Milford chronicle., 1955-10-21
FCDA Expects Nearly
All Homes To Have Own
Warning Devices In Next
Few Years

Engineers working with the Fed
eral Civil Defense Administration
now are convinced that within the
next few years, SO per cent Of
American homes can be equipped
with a warning signal to alert
families of enemy attack or civil
! defense emergency.
Research funds for home-warn-
/ ing system were made available
for the first time under the cur
rent FCDA budget, although Studies
in this field have been under way
almost from the time civil defense
was first organized. FCDA's Warn
/ ing and Communications 6ftiCe has
long recognized that the present
/ system Of siren warnings is not
completely adequate in that it can
not reach all areas and that the
sirens are not always audible to
many people who are indoors.
Since the goal is to alert 100 per
cent Of the population in times of
possible danger, it is accepted that
an indoor signal must be developed
which will supplement the outdoor
sirens, or warnings broadcast by
radio.
FCDA does not envision the in
door signal system as supplanting
other warning methods. Instead it
is thinking along the lines Of a
signal to call attention to the
possibility of impending danger
and to make sure that everyone
gets the information which is being
transmitted by radio or other
means. Obviously such a system
would have a value beyond its use
in event of enemy attack. 1t could
be used to alert the public in time
of immediate danger and send those
at home to their radios where they
would hear bulletins and receive
instructions.
Tentative plans are under way in
one western community for a test
of one type of home signal. Spcn-
sors of this particular test origi-
nally conceived it for use as a
warning against tornado danger
but are now revising their plans to
incorporate the device into the civil
defense program.
Preliminary studies on the FEAST
bility of indoor warning devices
were made earlier this year by the
Engineering Research Institute of
the University of Michigan, under
a contract with the Advisory Com
mittee on Civil Defense of the Ma
tional Academy Of Sciences and the
National Research Council.
These studies included various
types Of warning devices, using
electric power lines, telephones and
radio. More than 100 such devices
have been suggested within the
last three years-even one that
would use water supply lines and
by varying the pressure create a
pulse which would activate an
alarm.
For the most part, these sug-
i gestions fall into two categories.
Either they work well but are too
costly or they could be produced
cheaply enough for mass accep-
anca, but have not proved entirely
workable.
The Michigan study concluded
that a system could be developed
that would warn more than SO pei
cent of the people in any target
area, at a moderate cost. 1t sug-
gested that the plan of using elec
) trio power lines was the best O.
t the systems suggested and tina
: such a system was technically pos
|, sible The study pointed out tina
S factors other than technical O
= economic will enter into the feast
n biIity and effectiveness Of an,
warning system and suggested tha
Il a large scale test should be made
e The home signal device woul
e be priced under $40. and WOul
o use a negligible amount of electrica
q power. One OF these devices h9
II been successfully tested on smal
e scale.
y Now that funds have been mad
q. available to FCDA for research O
this DrOject. it has been given to
priority rating. It is hoped ths
research and Orenarations can b
completed during the present fiscs
year and that during the next fi'
cal year full scale tests can
completed in a number of lars
cities. If these tests prove salts
factory, home warning systems ca
then be made available thrOughot
the nation.
By reaching families in subul
han and rural areas-now beyon
the range Of sirens-the HON
warning devices would make tt
Civil Defense warning system q
most 100 per cent effective.