Evening star., 1951-01-21
District Seeking
300 AuxiIiariies.
For FireF Force
Volunteers Are Urged
To Report to Station
Nearest Home
By Crosby S. Moves

The Fire Department today is
sued an appeal for 300 volunteers
to serve as an auxiliary freight
ing force in case of an attack.
Integrated into the general
civil defense plan for the District.
the recruitment and training of
the emergency fire-fighting force
is under the direct supervision Of
of the department.
Battalion Chief Clarence Quick,
Fire Department civil defense liai-
son officer today issued detailed
instructions to get the recruiting
program under way
Volunteers are asked to report
to the fire station nearest their
home. From there, they will be re-
ferred to the nearest battalion
headquarters, where application
blanks will be available.
Must Be Citizens.
Qualifications for applicants are
that they must be citizens of the
United States, between Is and As
years old, men of excellent char
acter, mentally alert and phys
lcally sound and able to endure
the hardships of firefighting.
The instructions add that "all
members of the Emergency Fire
fighting Force shall be required to
execute an oath of allegiance to
the United States and to undergo
such investigation as may be de-
termined."
Applicants who are accepted
will be assigned as unpaid privates
to fire captains in their home
neighborhoods for training. Among
the subjects they will be taught
are their duties as volunteer
Fire Department privates, what
will be expected of them in case
OF an emergency and the prac-
tical details of firefighting, such
as the handling of hose lines,
ladders and other equipment.
First Course is Hours.
First training courses will take
about Is hours, Chief Quick said.
Additional sessions are planned
from time to time to provide fol-
low-up training in special tech-
niques for handling widespread
fires that might be caused by an
atomic explosion. The courses will
be held at night. =
The plan calls for the emer-
gency force of 800 to be divided
among the city's 80 engine COM
panies equally. The addition of
10 men to each company would
increase the manpower of the en-
tire department by more than
one-third, Chief Quick said.
Details of how the emergency
force would be modified in case
of an air raid alert have not been
worked out completely. For ex-
ample there has been no decision
whether to alert the volunteers
on confidential yellow alert.
which indicates the possibility Of
an attack and which would set in
motion a prearranged partial dis
persal of engine companies from
the downtown target area. The
alternative would be for the emer-
gency fireflghters to join their
units after an attack, Chief Quick
pointed out.
Terms Are General.
The present plan indicates only
that the volunteers shall per-
form under the supervision Of
regular company officers such
duties in connection with major
disasters or emergencies as may
be determined" by the District
Commissioners or Fire Chief
Joseph A. Mayhem. =
Today's orders also state that
the volunteer force shall be fur
nished with such articles of uni
form and equipment as may be
authorized from time to time" and
that its members shall wear
proper protective clothing while
engaged in firefghting activities"
However, no funds for uniforms.
gas masks or protective clothing
have been authorized as yet, and
no spare supplies are on hand. It
is expected that an appropriation
for some of these articles will be
included in the civil defense
budget to be submitted to Con-
gresS later this year.
Another knotty problem still
unsolved is the matter of COM
pensation for volunteers injured
in line of duty. No arrangement
for cOmnonco tiop hoe xr,o,Iad a,,f