Evening star., 1942-04-15
Suburban Areas
Call B|ackout
Full Success
Maryland County
Reports Delay in
Telephone Service


Washington suburban areas today
reported generally successful results
of last nights blackout. but the test
in Montgomery and Prince Georges
Counties was marred because in
most communities the sirens were
sounded at s:55 pm, causing pre-
mature darkening of many homes
and business places.
Later, when the Montgomery
County sirens walled again on the
red alarm. many householders
thought 1t was the all-clear signal
and turned on their lights. but po-
lice today reported no arrests for
violations Afraid wardens, max
ing the rounds, explained in some
cases that the first alarm was "a
fire." and the misinformed again
darkened their homes until the real
all-clear signal was heard.
Chief Air-Raid Warden E. r.
Zalesak OF Prince Georges County
regarded the test as satisfactory
despite a misunderstanding by some
as to the sounding of warnings He
said the difficulty was that some Are
stations were notified by town Of
ficials rather than civilian defense
authorities.
He said the difficulty would soon be
obviated through the installation Of
a central control station.
On the other hand, Mayor Z.
Af
pressed keen disappointment. He
said the blackout there was the least
effective of any test to date. Even
the County Service Building was not
blameless, since a light burned in
one office. he reported.
Mayor Cover said his pre-black-
out instructions from civilian de-
fense officials called for the fire
sirens to sound the alarm on the
yellow signal" He issued orders
accordingly. but the fire station
subsequently was notified through
civilian defense channels that 1t had
sounded too soon.
Alexandria, along with Montgoni-
cry County, reported some delay In
getting the street lights on and In
some sections of Arlington County
street Illumination was not resumed
for more than two hours after the
test was completed.
Traffic Kept Moving.
Traffic In all of the surrounding
areas, including Prince Georges
County md Fairfax cpnnty, was
stopped an6 police raf no seri-
sous tiez,fps on the nlGllNtys.
County police reported generally
Efaveras Wsults Sam&ntp Fairfax
County 5estf VIZ NJ civilian
defense 6lflcials u have demon
strated the need for two improve
ments: Additional sound devices
and additional tire-fighting equip
ment.
On a portion of Georgia avenue In
Silver Spring the lights were still
burning three minutes otter the
alarm was sounded and police had to
turn them off. The task of extin-
gushing street lights normally Ii
the function of AFRAID wardens.
There was considerable dissatis-
faction among officials in the Mont
gomery County control center be-
cause of difficulty in putting through
telephone calls to the alarm posts
and chiefs of services. Arch Nc
Donald. county chief air-raid war
den, said it required more than six
minutes to get the calls through.
Officials OF the County Defense
Council said they would confer with
telephone authorities in an effort
to iron out these difficulties.
Albert E. Brault, chief of the coun-
Gil, announced he would attempt to
straighten out the siren trouble by
issuing orders insisting that pre-
vious instructions be observed.
Despite the siren and telephone
troubles, county officials were
pleased with the fact that a total
blackout was achieved.
Arlington Chief Pleased.
r. Freeland Chew, chief warden
for Arlington County, said he was
highly pleased" with the results OF
last nights test blackout.
1T was the first real test of our
control center" Mr.. Chew said. "and
was glad to see how efficiently IL
worked"
Seven test incidents" we're called
to the control center by wardens but
were not carried out so as to avoid
confusion Emergency services were
dispatched to mend broken water
main, to rescue persons trapped in
a collapsed building and to fight a
fire out of control.
Arlington's Is sirens were about
rs per cent efficient. Mr. Chew said.
He had fewer complaints about
residents not hearing them than he
has had in previous tests. he de-
clared.
The reveille gun at Fort Myer was
fired five times in quick succession
as the sirens were sounding In Ar
lington, to signal blackout at the
post.
A few difficulties" were encoun-
tered in Alexandria, according to
Bernard j. Padgett, chief air raid
warden.
Some of our street lights didn't
go out quickly enough" Mr.. Padgett
said. Some of the lights work on
hand switches which Alexandria po-
lice operate but some of them work
through a main switch. I'm going to
conduct an investigation today"
Servieemen May Renew