows. The procedure with re-
gard to movie houses will also have
to be Strengthened out, he indicated.
Supt. Herbert A. Friede of the
communications system was out of
the city for the test but J. Vincent
Marean, his deputy, reported re-
ceiving no complaints on its opera
ton.
officials at civilian defense head
quarters said there were some re-
ports that the warning signals
could not be heard in some of the
outlying areas but emphasized that
the condition was improving each
test with the installation of ad-
ditional warning equipment as fast
as it is available. They said they
welcomed reports of any dead
spaces" in the city where the signals
could not be heard
Meanwhile reports from the
nearby counties taking part in the
test indicated general satisfaction
on the part of officials with the
turnouts. In Montgomery County,
there were complaints that the
sirens could not be heard, especially
in some sections of Takoma Park,
but officials blamed this on at
mospheric conditions.
Arlington Center Praised.
In Arlington County, Co-ordi-
nator Clifton G.. Stoneburner eX-
pressed satisfaction with the per-
formance particularly at the COM
munications center in Clarendon
which was praised by Maj. r. w.
Crowther, an observer from the
National Office of Civilian Defense.
Virtually all the county's defense
units were brought into play during
the raid which included nine simu-
lated instances of disaster. The
incidents included fire out of con-
troll, high explosives and collapsed
buildings
Mr.. Stoneburner pointed out that
a raid at that time of day was
real test of strength since many
wardens are employed in Washing
ton and are unable to participate.
In Alexandria. Co-ordinator Carl
Budwesky noted there was no med
ical dispatcher at the control center
during the drill. DR.. w. Arkell
Brown, health =. department head.