Evening star., 1942-11-19
False RumorS
Cause b|ackout
In Suburbs
Sirens Are Sounded,
Lights Ordered Out
In Prince Georges

SAl SOldIlllS CVCl oillCc Ille SOIIlllllS.
sioners announced an AFRAID drill
was coming on an unannounced date
over a tWo-Week period, climaxed
last night with the unscheduled
sounding of sirens and scattered ex-
tinguishing of lights throughout
Prince Georges County.
The previously announced training
exercises for civilian defense forces
apparently added fuel to the rumor-
spreading. The public saw white
helmeted wardens on the street,
heard the regular sirens of am
balances and fire engines and
jumped to the conclusion that maybe
a blackout was in progress.
Some who called newspapers to
confirm the rumor said they had
been informed by their wardens to
black out their homes.
During the day yesterday, news
papers received calls from persons
asking the time of the surprise"
blackout last night
Real Signals Reported.
j. Robert Sherwood. director of
the Prince Georges County Civilian
Defense Council, and William A.
Zalesak, chief air-raid warden for
the county, said today that they
received bona fide yellow, blue and
red signals from the Washington
control center, the red being re-
ceived at 80l pm. Immediately the
signals were sent to all nine county
report centerS and the sirens we're
sounded throughout the area.
Mr.. Sherwood said that when
street lights failed to go off in the
nearby Maryland area because they
were controlled from points within
the District, he called the Washing
ton control center and then learned
that there was to be no actual black
out test. Prince Georges County
officials then relayed the all clear"
on their own initiative at 8::35 pm,
he said
Several Northeast and Southeast
sections of Washington, within
range of the Prince Georges County
sirens, blacked out for a part Of the
time and one assistant sector war
den was injured while performing
his duty
Jack T, Heptig. of Ridge road
received a possible fractured leg
when he stumbled and fell after
running from building at 5 Ridge
road where he had extinguished the
lights, He was taken to Providence
Hospital and later released.
Umpires Will Report.
While the public was specializing,
wardens, police, control center per-
sonnel, flremen, medical and trans
portation units, and public works
and public utility crews went about
the job of enacting their duties in
an emergency.
Umpires assigned to each control
center were due to report today
just how fast and how accurately
necessary men and machinery re-
sponded to the urgent calls of
Wardens.
Incidents reported by wardens fell
into three groups. First were the
largest group the practice Incl
dents in which no equipment re-
sponded. Second were those sent
in by messengers. assuming that
telephone communications had been
cut. A total of 252 incidents in
these two categories went to con-
troll centers.
The third group were the urgent"
ones and So of these were called in.
In order to be on hand for what
might come, the armbanded UNI
pires who made this test different
from previous ones were present at
most scenes of incidents quarter
of an hour before the wardens were
scheduled to call in the disasters.
Equipment Moved Quickly.
So quickly did equipment move to
incidents and return to unit head
quarters, however, that Defense Co.
ordinator John Russell Young and
Col Lemuel Bolles, executive direc-
tor of District civilian defense, who
sped about the city to watch the
performance, were too late to view
tlLt dIllNllN dt HAN lllt lOldIlOlIS
they reached. Bystanders filled
them in on the impressive display
of equipment which had come and
gone.
Several new touches of realism
were added One control center was
bombed out" at 1872 pm, a half
hour after the training exercises
started. Wardens, failing to get
response at the control center. were
supposed to call the one covering
the adjacent area.
Another innovation was the &C
tual reporting of unexploded bombs
to the Army. This was handled at
the main control center after war
denS reported the uneXploded
bombs, and trained police officers,
acting as bomb reconnaissance
agents. viewed the bomb craters and
made their reports From the main
control center, word was flashed for
the first time to Fort Myer and its
bomb disposal squad with the prior
itv to be given disposition of the
bombs noted
'Incidcnts" Listed.
Here are some Of the incidents"
which put civilian defense forces
to work last night:
Enemy plane loaded with bombs
crashes into gas tank at Twenty
sixth and F streets NV. Tank en-
plodeS with high wind blowing,
threatens temporary buildings and
old Naval Hospital Many evacuees
on way to Virginia. Many injured
persons among evacuees. Bad con-
gestion at Memorial Bridge and
around Lincoln Memorial. Panic
developing
You hear a large explosion and
screaming from an apartment house
on Wisconsin avenue just north of
Mount Alto Hospital. Fires are
breaking out in nearby residences
and there is large crater on Wis
consin avenue filling with water.
Streetcar tracks are damaged. Be-
Geved to be many casualties and
some people trapped"
Six saboteurs are trapped in the
5000 block of Third street NV. and