Evening star., 1942-08-21
Three Nearby Areas Can Sound
Raid Signal With Districts

has never been given to buy the
equipment for synchronizing the
sirens.
The approval. he said, was await
ing the completion of plans for the
automatic. system. The design was
completed yesterday, the circuits are
now available and communications
officials were to meet this afternoon
to set up budget, he said. add
ing that the county commissioners
will get the request next week.
The automatic system, he said,
had only been worked out for seven
sirens in the Silver Spring area and
six in the Bethesda area. making a
total of Is of the AZ. Installation
could be completed two or three days
after the materials arrive.
Although Fairfax County's de-
tense director and co-ordinator,
Robert B. Walker. said frankly that
the Virginia county was almost
starting from scratch" impetus to a
functioning warning system was
given Wednesday when the County
Board OF Supervisors approved the
purchase OF Is sirens to be located
at strategic points throughout the
county at an initial cost of approx
mately 5000.
To date, the county of AIT square
miles is warned by six fire sirens all
operated manually. Asked If the fire
stations were manned "a hours a
day, he said it was frequently neces-
sary to arouse some one living near
the fire station to sound the alarm.
Mr.. Walker said he did not antici-
pate being able to synchronize the
entire system even after the sirens
are in and the subcontrol centers
are set up, but he did think it could
be done In areas of concentrated
population. such as Falls Church,
Mclean and Seminary.
Operations in Other Areas.
In the three other nearby areas,
some form of the centralized system
is already in effect.
When Arlington County gets its
warning from the District, County
Manager F. c. Hanrahan said, a
button is pushed at the county
control center to set of Is sirens
throughout the county. An addi-
tional warning device is a large
steam whistle atop laundry which
operates "a hours day. Word from
the control center puts this whistle
into action at any time Mr.. Han
rahan said the county had expert
enced difficulty in getting the neces-
sary wiring, but had had the syn
chronized system in effect for
months" The county has two more
sirens which will be installed soon.
Chief James Duncan of the Alex
andria (Va) Fire Department said
Alexandria had similar setup. The
city's % sirens all operate from
single switch at the control center.
With 548 square miles to cover
and 100000 people to be warned.
Prince Georges County has a set-up
based on control center and nine
subcenters. The alarm is sounded
by 40 sirens on firehouses, 16 To-
Gated elsewhere and 20 automobiles
equipped with sirens and whistles
for the sparsely settled communities.
Notification of the signal can go
all the way down the line from the
control center at Hyattsville, Md.
to the remotest part of the county,
Accokeek, in 3 minutes and has
been accomplished in half that
time, according to County Chief
Air Raid Warden j. Emanuel
zalesak M alarms are sounded
until the warning has gone all the
way down the line.
Twenty-Five Of the flrehouse sirens
are directly controlled from Hyatts-
vile. That Is, when no one is at the
f1rehouse a switch properly thrown
at the deserted station will result In
the siren being sounded when the
telephone call comes from Hyatts-
vile.
The other Is sirens on firehouses
are synchronized to the subcenter |
In the area and the last Is sirens are
hooked up by direct wire to the
nearest fire station.