Evening star., 1942-10-11

being distributed to the various
squads by Fire Chief Stephen T.
Porter, and his executive officer,
Capt. G. S. Peterson, Maj. Cacca-
vajo said. Nothing is being taken
for granted, he explained, but def
mite jobs are being assigned each
squad member, as we'll as to the bat
talon chiefs.
From the point of view of the
Axis, Maj. Caccavajo said, moth
ing would be more helpful to their
propaganda campaign than the
bombing Of the Capital of the
United States, and serious attempts
to bomb Washington may we'll be
expected. For this reason alone, no
effort can be neglected to make
sure we are prepared to meet an
emergency in an intelligent manner.
War from the air and the wide
spread bombing of civilian popu-
lations brings with it problems Of
extricating persons trapped under
DEBRIS. Such persons, though
trapped, may be unharmed except
for nervous shock, or they may be
injured or dead. 1t is the primary
duty of the rescue service to get
them out, the dead as we'll as the
living, in a manner that will not in
volve further risk of life"
Speed Is Important.
Pointing to London, where the al
most continuous air raids have
tested the rescue squars more Sc
verely than any other service, Maj.
Caccavajo said it has been found
that rescue work, in addition to be-
ing hong, dangerous and hard, must
be performed with both speed and
care.
Speed is vital" he said, because
so long as there is the slightest
possibility that trapped victims are
alive, no effort may be spared to
accelerate their rescue. At the same
time care must be used in order to
prevent further injury to those
trapped by landslides or falling
debris.
STEADY and continued work is
necessary for rescue work. Expert
ence in London has demonstrated
that often it may be from four days
to week or more before all bodies
are recovered after extensive raids.
1t is not unusual for tunnelling and
burrowing to proceed for "a hours
before trapped victims are released"
The leader of a rescue squad
holds a position of special respon-
sibility, Maj. Caccavajo asserted.
Since human lives are at stake, the
leader must never fail in his re-
sponsibility.
Leaders Well Trained.
For this reason, he said, care has
beeen taken in Washington to select
only leaders who have the knowl-
edge and ability for rescue work, as
we'll as qualities of leadership. The
District, he added, has been fortu-
nate in getting as rescue leaders
men with great amount of ex-
perience, many of them trained en-
gineers. In addition, all of them are
spending many hours, both day and
night, in study so that they may be
useful when the rescue call comes.
Explaining the setup of the
service. which has headquarters at
2539 Pennsylvania avenue NV,
Maj. Caccavajo said that each of
the % squads have locations at
vantage points throughout the city
where equipment is kept ready for
instant use. The squads now con-
sist of from 10 to Is men each, he
said, but efforts are being made to
have at least 20 men available for
each squad.
Auxiliary Rescue Service officers
are George L. Strong, chief; Daniel
c. Long, deputy chief and Mai.
Caccavajo, acting consulting engi-
neer. Battalion chiefs include WAL
ter Lockhart, Bryce Weaver, Ver-
non House, Martin Jansson, Hardy
Burgess, James Lansburgh and DR.,
Burton Glenn, with Roy Faulkwell,
William Burnette, Donald Hay and
Joseph Deckman serving as acting
Lattalion chiefs.
Squad leaders include Colin Tim
mis-, John Davis, George Dulaney.
Sam w. Barrow, w. C. Prohaska.
Arthur G. Pierdon, Samuel Bar
mack, Gus A. Newrath. David r,
Craig, jr.; Pierre M. Ghent, E. C.
Embrey, George Weitzel, John A.
Smith, Joseph Alfandra, H. Clell
Keller, Arthur Giacalone, John B.
Rublno, F. A. Murgia, Joseph E.
King, Norman Freedenberg, Charles
E. Cartwright, T. r. Winchester, F,
c. Coglan, Edward L. Donaldson,
r. E. Minder, A. j. Brylawski, jr.,
and Francis N. Ward.