[Standard School Lectures : Civilian Protection. Series II, Fire Defense]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

Standard School Lectures—
Civilian Protection
Series II
FIRE DEFENSE
CONTENTS
A.	National Defense Activities in Fire Departments, by Percy Bugbee.
B.	Fire Apparatus and Equipment, and Emergency Water Supplies, by James Just,
C.	Role of Fire Service in National Defense, by Fred Shepperd.
D.	Handling Incendiaries.
E.	Chart of German Incendiary Bomb.
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ABOUT THESE NOTES
These lecture notes, taken at the Civilian Defense School at Edgewood Arsenal, Md., are offered for the guidance of instructors in local schools. They are fairly complete transcriptions of the lectures as given, except that restricted or confidential matter has been eliminated, and the lectures have been somewhat shortened.
For the convenience of instructors, they are presented in series so that all pertinent material may be assembled in one place, together with any notes the instructor wishes to prepare himself.
Attention is called to Lecture on Organization and Conduct of Local Schools, in series I. This lecture deals especially with expedients and methods of dramatizing instruction; it is included here, not as the material for a lecture to be given by instructors, but for their reference in planning courses.
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CONTENTS
Series
I.	General Subjects,
A.	Remarks of Mayor LaGuardia on the First Class, Civilian Defense School
B.	Aerial Attack on Cities
C.	Active Defense and Passive Defense, by Lt. . Col. George J. B. Fisher, C. W. S.
D.	Organization and Conduct of Local Schools
E.	London Under Attack
F.	Organization and Duties of Rescue Squads
G.	Organization Chart of Civilian Protection for a Municipality
II.	Fire Defense,
A.	National Defense Activities in Fire Departments, by Percy Bugbee
B.	Fire Apparatus and Equipment and Emergency Water Supplies, by James W. Just
C.	Role of Fire Service in National Defense, by Fred Shepperd
D.	Handling Incendiaries
E.	Chart of German Incendiary Bomb
III.	Gas Defense,
A.	Physiological Effects and First Aid
B.	Protection of Supplies, Equipment, and Food
C.	War Gases—Physical and Chemical Characteristics
D.	Persistent and Nonpersistent Gases
E.	Protection Against War Gases
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F.	The Service Mask
G.	Noncombatant Masks
H.	Care, Storage, and Disinfection of Gas Masks
I.	Gas Mask Drill
J.	Gas Chamber Field Exercise
K.	Protective Clothing
L.	Decontamination
M.	Collective Protection—Gasproof Shelters
N.	Noncombatant Mask, Chart
O.	Army Training Mask, Chart
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NATIONAL DEFENSE ACTIVITIES IN FIRE DEPARTMENTS
By
Percy Bugbee
Major Brayton. We are receiving splendid cooperation from the different organizations and we are trying to tie in, as much as possible, all of the organizations that are playing an important part in this civilian defense program.
The National Fire Protection Association has been doing business for a good many years and Mr. Bugbee, its general manager, is in touch with civilian defense problems.
Mr. Bugbee. I will give you a running picture of the national fire-defense program as we see it. Our association, as many of you probably know, has the opportunity of obtaining a great deal of valuable information from fire departments throughout this country, and in fact, throughout the world.
First, I’d like to acquaint you men with our organization. The National Fire Protection Association was organized 46 years ago. It is a nonprofit engineering and educational society. We have about 6,000 members in 37 countries; about 1,200 to 1,500 of those members are fire department officers and men. We have State officials, building inspectors, fire-insurance men; we have a smattering of architects, building operators, librarians; in other words, a miscellaneous group of people who are interested in some phase of fire protection and control.
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We operate our technical work through committees. We have 46 standing technical committees with a personnel of nearly 1,000 persons. They develop standards that are used as a basis of state legislation.
We also do a considerable amount of popular publication work. From our office during our past fiscal year ending May 1, we distributed 2^ million pieces of fire literature.
We have the opportunity, through our field staff, of visiting cities throughout the United States and Canada, and talking with fire-department authorities about their problems.
The fire-defense problem is too large to cover in a lecture. I am going to point out things we ought to consider in the development of this program that will have a lasting benefit—whether the emergency ever arrives or not, or whether the present world conflagration is over next week or 5 years from now.
Fire departments now have the opportunity to assume a constructive leadership of the entire civilian population. When you return to your own communities, remember that here is a golden opportunity for constructive service that will bring to your department respect, admiration, and the substantial support of the entire public of your city.
Problems Facing Fire Departments.
The fire-department situation in this country is very complex. We have nearly 15,000 organized fire departments in the United States, of which approximately 1,000 are paid and 14,000 are volunteer. There are many acute problems facing organized fire departments aside from
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the setting up of auxiliary forces and the provision of auxiliary equipment. Too many of our fire departments are neither properly manned nor properly equipped to meet peacetime conditions. One of the first moves in any city is to increase the manpower and equipment of the fire department to a point which would be considered normal peacetime operating standards.
Effect of Selective Service.
There has been a lot of controversy and discussion about the draft and its effect upon our fire departments. We have talked with draft authorities in Washington, and you all appreciate the fact that it is entirely up to the local draft boards as to their attitude toward taking men from these individual departments. There is not and will not be any national ruling on the matter. I think it is clearly the duty of every fire chief to fight for the men in his department whom he wants to keep. I have talked to chiefs who feel quite strongly that they shouldn’t make any attempt to keep their men. They claim that it is unpatriotic. I don’t agree with that. A trained fireman is a very vital asset to this country, and it is a very foolish move to transfer those men out of the fire department into the military forces, thereby losing them from a service that is so important at this time.
Rather than spread apparatus or extend fire stations, particularly for the paid forces, it is vital that we build up the manpower of existing companies first. It is much more important to have properly manned companies and fewer of them, than to have more companies without sufficient manpower to operate the apparatus.
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Training.
As to the problem of training the regular fireman, I don’t need to dwell on that. All of you are familiar with training work and are probably concerned with it in your own communities.
Special Training.
There are certain elements of training that need special attention. The material that you are receiving in this school on gas and bombs is something that the average fire department man does not know about and has to be taught. However, it is essential that you shouldn’t overlook the basic, fundamental day-to-day training that every fire department necessarily should give to its men. That sort of training must be continued.
I don’t know whether or not you have had lectures in this course on the problem of fighting fires under black-out. The few cities in this country that have been experimenting with black-outs know what a problem it is. I talked with the authorities in----* where they are having regular weekly black-outs, and one of the most difficult problems they have to contend with is the problem of fire-fighting under black-out conditions. It is a problem that has had very little attention in this country, but one that I predict (if this emergency develops as it may) will require a great deal of serious thought and attention by you men.
Another form of training which has been overlooked to a considerable extent and yet is very vital under present conditions is the so-called refresher school for officers.
*Name deleted for these notes.
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Every city of any size should have an officers’ college or conference, so that the officers can confer with the chief at periodic intervals and discuss their mutual problems. Relatively few departments do that sort of thing as a matter of course—all too few. It is an essential part of any training program. In building up the spirit and morale of the department, the officers of the department should not be neglected. The cities I know that have been holding officers’ conferences consistently for years are cities that have efficient administration and organization. So I suggest to any of you who live in communities where they do not have a regular conference or college for the fire-department officers to consider the idea seriously.
Auxiliary Firemen.
The question of establishing and training auxiliary firemen is still a controversial one in this country. As you know, there are only a handful of fire departments in the United States that have established auxiliary fire forces. Undoubtedly, as this movement develops and the impact of Mayor LaGuardia’s program makes itself felt, there will be a very considerable increase in auxiliary fire forces throughout the country. It goes without saying that that requires very careful study and organization.
The selection of the men to serve with these auxiliaries is important. It is not enough to take any volunteer who may present himself, to take the fire fans and the fellows who chase fire apparatus because they like excitement. They are not the type to be inducted into those auxiliary forces. They will have a bad effect upon the permanent men. They will be troublemakers in many cases, and the
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possibility of friction and misunderstanding and the possibility of trouble with your permanent men is a very important one to be considered.
Mayor LaGuardia has sent out a statement about auxiliary fire services to the mayors of all principal cities in the country. His first recommendation in connection with this defense program is the immediate organization, training, and instruction of an auxiliary fire corps. He suggests that persons of military age, unless they have been or are likely to be rejected, should not be permitted to enroll; but that men of military age who have been physically rejected for military service but are capable of doing auxiliary fire fighting and other civilian defense work might well be used.
Enrollments should begin for this service in fire stations throughout all cities following the publication of a notice in the daily newspapers requesting volunteers to enroll. The call should be issued by the mayor. Time is the essence of success in organizing this necessary adjunct to the uniformed force. Those cities which have the man-power should use the city employees first. Every person having a physical and mental fitness to do the job correctly should be enrolled from the city forces. The advantage of the use of the city employees (where the manpower is available) as a bulwark of the civilian defense program can readily be seen; it provides a nucleus of persons who are already disciplined and coordinated under the municipal government.
Incidentally, that plan has been followed very closely in Canada. In all of their civilian defense work they have made the basis of their volunteers the civil-service employees of the provinces and cities. Nearly all of the aux
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iliary firemen and other auxiliary forces which have been organized in Canada today are drawn from civil-service employees of various municipalities.
Mayor LaGuardia makes these very pertinent recommendations to the mayors:
(1)	Every city should have its full complement of paid fire department filled.
(2)	A survey should be made of auxiliary pumping engines, hose, and equipment to determine the amount which would be required in the event of emergency.
(3)	Cities should adopt proper ordinances (where necessary) for the creation of auxiliary corps as well as other civilian defense work.
(4)	The mayors should contact the commanders of American Legion Posts, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and fraternal and civic clubs for the purpose of securing voluntary service for this emergency.
Several problems which may not have been clearly recognized and yet which must be considered as quite important are the problems of (1) the protection of these auxiliaries against injuries, (2) the provision of proper protective clothing for them, and (3) the provision of proper feeding of those men when they are, under an emergency, obliged to work for long periods of time.
Unless the equipment, food, and protection are provided for those men (and there are no immediate funds available in any city organization for that purpose at the present time) there are going to be a great many problems and difficulties, as there were in England when this auxiliary scheme was first started. Many of their problems were purely administrative rather than fire fighting problems— problems of providing food, equipment, and so on.
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Auxiliary Fire Apparatus.
As to the question of providing auxiliary fire apparatus, Mayor LaGuardia has indicated that it is his thought that presumably the Federal Government will supply equipment when and where it appears to be necessary. The Office of Civilian Defense is preparing estimates of the amount of equipment needed to bring the fire departments of this country up to normal peacetime standards, and the amount of auxiliary equipment that may be needed to cope with the emergency.
There are elements of danger in the Federal Government’s supplying cities with fire equipment and apparatus. You can all appreciate that. There is a possibility, unless the entire matter is carefully studied and handled, of political pressure being brought to bear in various cities to acquire more equipment than others. It is incumbent upon each city to develop a program of additional equipment of its own within the limits of its resources, and to depend upon Federal grants of money only for the strictly important equipment that may be needed in the emergency.
Need for Priority Rating for Apparatus.
There is, as you know, a very serious backlog of orders in the fire apparatus field today. The apparatus mann-facturers cannot possibly fill the orders for peacetime requirements for some months to come. Thus far, the priorities board has not given recognition to fire apparatus, and it has been impossible for the apparatus companies to get the metals and material that they need to build appa
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ratus. We discussed this with the priorities board. We had a ruling from Doctor Hopkins, head of the metals division, to the effect that each case will have to be decided on its merits.
I referred that ruling and the entire situation to Mayor LaGuardia, and have an assurance from him that he is going to get a priority rating on fire apparatus, and get it immediately. I understand that in Washington a preliminary ruling has come out of the priorities board that plans fire and police equipment (along with a number of other equipments) on a special priority rating. So perhaps that hurdle has been overcome, and it may be possible henceforth to have apparatus made and delivered to our cities.
Standardization of Apparatus.
There is an obvious and important need for standardization of fire apparatus. We must avoid the special requirements that each individual fire chief thinks he should have. We have a committee on municipal fire apparatus, of which Chief J. N. Sullivan, of Utica, is chairman. We have a number of other competent fire chiefs serving on the committee. The committee has developed standards for fire apparatus of the common well-known types. The standards have been published and officially adopted, not only by our association but by the U. S. Conference of Mayors, and have been distributed to the purchasing agents of all the larger cities. We are hoping that these standards will be adopted as the standards for fire equipment in this emergency.
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Emergency Equipment.
With respect to small emergency equipment, considerable difference of opinion has arisen in this country as to what are the best and most effective types of small auxiliary fire equipment. Because of the fact that in England they have been using trailer pumpers to a very large extent, many people have the idea that trailers are the one and only type of auxiliary equipment to use in this country.
Personally, I am not convinced of that. Trailer pumpers have some advantages. They also have disadvantages. One of these disadvantages is that I can see comparatively little use for that type of equipment after the emergency is over. If, however, we provide some form of truck with either a front-end or midship mounted pump of 500-gallon capacity; or a skid-load pump of the type which has been used so effectively in forest fire fighting (the men can take it off light trucks and carry it for considerable distances) and then standardize that type of equipment, I can see a very considerable value after the emergency in having that as extra equipment for fighting brush and grass fires. Brush fires are a troublesome problem in most of our cities. We have a report on trailer pumpers and .specifications for auxiliary pumpers, which has been tentatively adopted and is now in print.
I heard one interesting observation about extra equipment and apparatus from District Chief Ivall, of London, who is now touring this country. He said that at no time in their emergency, even in the great raid on London of December 29 (about the most bitter fire raid that has ever been made over any city in the world at any time), had they ever been short of equipment or manpower to fight
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fires: that they have never yet reached the limit of their resources. That is perhaps an indication that they are to some degree overequipped and overmanned in the auxiliary fire service in England, because at no time, in Chief Ivall’s opinion, have they ever reached the point where they were in serious need of additional equipment or manpower.
Water Supply.
There are corollary problems in connection with this fire-department problem which I have been discussing. One of the most vital, and one to which you have probably given considerable attention in this course, is that of water supply. Preplanning, setting up emergency supplies in cisterns and in tanks, and charting possible sources of water m cities, such as the English fire departments carried out before the emergency arose, have proven of tremendous value in England. If any fire department has not as yet taken steps in cooperation with the city water department to find out what city water supplies are available, to make provisions for the pumpers being able to get down to streams, lakes, ponds, and other places where you might have to use the water, to study the special problem of laying long lines of hose for the relaying of water over long distances, and to study a cooperative scheme with the water department, I urge such action at once. It is a vital part of the problem.
One of the principal troubles in England has been the scarcity of water. In the case of a city like Coventry, which underwent a terrific raid one evening in which 30,-0Ó0 homes were destroyed, the trouble was primarily not with the fire department or lack of manpower but with
the lack of water.
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Incidentally, about the clearest and simplest statement on the water supply problem is one made by Secretary Jordan of the American Water Works Association. It is called Public Water Supply in the Civil Defense Program. It was published in the American Water Works Journal for January and I recommend it to you—if you have not happened to see it—as a very good statement of the water supply problem in times of emergency.
Communications.
We have the vital and baffling problem of adequate communications. A fire-alarm system may be crippled or put out of service very early in a raid. You may not have adequate radio equipment to work with, and you may have to face a situation in which you have to depend upon runners or boy scouts on bicycles. It is important to develop two or three different means of communication to take care of any possible emergency.
Mutual Aid.
There has been a vast increase in interest in the subject of mutual aid between the fire departments in adjoining communities because of this defense program. In my own area around Boston there has been a very thorough and competent mutual-aid plan developed among a lot of the cities. Westchester County in New York is another place where they have developed mutual-aid plans. Most of that information has been published and is available. It is an interesting development in the face of the emergency.
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Surveys Needed.
What should cities and fire departments be doing in these times not only to prevent fires that may occur from bombs but to prevent the all too many fires that are occurring in our big industries'? New York City has made a very comprehensive survey of the city and every building in it, and has that information documented in complete fashion. Other cities have also done that. More should and will do it. Some of the States—like Maryland, Massachusetts, Indiana, and Michigan—have made State-wide surveys of fire apparatus and equipment from the total State point of view. Some cities keep card indices and records of every building in their cities with a plan of each building showing exits and particular hazards. That information is available to chiefs reporting to fires. If you have not done that in your city, now is the time to do it.
Fire Losses.
Every fire department in every city today should have a knowledge of the fire-fighting equipment that already exists in industrial plants, department stores, and other big buildings. If a private fire brigade has not been established in every important building in the city, the fire department should take steps to organize them.
The work being done by the inspectors of the fire-prevention divisions—the men who are inspecting in large fire departments—was never more important nor more vital to the defense program than it is now. We recently
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sent out a communication to the fire chiefs in all cities of 50,000 population and over in the United States, calling to their attention the fact that during the last few months there has been a very large number of heavy-loss fires affecting the defense program. I have a list of over 20 fires, ranging from $200,000 to $5,000,000 in losses that have occurred since January 1, 1941. The causes of these fires are as follows:
(1)	An unreasonable concentration of combustibles.
(2)	Fire fought by employees when the fire department should have been called.
(3)	Lack of supervision of the building when it was under construction.
(4)	Watchman given inadequate instruction in the importance of promptly calling the fire department.
(5)	Valve supervision lacking or not properly carried out.
(6)	Protective features, such as fire walls and sprinklers, removed from the building.
(7)	An unusual concentration of especially valuable and damageable stock.
(8)	Large areas, so that a large loss, once a fire was started, was practically inevitable.
(9)	Protection of special hazards in the plant badly handled.
(10)	Water supply not designed to fit the fire danger.
(11)	Important structures given inadequate fire safety consideration.
(12)	The management unconvinced of the need of, and unsympathetic to, fire protection.
That list is typical of the sort of things that are causing the huge losses we have had—and will continue to have
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unless we take more specific, immediate, and direct action to concentrate on these important industrial processes and buildings, and see that they are given adequate attention.
Special Protection for Large Concentrations of Materials.
We have compiled a list of occupancies which we think require special treatment to prevent wartime fires. This list includes all important industrial concerns, piers and wharves, warehouses, large mercantiles, electric light and power stations, gas works, lumber yards, sawmills, and oil refining and storage plants. We have distributed to chiefs in all our larger cities a suggested report form to be used in making inspections of these large and important target hazards.
We ask that the reporting officer, whether he be a battalion chief or inspector, should make a confidential report—daily in some cases, and weekly in others—to the chief on the conditions that he finds in any particular plant. That would include comments on the plant protection, and would show when the last visit was made; whether he has made a spot-check of the important hazards ; what he has found out about the private fire brigade and watchman service, supervision of valves, attitude of management, any new or unusual concentration of stock or finished goods. A simple form that is designed specifically to meet an emergency situation such as we now face.
The Federal Government is now purchasing and bringing into this country a very large quantity of essential commodities—rubber, wool, nitrate of soda, and many others. This material is being dumped on piers in various parts of the country. It seemed to us important that some plan
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be set up to notify the local fire departments that this material was being brought into their cities. We have set up a plan, through the National Bureau for Industrial Protection in Washington, to check with the various defense commodities corporations. We compile data on these supplies and materials coming into this country and the amounts and places where they are to be stored. We pass that information immediately along to the fire chief in that community. We tell him not only what has been imported, but what is expected to come in to his city. We ask him to take prompt steps to inspect it, and to see if the building is adequate and proper.
The National Board of Fire Underwriters in New York get similar information, and they relay it to the rating bureau in the state where the material is coming in. Thus the insurance inspectors can ascertain where this concentration of value is and inspect it.
In that way we are going to save some bad fires in these large concentrations of materials. In the last war there were a number of such fires, mainly due to the fact that the fire departments had not been advised and could therefore not take the necessary steps.
Inspection of Homes.
While I am talking about the importance of inspection in these times, let me make just a brief observation of the fact that we have been hammering away on the importance and value of inspecting homes. If there was ever a time when home inspection was valuable, it is now, and if there was ever a time when you could expect the cooperation of every home owner, it would be now. Today there are two
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or three hundred cities in which men go out and make a semiannual or annual inspection and investigate for fire hazards in every home in that city.
Those of you who are here from such cities as Providence and Worcester know the effectiveness of home-inspection work. It has cut the number of fires and loss in dwellings from 75 percent to 50 percent with no extra cost to the city, no extraordinary or undue burden on the property owner, and with a corollary and very important increase in the respect and admiration of the community for the fire department for undertaking that extra burden of work. Such work has a profound effect when the Fire Chief goes before his Council to get appropriations for the next year.
The fire department in the city of Cleveland, Ohio, is undertaking a very elaborate campaign to organize and train private fire brigades in every important building in Cleveland. They have concentrated their defense efforts on that particular phase—on the theory that that was more immediately important than possible attacks by bombs. That seems to have aroused a great deal of interest among the industrial plants and mercantiles in Cleveland, and it seems to be a great success.
Fire Protection for Defense Industries.
The protection of essential defense industries in this country is, to a considerable extent, under the supervision of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. To assist the F. B. I., the National Bureau for Industrial Protection has been established in Washington by the insurance companies. This makes available some 6,000 insurance inspectors to visit industrial plants, and to see that proper recommendations are made.
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It is of unusual importance right now that every large fire and, if possible, every fire in every community, be thoroughly investigated. Some of you have been carrying on careful and adequate investigations of fires for years. These investigations are essential, not only because the information you gather is of value to the training school and to the officers’ school, but because it has a vital effect in suppressing arson. It is an important deterrent not only to saboteurs and arsonists, but to the man that is apt to be careless. If fires are carefully investigated and it is known that they are, and if anything is brought out in the courts or in public to the detriment of owners of such properties, it has a valuable effect as the actual apprehension of possible incendiarists.
Fire Prevention Ordinances.
One thing—perhaps a little prosaic but important and desirable at this time—is the opportunity to get more adequate fire-prevention legislation adopted by city councils. City officials today are receptive to any ordinance proposed that will help the defense program. Now is an excellent time to get the adoption of fire-prevention codes, to be administered by fire departments. These codes should be entirely separate from the city building code, not covering construction features but hazards such as the storage of oil and other combustibles. Such matters can be covered in fire-prevention codes such as you have in many of the important cities today like Seattle, Los Angeles, and Richmond. Now is a good time, if you have not up-to-date or comprehensive ordinance, to revise it and have it accepted.
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Coordination of Fire Defense With Other Civilian Defense Activities.
Mayor LaGuardia has made a very clear statement about the proper coordination of this entire program, including the specific responsibilities with which you are not concerned—such as the air raid wardens, the rescue parties, the decontamination squads, the bomb squads, the ambulance squads, and the gas and electric squads. The coordination of the fire-fighting and fire-defense plan with those other related agencies presented a difficult problem in many cities. There may be overlapping; there is bound to be confusion to some extent as to the differentiation of duties between the police department and the fire department, and as to where some of these other services enter the picture.
The fire department, as long as the Mayor has given the fire departments the initial leadership in getting these auxiliary forces under way, should take the initiative in seeing that these other services which will follow the fire service are so organized that they will coordinate and cooperate with the fire service rather than cause confusion and trouble.
Publications on Fire Defense.
Here are a few of the reference books and pamphlets that appeal to me as the most desirable. You may be familiar with some of them.
Our association has published a general manual on fire defense, which has been rather widely distributed as a textbook, and is used in many of the air raid schools as well as in the fire schools. We have the trailer pumper report
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that I spoke of earlier in my talk; and a little pamphlet called *‘Fire Defense Programs, Suggestions for Defense Councils and Committees.”
The pamphlet, “Defense Programs for the Fire Department,” by Chief Palmer, recently published by the International Association of Fire Chiefs, is an intelligent presentation of the problem that the fire departments are facing.
Three excellent books written by the Civilian Defense Committee of Ontario have had rather wide distribution in this country. Handbook No. 1 is an organization and instruction manual, setting up the entire civilian defense plan for the province. The second one is a general training manual. The third is a fire service manual. This is the one which would most interest you. These can be secured from Mr. W. J. Scott, the Provincial Fire Marshal of Ontario, at Toronto. I know he has been very generous in making those Canadian pamphlets widely available to fire departments and others in this country.
I hope I have not covered too wide a variety of subjects, but I was anxious to include something about all these things in which I am so interested and concerned.
DISCUSSION
Question. Mr. Bugbee, can you see any effect of auxiliaries on the fire department of the future with regard to reduction of personnel and equipment? Will the population feel that they can get along without the fire department by the use of these auxiliary organizations?
Mr. Bugbee. I think it is a matter of primary organiza.-tion at the start. It should be made plain to the auxiliaries
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that they are being called purely for the emergency, that they are volunteers subject to the local fire departments and administrators.
Question. You spoke about 6,000 inspectors making investigations and suggestions for improvements. Do you know of any time where they notified the fire departments of the suggestions which they have made for improvements ?
Mr. Bugbee. Those 6,000 inspectors are pooled through the Bureau for Industrial Protection, and whatever they recommend goes through the F. B. I. Whether the F. B. I. makes any of their recommendations available to the fire departments I don’t know.
Question. You were perhaps a little modest when you talked about the codes in cities throughout the country. You didn’t mention Massachusetts. Don’t you think the Department of Public Safety code there is pretty good ?
Mr. Bugbee. Yes; I do.
Question. Mr. Bugbee, it is a well-known fact that in the last 10 years fire officials have been united in saying that the insurance companies are rather lax in enforcing recommendations made by their inspectors insofar as correcting conditions are concerned. What do you have to say about that?
Mr. Bugbee. That is a little out of my field, because I am not an insurance man. Some insurance inspectors are better than others, some more conscientious than others. In competition for business some insurance men may stiffen up their requirements, with the thought that they will get lower rates to offer and thereby sell more insurance; or they may be lax thinking that if they don’t ask too much, they may get by.
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I do think that the average insurance inspector, as I know him, has been somewhat maligned. I think he is competent and well-trained.
Question. Don’t you believe that it would be good policy if insurance inspectors would cooperate more fully with the fire department—not only during the emergency necessarily, but at all times ?
Mr. Bugbee. Yes. It is a little difficult to work but. The inspector may be told to make a confidential report to his company. He can’t talk because he may get in trouble with the insured; he may disclose a secret process. Many times the insurance inspector is told when he comes into the plant that he can’t give out any information to anyone.
Question. Mr. Bugbee, I believe that 90 percent of the fire departments in the country are undermanned. The same is true with apparatus. Now, what I can’t understand is this: In my city, we have had recommendations from the board of underwriters, and we carried those recommendations out thoroughly. We built several engine houses and bought new trucks, and are buying them still. Yet the insurance rate jumps up. When I go before the finance board, what do I have to say about it? That’s not fair. The underwriters don’t work with the fire department officials at all, so far as I can see.
Mr. Bugbee. I am really not competent to attack or defend the insurance business because I don’t know enough about it. You must remember, though, that a city rating includes many factors besides just the fire department.
Question. I come from a manufacturing town, and the firms all have their own departments. I have tried to get them to standardize their couplings and nozzles. The insurance company says no. When they want to shut down,
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they have to go half a mile to shut their pump before they can shut their line down. I can’t understand it.
Mr. Bugbee. I can’t, either.
Question. Can you tell us about that new fire code being distributed by the National Board of Fire Underwriters ?
Mr. Bugbee. Yes; it is- a new edition of a code that they have been publishing for several years; the first I think was 12 years ago. Then they published a second one in 1938, and this one has just been completed.
As far as I know, it is a good guide. They picked out what they thought were the most important things to be included in the fire-prevention code, and it represents their idea. Your idea might be different, mine might be different. I think their proposed code is all right. It will help a whole lot toward standardizing.
Question. In regard to that inspection card you have mentioned, the city of Everett, Massachusetts, has two splendid specimens. On one side of the card are 39 items, and on the other side is the first floor and basement plan. If any of you men are interested, you can write to the Chief of the Fire Department in Everett and get the card.
Mr. Bugbee. If you are interested in record forms of all kinds, you might like to know that there is a “Model Record and Reporting System for Fire Departments” that has been published. It is very complete. It includes all sorts of fire department records. It was based on a study of the record systems used by a hundred fire departments in this country. It is published by Public Administration Service, 1313 East 60th Street, Chicago. I think it sells for $2. It is quite a comprehensive book.
IIB
FIRE APPARATUS AND EQUIPMENT AND EMERGENCY WATER SUPPLIES
By
dames W. dust
Maryland State Fire Coordinator
It is not the purpose at this time to discuss the construction, operation, or maintenance of your present equipment, but to give you a brief analysis of some of the problems you may be called upon to face.
Practically every fire department in the United States is either underequipped or in the position of depending upon obsolete apparatus. If apparatus were ordered now, it would be many months before delivery could be made, if at all. As a matter of fact, there are many makes of pumps which are unobtainable even now.
Face the Facts Immediately.
The emergency confronting us is not one which is going to await “future orders.” Our job is to face the facts immediately, plan a defense program accordingly, and act decisively.
Just what are we going to do for pump capacity if an air attack should hit us next month ?
One partial solution which has been offered is in utilizing to the limit the small front end mounted pump of 300 to 500 gallons capacity. Fortunately, we understand, this type pump is still available in quantity. This pump can be mounted on almost any type of vehicle, with a booster tank
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of from 250 to 1,000 gallons, and will prove a very serviceable piece of emergency equipment.
This arrangement, however, does not entirely solve the problem the trailer pump solves; that is, in getting through debris-littered streets handily. However, when mounted on a light truck, you will be able to take it to places where it would be impossible to reach in an 8- or 10-ton standard engine.
The possibility of mounting such a pump on all city-owned vehicles should be considered. Industrial plants might also be convinced of the advisability of so equipping some of their trucks. In such cases, the booster tank installation could be eliminated and in an emergency drums of water carried on the truck.
Emergency ladder pipe hook-ups may be prepared by installing brackets on the side of city service trucks, street trucks, sand and gravel trucks, where, in an emergency, ordinary straight beam ladders can be bracketed in a vertical position for an elevated nozzle operation. This plan has been used successfully for years in the Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Fire Department.
Equipping Rescue Trucks.
Any type of truck can be equipped as a combination rescue and salvage truck, and equipped as well with foam and other special extinguishing agents. Rescue trucks should be properly equipped. Many so-called rescue companies are very short on actual rescue equipment.
In short, the chief should not only study but put into action definite plans for the conversion of various types of vehicles for fire service.
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Protection Against Sabotage.
Another matter that should have the careful consideration of the fire department is the protection of apparatus and equipment against both sabotage and bombing.
The saboteur, in order to insure a reasonable chance of success in any act of sabotage against a war industry, would consider it of utmost importance to cripple the fire department. There are many ways in which the fire fighting service could be crippled, all of which must be guarded against. Particularly vulnerable items are the alarm system, the pumping units, other motorized equipment, and the hydrant.
Constant vigilance is necessary to guard against damage to the equipment, both from within and from without the department. Loafers and strangers should not be allowed around a fire hall or the apparatus, nor about the pumping station. The personnel of the fire department should be carefully scrutinized as the enemy is likely to endeavor to place his agents in positions where they have the best opportunity to commit acts of sabotage. The fire department is one of the best possible places from the enemy’s point of view in which to cause the greatest dislocation of effort in an emergency resulting from fire and explosions.
Alarm System.
The fire alarm constitutes the nerve system of the fire department and upon it depends the initiation and coordination of the department’s efforts to deal with an emergency. It plays a very important part in the case of a large fire or a large number of simultaneous fires and a break-down of the lines of communication could lead to
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utter confusion and disastrous delays. In view of its vital importance, the fire-alarm system should receive careful and constant supervision so that any tampering with it will be detected as soon as possible.
Telephone communication to fire-department headquarters and with substations should receive the same careful supervision. Some of the most disastrous results of bombing during the present war have been from the disruption of the communication lines, a break-down in which is second in consequences only to an interruption in the water supply. To meet any extreme circumstances, a system of run-ners (with bicycles or cars) should be organized in such a way that it could be put into operation with a minimum of delay.
Apparatus.
There are many ways in which the various pieces of apparatus can be put out of commission without the trouble being detected until steps are taken to put the equipment to use. Foreign materials in the lubricants for the engines and pumps might put them out of commission after a very short time on duty. Foreign materials in the fuel tank might cause a piece of apparatus to stall before reaching the fire at all. Similar results can be attained by tampering with the fuel line or the ignition system on trucks, by draining out the lubricant, or by placing small metallic objects where they will become engaged in the gears and damage them.
In order to avoid any of these possibilities, the various pieces of apparatus should be protected from tampering by unauthorized persons and should be checked and tested
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frequently to be sure that they are in working condition. The servicing of the various motor vehicles should be allotted to certain individuals who would be held responsible. Strict enforcement of such a rule would go a long way toward eliminating the likelihood of any trouble of this nature.
Hydrants and Mains.
Hydrants are particularly subject to damage and attack. They should be checked, particularly in important areas, to see that they are in proper working order. There is not only the question of deliberate interference with the hydrants, but also the possibility of freezing or other accidental damage. The problem of what steps to take for an alternative water supply, if the mains themselves are damaged, should also be considered.
Personnel.
Someone should be in attendance at all times at the fire hall to guard against interference with the equipment and against trespassers. A complete history should be obtained of every member of the department. It should include information with respect to his inclinations and attitude toward our war effort, any subversive activities in the past, and his associations with any organizations of an undesirable character. Anyone under suspicion should be carefully watched, but it cannot be too strongly emphasized that he should not be allowed to realize that he is under suspicion or is being watched.
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Protection Against Air Attack.
In the event of an air attack, either with explosives or incendiaries, fire stations are just as likely to be damaged as any other buildings. In view of their vital importance under such circumstances, it is urgent that they be provided with all the protection from damage that is practicable. Measures taken to afford protection should take into consideration the following:
(a) The vulnerability of the switchboard and fire-alarm room.
(&) Safe accommodation for officers and men.
(c)	Accommodation for mustering purposes in contingencies and emergencies.
(d)	The ability of the building construction to withstand concussion blasts and splinters.
(e)	Concrete or metal shelters as accommodation by day or night (if subsequent developments make them necessary).
(/) The storage of flammable liquids underground and sufficiently removed from the fire department premises.
(#) Provision for emergency lighting.
(h)	The advance location of places where equipment may be moved. This is important where there is more than one piece of apparatus in one station. Such equipment should be decentralized during raids to prevent total destruction by any one bomb.
Reinforcement and Protection of Building.
In providing against bombing from the air, measures should be considered with regard to the strengthening of
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the floors so that they will withstand the weight of the debris from the collapse of the roof and walls above. Precautions must also be taken against incendiary bombs and they should apply to the entire roof and the upper story or attic as well as to alternative means of exit. Following are specific measures to be considered:
(a) The strengthening of floors can most readily be accomplished by timber or steel strutting.
(&)	If the existing walls are not sufficiently strong to resist penetration by splinters or collapse from concussion, the “protected” accommodation for personnel, fire-alarm equipment, etc., can be further protected by means of sandbags.
(c)	Windows are vulnerable points, but substantial protection can be given by providing them with heavy shutters which can be closed when an emergency arises. Alternatively, they can be protected with a wall of sandbags 2 feet or more in thickness resting on the window sill and on a projecting ledge, extending so as to overlap the window opening by at least 12 inches on all sides.
(d)	Roofs of sufficient strength can be partially protected by a layer of sand bags. As incendiary bombs usually pierce the roof and become lodged in the attic or on the top floor, some protection against fire should be provided in these areas. A considerable degree of protection can be given by covering the floor with a 2-inch layer of sand and treating the upper woodwork with a flame-resisting paint or plaster. With this protection and a water spray, an incendiary bomb can be prevented from doing any serious damage.
The same principles should be applied in the protection of a fire hall as in the protection of any other building,
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but their application should be even more intensified than with the ordinary building because of the dependence of other properties upon the personnel and equipment in the fire halls for protection. This is true not only under threat of air raids but under all circumstances, since the fire department is likely to be called upon to deal with the emergencies at any time.
Coordination With Neighboring Departments.
The chief of department should secure through the State fire coordination a list of all available apparatus and equipment within a 20- or 25-mile radius of the city. Then, in cooperation with the coordinator and the various neighboring departments, set up a definite call system for outside help to the municipality. This, of course, should be so arranged that no neighboring community will be left unprotected.
Water Supply.
No chief will argue as to the advisability of an adequate water supply for fire flighting. Yet a great many of us have not yet fully realized that in most of our cities, one well placed HE bomb would raise havoc with the water supply. In fact, in many cities the supply could be entirely cut off. In others, entire large sections of the city could be left without water for fire protection.
One of the most important duties of the firb department today is to make an immediate survey to ascertain exactly what the possibilities are. We have seen cases where a town had two well-separated sources of supply, yet due to a lack of sufficient sectional control valves the crippling of
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either source of supply would leave the greater part of the city without water.
While in many cases the water department has exclusive control over the water system, the fire department should survey the situation from its own angle and fight for such changes or improvements as will safeguard the water supply for emergencies.
The occurrence of a large number of fires simultaneously is not necessarily dependent upon air raids with incendiary bombs. A carefully executed plan by a designing and ruthless enemy could accomplish the same results by simpler methods, and there is no right to assume that he will not resort to such tactic, particularly as the situation becomes more desperate for him.
Try the Emergency Sources.
A careful survey should be made and all additional sources of water supply should be mapped. These include rivers, creeks, swimming pools, cisterns, wells, industrial water tanks, railroad water tanks, industrial vats. It is not sufficient to merely list these emergency supplies. The fire department should try using them—to make sure they are approachable, unobstructed, reliable. Companies should practice relaying water from such sources, possibly from one such supply to another. Incidentally, this should also be tried in a black-out.
The department should urge the establishment of cisterns in strategic locations where failure of water would be calamitous. It should urge business interests and house owners to keep any possible sources of supply filled.
Methods should be practised of building dams and lash
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ing up hard suctions, in order to offset possibility of off-threads or damaged threads.
(Illustrate HS hook-up on board.)
It is also recommended that departments investigate the possibilities of the English “Gulley Dam” (illustrate) for utilizing excess water on the fire ground.
Inventory the Portable Tanks.
Inventory should be taken of wholesale hardware and implement houses, as well as of retail establishments to learn where—and in what numbers—portable tanks such as farm horse troughs and metal vats of various kinds may be found. Strategic locations for the location of these emergency tanks should be planned in advance. Advance arrangements should be made for collecting, placing, and filling such containers, possibly with some local cartage company.
The department should have a list of all privately owned fire pumps in business or industrial plants, as well as the amount and size of available hose at such locations, and information as to source of water supply for such pumps.
Householders in possible raid areas should be required to keep all available tubs, buckets, etc., filled for emergency use.
Proper arrangements should be made with the water company and an educational program conducted to teach the public to conserve the available water supply.
Practice Water Relay.
Departments should be prepared, through study and practice, to relay water from hydrant to hydrant in by-
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passing ruptured sections of mains, and water companies should have well-manned and equipped emergency repair crews constantly available.
All sources of water supply should be learned and possibly marked so they may be located and used in a blackout. This means that all company members should not only be familiar with the location but with surrounding conditions as well.
Fire hydrants should be stamped showing the size of main and pressure, as an assistance not only to the local department but to any outside companies reporting in an emergency.
Many of you have undoubtedly made intensive study of these subjects, and have probably done something about it. We would like to hear your suggestions.
IIC
ROLE OF FIRE SERVICE IN NATIONAL DEFENSE
By
Fred Shepperd
Major Brayton. Fred Shepperd has been connected with fire service since way back in 1910. I think you are all acquainted with him in his function as manager of the International Association of Fire Chief Organizations and as editor of Fire Engineer. I expect most of you in your libraries have several text books which he has written.
I don’t know what Mr. Shepperd’s slant on the situation is. I am just asking him to tell it to you. But I want you fellows to feel that we have got an organization here which is capable of giving a lot of information to the fire departments over the United States and Canada, and that we appreciate that sort of cooperation.
Mr. Fred Shepperd. It has been a number of years since I have had the pleasure of talking before such a class. I was rather surprised to come here this morning and find such qualified fire instructors as Major Brayton. He has been engaged in this work for years, and set the pace in fire-department training in Texas. We have observed many of the innovations he has inaugurated. It is most encouraging to find you have such a fine instructor. I am glad to be here with him.
The topic assigned to me is The Role of Fire Service in National Defense.
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In order to discuss the-subject intelligently, we must go further than just outlining the role. We must point out some of the things a fire department will be faced with, and also include such information as will be of use in fulfilling the role.
In a report entitled4‘Civilian Defense,” prepared by the Advisory Committee on Fire Defense and issued by the Division of State and Local Cooperation of the Office for Emergency Management, the following statement appears:
“In these days of total defense, a nation’s secondary lines of defense, including the organization of fire services and the provision of police protection, are almost as important as the military or first line of defense. In some cases, these secondary lines of defense may be of equal importance to the nation.”
The experience of the British fire service would seem to indicate that civil defense is fire defense. It need only be pointed out that the London fire department alone has averaged 700 fires a day, with a top of 2,000 fires in one night, to appreciate the tremendous task with which they are faced. These figures do not include incipient fires that were extinguished by fire wardens, police, or the public, without the aid of the fire department. The multiplicity of fires was not all that taxed the fire department. In addition to the fires, water mains were crippled by high explosive bombs, streets were littered and in some cases impassable due to debris. Roadways were blocked by bomb pits, gas mains were ruptured and gas ignited, and communication systems were seriously damaged.
In discussing the role of our fire service in national defense, it will be helpful to review briefly the experiences of our brother firefighters abroad, particularly with regard
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to what they have had to face during aerial attack, because that will possibly represent the major problem to be faced here.
Recent “blitz” bombings in England show a definite pattern or plan, though this plan may be varied from time to time. First to arrive are the planes which drop flares. These flares light up the area to be bombed. Then come the planes carrying incendiary bombs, which are strewn over the area. Following the incendiaries, high-explosive bombs are dropped. These latter bombs drive to cover those who may be trying to extinguish fires started by the incendiary bombs and also serve to wreck buildings and thereby make them easier prey to fire. And then in some instances oil bombs are subsequently dropped to spread fires over wrecked areas. Where fires have gained headway, enemy planes frequently machine-gun the firemen to hinder their operations and thus aid the spreading of fires.
That America will ever be subjected to the same intensified air attacks that England has experienced seems, to the layman, to be most unlikely. Surely the general use of high-explosive bombs, on a large scale, on other than military objectives would not be in order, because of the cost of these bombs, the cost of transporting them, and their limited effectiveness. But the use of incendiary bombs, where a $10 bomb might start a $10,000,000 fire, would prove attractive to any enemy. The extensive use of incendiary bombs is therefore indicated if we become actively engaged in the war and if any bombing is done.
Set Fires.
In considering incendiary fires, we must not overlook the saboteur. Sabotage by fire is effective, and evidence of
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the crime is frequently destroyed in the fire. But sabotage can be controlled largely by vigilance, and a multiplicity of fires at one time within a city from this cause is improbable. On the other hand, air attack can neither be checked by vigilance, nor can the number of fires caused be reduced by the same means. The fire department, with its auxiliaries, must be prepared to extinguish them. If it fails in this, conflagration may result. A 4% squaremile area in one British city was leveled by fire during a single air attack.
Even though the enemy planes which bombed London had but a short distance to travel from their base in France just across the English Channel, and thus could carry on a sustained bombardment with high explosive bombs, it is interesting to learn that the damage done by incendiary bombs in London was far greater than that done by the high explosive type.
APPARATUS
To fill its role, and fill it with full effectiveness, the fire service must first look to its apparatus. Specialized fires require specialized apparatus, a multiplicity of fires requires widely distributed apparatus, and large fires require apparatus of large capacity.
The first step in preparedness is to bring the department up to its full strength by replacing obsolete machines with new, and by restoring the full personnel to fire companies. After this has been accomplished, then special auxiliary apparatus may be provided.
Experience in England has shown that the small trailer pump is effective and economical for wartime service. Because of its small size, it can be stored at convenient points
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within buildings and thus will be near at hand when needed. Its capacity is such that it can handle any small fire ; or it can serve, when used in numbers, with good effect at larger blazes.
The number of trailer pumps employed in London is on a basis of 25 to 30 for each regular fire company. In American cities where there are relatively more companies in proportion to population than in London, the ratio would be smaller. Furthermore, with less intensified bombing as expected here, the number of trailer pumps needed would be even less. Possibly 10 to 15 trailers per regular company would be sufficient for American cities.
HIGH BUILDING PROTECTION
When a high-explosive bomb strikes the top of a building the water tank thereon supplying the sprinkler and standpipe systems of the building is put out of commission, along with both systems. For that reason, fire fighting operations in these taller structures are difficult.
To speed up operations and to enable the fire department to get streams quickly in operation on the fire, the use of aerial ladders—preferably of the metal, power-operated type—is essential. So effective have these aerial ladders proven in British cities that one aerial ladder is being provided for each pumper in the service. It is recommended that the ratio of aerial ladders to pumpers be also increased in fire departments of cities along the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards.
Fire hose, the medium through which water is carried from its source to the fire, is the most important tool of modern fire departments. Without hose, the most powerful fire engines are worthless as fire-extinguishing machines.
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Where a large number of fires are burning at the same time, a single fire company may have to stretch three or four lines. Unless there is a reserve supply of hose, this cannot be done because each fire engine carries only from 1,000 to 2,000 feet of hose.
Present hose supply of fire departments within the probable zone of attack should be doubled. And because long stretches will be common, and high pressure at engines will be required to produce satisfactory pressures at nozzles, only high-grade hose should be considered. During a multiplicity of fires when each engine and each line must perform, the failure of a single line of hose may prove disastrous.
In connection with the use of fire streams during air attack, certain devices have proven especially valuable. The deck gun, mounted on a fire engine or other piece of apparatus, delivers a large stream of high pressure and holds its direction without outside aid. It can be aimed to deliver a stream at any point desired, and, when left by itself, it does not change this direction. This characteristic is particularly valuable when firemen operating on a fire are driven to cover by enemy planes. The stream will continue to do its work while the firemen take shelter. Pipe holders, placed on the ground, have proven equally valuable.
Extinguishers.
The correct use of the proper types of extinguishing agents plays a very important part in the role of the fire service in national defense. A brief review of these agents, with a word about their limitations, may be of interest.
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Probably the most novel extinguishing agent today is water fog. This fog is produced by the discharge of water, usually under fairly high pressure, through a special atomizing nozzle. In some cases the extinguishing effect is produced by quenching—that is, the cooling of the combustible material to a point below its reignition point; in other cases, particularly in confined fires, the result is brought about by smothering the fire, the fog being vaporized by the heat of the fire and the steam so produced smothering the fire. In heavy oil fires, the fog produces an emulsion on the surface of the burning oil and this emulsion aids in the extinguishment of the fire.
Of particular interest to us today is the effectiveness of the fog nozzle in combating fires involving the magnesium (or electron metal) incendiary bomb. While the fog tends to increase the intensity of combustion of the bomb, it does not cause the violent reaction (sputtering) produced by a solid water stream striking the burning bomb. And at the same time the fog extinguishes the fire in any combustible material which may be in contact with the bomb.
The stirrup pump is used very widely abroad for handling incipient fires caused by the 1-kilogram bomb. The proper use of this pump, which employs water, requires three persons—one operates the pump, one handles the nozzle, and the third carries water for the container in which the suction of the pump rests. Properly used, it is safe and effective for small magnesium bomb fires.
The knapsack type extinguisher, which is a 5-gallon tank curved to fit the back and carried by straps, is fitted with a hand-operated piston pump, by which the operator can deliver a stream a distance of 30 feet or more. This is a
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one-man extinguisher and has proven very effective on the incipient fire.
The soda and acid extinguisher is a cylindrical tank of 2%- to 3-gallons capacity, fitted with hose and nozzle. Mixing together within the extinguisher a sodium bicarbonate solution and sulphuric acid creates carbon dioxide gas, which provides the expelling force for the soda solution. This extinguisher is about as effective in extinguishing fires as plain water in an amount equivalent to the fluid contents of the extinguisher. It is safe for use on all fires on which plain water might be used.
The carbon tetrachloride extinguisher is not safe for use on incendiary bombs.
Carbon dioxide gas fire extinguishers are not effective on magnesium bomb fires because they increase, rather than decrease, the intensity of combustion.
Dry sand and powdered talc are useful in controlling the burning magnesium bomb, although they do not always stop the burning. Quite recently a powder has been developed by a magnesium manufacturer and an extinguisher maker which is said to extinguish the fire involving an electron metal bomb.
Water Supply.
Despite the many extinguishers and extinguishing methods developed, water still remains the first line of fire defense. In fact, it is the only agent that can be used today in the control of conflagrations. Hence its great importance in civil defense. There is not a city in the United States that has not a water supply capable of meeting all peacetime fire-fighting needs. But unfor
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tunately, every water supply system is highly vulnerable to aerial attack. It is not the reservoirs that suffer. It is the underground mains carrying the supply throughout the city. During a heavy aerial attack in London, the breaks in water mains may exceed one hundred.
As water mains in this country are buried at depths of only 2 to 6 feet, it does not take a large bomb to penetrate the pavement and earth beneath it and rupture a main. And unless the water main system is cross-connected and valved, so that any broken section may be segregated, serious bleeding of the water system may result from pipe rupture caused by bombs. In one British city, nearly 60 percent of the water system was put out of commission during a “blitz” attack. It was 4 days before service was entirely restored.
Provision of water supply looms as a vital problem in civil defense.
In the event of serious damage to the water system, reliance must be placed on other sources of water. Hence a thorough study should be made of the various sources of auxiliary supply that might be used. These sources should be tested in actual practice to assure the familiarity necessary for most effective use. Auxiliary sources which should be investigated and catalogued might include rivers, ponds, lakes, pools, cisterns, wells, roof tanks, private storage tanks, industrial water plants, swimming pools, and other available sources.
In connection with the use of auxiliary sources at a distance, men must be fully instructed in the use of relay lines. The only limitation as to the distance water can be delivered through fire hose is the number of pumping
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engines available, and the supply of hose on hand. At the big London fire, water was taken from the Thames River and sent through hose lines miles in length.
The men should be fully informed, too, in the bridging of broken sections of water mains by use of hose lines. If upon isolating a break in a main by closing valves, the main on the far side is deprived of water, it is necessary to supply this main by use of hose—preferably of large diameter—stretched across the break from hydrant to hydrant.
Periodical inspection of hydrants should be made by members of the fire department to make sure that they are in good condition and ready for operation. It is desirable to have hydrants painted white, so that they can be readily located during a black-out. Either the size of main to which the hydrant is attached, or some other symbol indicating the probable flow from hydrant, should be painted on the hydrant barrel or hood. It is also desirable to paint a white line across the street at hydrant location to facilitate the location of hydrant during black-out.
Reuse of Water.
To conserve water supply, when many fires are burning, water should be reused. That is, water flowing from a building, industrial plant, or other structure should be reused for fire-fighting operations. It is not recommended, however, that this practice be followed at oil plants. At a London fire the officer in command was amazed to note the fierceness with which a fire burned when a stream was directed on it, only to find that the pumper was picking up oil with the water from a sluice. The oil found its way into a ditch from a bombed oil storage tank.
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The work of the fire department in water conservation does not end with its own efforts. It should, by all available means, urge the public to keep water stored in tubs, bathtubs, and other containers for use in the event of attack by incendiary bombs.
Training Private Brigades.
In its role of national defense, the fire service must reach beyond its own confines. The organization and training of private brigades in industrial plants must be undertaken and carried to completion, for in the event of numerous fires being created by incendiary attack, the municipal fire department will have its hands full in combating fires in commercial and business buildings and dwellings. The industrial plant may have to take care of its own fires.
Furthermore, industrial plant brigades can be of material assistance to the municipal department if they are well drilled.
Mutual Aid.
In this day of high-speed motor vehicles and good roads, mutual aid between neighboring municipalities, in the event of disasters of major proportions, is not only possible, but is practical and highly effective. County emergency plans of cooperation have been in operation for several years, with outstanding success.
In a plan for mutual aid, an inventory of available equipment is the first essential. Then a code of signals must be formulated to secure efficient operation. With such a sys
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tem properly developed, it is possible to call just such equipment and personnel as is needed.
A well-ordered mutual-aid plan includes not only fire apparatus, demolition equipment, rescue apparatus, ambulances, first-aid cars, and other special duty equipment, but also a roster of skilled artisans, such as mechanics, welders, electricians, and utility employees.
From the standpoint of fire fighting, it is imperative that hose adapters be provided so that each fire department can use the hose and hydrants of all other departments in the group.
It is highly beneficial for an emergency plan, or mutualaid organization, to carry out mock musters, so that in the event of an emergency confusion will be avoided.
Auxiliaries.
No peacetime fire department has the manpower to handle situations brought about by air attacks. In London it was necessary to develop an auxiliary force of fire fighters which outnumbers the regular department by 20 to 1. An auxiliary force must likewise be established in American cities, and trained by the regular fire fighters.
Members for such an auxiliary force may be secured from among pensioned firemen, civil-service eligibles for the fire department, members of veterans, civic, fraternal, and similar societies; members of trade-unions and others employed in certain industries; tradesmen and others whose work does not take them from the district.
As noted previously, these auxiliaries must be trained by the regular department. Instruction courses should include the following: Fire prevention, fire fighting, fire
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alarm operation, characteristics and functioning of incendiary, high explosive, and othér types of bombs ; detection and prevention of sabotage and arson; use of fire apparatus and various types of fire-fighting tools; first aid and rescue work. The same training that is given regular firemen should be followed as closely as possible in these training courses—that is, the course should cover use of standard and mobile equipment as noted previously; use of hose and ladders ; types of extinguishers, gas masks, and other equipment.
Auxiliaries, properly trained, have proven themselves very capable fire fighters abroad. The experience here should be similar.
The auxiliary force should include lookout men, or spotters, who are capable of handling incipient fires.
Normally, the first duty of the fire department is to save life, and to accomplish this effectively in the event of air raid requires both equipment and training. Each incident is a problem in itself and no general instructions might be given which could be applied to every case. But life saving does not include only the rescue of persons in difficulty. It includes preventive measures as well. In this category fall evacuation drills. Such drills should be conducted in schools, office buildings, and other places where large numbers of persons congregate or are housed. Evacuation drills should be conducted under the direct supervision of firemen of the regular force, if possible.
Of utmost importance to the safety and health of a community is the maintenance of its utility service. Electric power, gas, water, and transportation facilities, as well as oil supply, are vital to the operation of a municipal corporation. The protection of these utilities is one of the most
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important tasks of the fire service. Insistence upon good housekeeping—that is, the removal of waste and rubbish— and keeping of extinguishing equipment in good condition are essential requirements, in the protection of these utilities. Oil plants, because of their extremely hazardous nature, will probably be equipped with dikes and other safety features. Condition of such dikes and other emergency equipment should be checked.
Inspection Work.
Periodical inspection of industrial plants, commercial buildings, places of public assembly, and places of human habitation is a most essential part of civil defense. If premises are kept clean, the danger of fire spreading is reduced materially. Frequently, due to rush of work, combustible stocks are permitted to accumulate in factories, or waste materials may collect, and then in the event of fire starting, damage may be extensive. Inspection work should include the checking not only of common hazards but of the uncommon as well. Thoroughness of inspection by firemen is reflected directly by decrease in fires and fire losses.
Educating the Public.
It will be the duty of the fire service to inform the public in methods of cooperating with the fire departments so that fire losses may be kept to a minimum. Many agencies for such public education are available and can be used with effectiveness. The use of newspapers, radio, and speakers from the fire department are all in order. Informing the public on what to do to minimize fire hazards, what precautionary steps they should take to guard against
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fires from incendiary bombs, and what to do in the event of a serious fire situation should all be part of the program. Fire-department members may address dubs, schools, business meetings, and fraternal society gatherings to spread the doctrine of fire safety. Radio addresses are particularly effective in accomplishing this end.
In the larger departments, a speakers’ bureau may be formed. Men of ability as speakers should be selected as members of the bureau. Not only can they instruct the public in fire defense, but they can develop cooperation on the part of the public and industry, and commercial, mercantile, and other groups in reducing fires.
Sabotage and Arson.
Even though the danger of immediate bombing may not be great the danger of property destruction by arson and sabotage is very real. Many of the fires of unknown origin which have occurred recently may well be classed as due to sabotage.
Sabotage by fire usually includes interfering with the fire protection of the property to be attacked, and then starting a fire. Interfering with the fire protection of the property may consist of tampering with fire-fighting equipment by plugging the nozzles of soda and acid extinguishers, emptying the acid, or soda and water mixture, from the extinguishers, or both; cutting the discharge hose of the soda and acid extinguishers ; replacing fluid in the carbontetrachloride extinguisher with an inflammable liquid ; emptying the contents of the carbon-tetrachloride extinguisher ; or releasing the gas from the carbon-dioxide type of extinguisher.
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Standpipe systems in buildings may be made inoperative by closing valves, removing valve wheels, and damaging hose and hose connections on standpipes. Burring the threads on the standpipe hose outlets will make use of these outlets impossible unless suitable adapters or universal couplings are carried by the fire department. Damaging the private hose in a plant is designed chiefly to delay the extinguishing operations in order to give the fire opportunity to spread. Sprinkler systems are also made inoperative by closing the valves and removing valve wheels.
Pire-alarm signalling systems may be put out of commission, fire hydrants, damaged, telephone lines interrupted, and watchmen’s signalling systems put out of service. Such damage is done so as to interfere with the prompt detection, prompt reporting, and effective firefighting operations.
Where the municipal fire department is cooperating properly with the industries likely to be attacked by saboteurs, the following recommendations should be made by the fire department to plant officials : Periodical inspection of all fire-fighting equipment; extinguishers should be so sealed that their removal or tampering with would be quickly detected ; instructions of workmen, or fire-brigade members if there is a brigade in the plant, in precautions to take before using extinguishers.
To prevent sprinkler systems or standpipe systems from being put out of commission, daily inspections should be made, and vigilance should be maintained to prevent tampering with equipment.
The chemicals employed by the incendiary are chiefly designed to start fire rather than to speed it up. Of the
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chemicals used for this purpose, sodium, potassium, phosphorus, and permanganate of potash (potassium permanganate) are the most commonly used.
Sodium is a metal of silver-like appearance and melts at 208° F. It decomposes water, upon contact with it, and frees hydrogen. The high temperature created by the reaction ignites the hydrogen. Thus sodium is ignited when brought into contact with water. It is usually kept submerged in kerosene.
Potassium in appearance and in action is very much the same as sodium. It is a soft, waxlike, silvery metal, which ignites when brought in contact with water. It is normally kept submerged in kerosene.
Phosphorus is a light yellow, waxlike, semitransparent substance. It is luminous and phosphorescent in the dark. It is very poisonous, and takes fire on contact with air. It is usually shipped and kept in containers filled with water.
Permanganate of potash (potassium permanganate) is usually found in the form of dark purple crystals. When treated with sulphuric acid, in the presence of combustible materials or inflammable gases, fire may result.
Other materials used for sabotage by fire include: guncotton, which in its true form looks very much like ordinary cotton. It ignites readily and is. extremely inflammable.
Matches, used in connection with cigarettes or in connection with incendiary “plants.”
Gases, including acetylene gas generated by calcium carbide in contact with water.
Celluloid scrap.
Electrical heating devices.
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Clocks with fire-starting devices and inflammable materials.
Incendiary “pencils” of different forms.
Methods of Sabotage by Arson.
The methods of starting fires, as employed by saboteurs, vary widely. However, in practically all cases fires are set in readily combustible materials. Ignition may be brought about by direct application of fire or by the use of incendiary devices or chemicals subject to spontaneous ignition.
For example, sodium may be placed where water may reach it, such as under openings in the roof, or at the bottom of the water spout. Rain reaching it would result in ignition of the sodium and materials adjacent to it.
One novel plan used by saboteurs is to wrap sodium in a heavy paper covering and toss it into the water around piers or wharves. Sodium, being lighter than water, will float and eventually the water will work through the paper covering and reach the sodium, whereupon ignition takes place. If the sodium at the time of ignition is in contact with oil-coated piles under a pier, ignition of the pier may result.
Phosphorus lends itself even better than sodium to the starting of fires. As long as it is covered by water, or wrapped in water-soaked coverings, no fire can start. But upon the drying out of cover, or removal of the water, the phosphorus will take fire upon exposure to the air.
One method of starting fires by phosphorus, utilizing this characteristic, is to place phosphorus in a shallow container of water, and put a small hole in the bottom of the container so that the water will slowly drip out. When
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the water has drained out, and the phosphorus left exposed to the air, fire will start. If combustible material such as oil-soaked waste is in contact with the phosphorus at this time, then fire will result.
A quicker fire is produced, using phosphorus, by wrapping a moist cover around the phosphorus. When the covering material dries out fire starts.
Potassium acts in very much the same manner as sodium and may be used in lieu of sodium by saboteurs.
One of the most ingenious devices for starting fire, employing chemical action, first made its appearance during the last World War. At that time it consisted of a short piece of lead tubing in the center of which was placed a thin copper disk, soldered to the tubing around its periphery. In one end of the tubing was placed picric acid and at the other end, sulphuric acid. Then both ends of the tube were plugged with wax and capped with lead caps.
The sulphuric acid would eat through one copper disk and upon reaching the picric acid, intense fire would occur. Other types of chemicals, which reacted upon each other so as to create fire, were also employed in these devices.
The more recent adaptation of this device is in the u incendiary pencil.” This has the appearance of an ordinary pencil and is fitted with lead and eraser. However, the inside of the pencil follows very much the same design as the tube described above.
The time taken for the sulphuric acid to eat through the separating disk, or copper partition within the pencil, depends upon the thickness of the disk.
These pencils may be deposited in combustible materials being shipped in trains, ships, trucks or stored in plants. When the two chemicals ultimately mix, fire occurs.
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Cigarettes are used usually in connection with matches for starting fires.
The cigarette is wrapped in the center of a bundle of matches, with their heads turned toward the lit end of the cigarette. When the burning end of the cigarette reaches the matches, the matches are ignited and combustible material in contact with the matches is set afire.
Gases are sometimes utilized for starting fires, although there is great danger of explosion where gas is free in the atmosphere. The usual plan is to leave an open flame in the room where gas is permitted to escape, and when such time arrives as the gas reaches the fire, there is a flash back to the source, whereupon fire in combustible materials at that point is started. However, occasionally the gas reaches an explosive mixture in the room before the open flame is encountered, with the result that explosion occurs, and usually without subsequent fire.
Celluloid scrap is employed chiefly to speed up the start of a fire. Some form of ignition is used, such as cigarettes and matches, and the celluloid intensifies the fire when the matches are ignited.
Ordinary tallow candles are probably the most commonly used devices for starting delayed action fires. As such candles burn at the rate of approximately 1% inches per hour, the arsonist can, by using a long candle, give himself plenty of time to get away and to establish an alibi.
Where candles are used, streamers are also commonly employed. The candle starts the fire at the source and fire travels along the streamers to different points of the building or plant.
Clockworks or clocks have been used in the past for starting fires, but due to the fact that the evidence still remains
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after the fire, this type of uplant” is waning in popularity. Mechanisms may be used to release inflammable liquids on a candle or to strike a flame by scratching or rubbing a match.
One novel device found by investigators after a suspected fire consisted of a board arranged as a seesaw. On one end of the seesaw was a weight and on the other end a container with a small hole in the bottom. The container was filled with water and, upon the water draining out, the weight on the other end of the seesaw caused that end to drop, scratching a match on a piece of emery cloth. Excelsior in the neighborhood of the match carried the fire from the device to combustible materials in the neighborhood.
The use of volatile inflammable liquids has become more common by the incendiary. The volatile liquid may be placed in open containers near a source of ignition. When an explosive mixture of the liquid vapor and air is reached, there is a flash-back and the liquid ignites. Highly inflammable liquids have also been substituted for liquids of less inflammability, and less volatility, in industrial processes to cause fires. Sometimes the results of such substitution are highly destructive.
The use of overloaded electrical circuits, or overloaded heating appliances, has also been found effective by incendiaries in starting fires. An electric iron, without thermostatic cut-off, left on an ironing board, with the current still on the iron, may ultimately result in fire.
An overloaded electric circuit will likewise cause fire, due to the conductors becoming heated under the overload. Because the cut-off fuse protection prevents dangerously overloading circuits, the use of ‘‘jumpers” or pennies in
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the cut-off box, in place of the fuse, is usually linked with overloading of the circuit.
Though eternal vigilance is the best preventative for incendiary fires, particularly those caused by the saboteur, still vigilance, no matter how faithful, will not prevent every fire of this type. Some will occur, no matter what precautions are taken. But they can be kept to a minimum by frequent inspection of a plant, insistence upon removal of rubbish, and a careful check-up of materials arriving at a plant.
California Prevention Recommendations.
The Division of Fire Safety of the State of California, in their “Report of Conference for the Purpose of Suggesting a Plan for Organization of Industrial Plants and Key Industries Against Sabotage by Fire,” sets forth the following cooperation which should be extended by the municipal fire departments to industrial plants :
1.	Cooperate fully with plant management.
2.	Encourage joint inspection with plant personnel to guard against accidental and planned fires and explosions.
3.	Familiarize public fire-department officers with all salient features of the plant.
4.	Consult with management to improve fire-prevention practices and protection.
5.	Cooperate with plant fire department in organizing drills, and during fires and explosions.
6.	Familiarize public fire-department personnel with processes involved in the plant and with the information as how best to fight fires which occur therein.
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7.	Make or assist in frequent plant inspection of standpipes, first-aid fire equipment, sprinklers, auxiliary equipment, and appliances.
Conclusion.
The fire service has been fully aware of the great fire hazards brought about by modern warfare, and has been conscious of the responsibility it will have to bear if this country is brought into the world-wide conflict. Four years ago—long before the war actually started—the International Association of Fire Chiefs appointed a committee of its members to study the subject of incendiary attacks and sabotage. This committee has not only been active in the interim educating the fire service on the problems to be faced, but has cooperated with the War Department and with the Advisory Committee on Fire Defense of the Office for Emergency Management in preparing instructional material designed to strengthen the fire defenses of the nation.
Today the fire service is rapidly preparing for the work before it, and, when the call comes, it will be found ready and willing. It awaits the opportunity of matching the courage and the efficiency of its brothers in the British Isles.
Discussion.
Question. Mr. Shepperd, you described a flow of water as a cascade coming out of a building?
Mr. Shepperd. Cascading down stairways.
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Question. That’s right. Now, why dam that water when it will eventually flow into the sewer in the catch basin?
Mr. Shepperd. Fine, if you can so catch it, and if you get the engine suction into the catch basin.
Question. Now, on rupture of a water main, if that water main was gridded, you could isolate the rupture and divert your water through another flow?
Mr. Shepperd. Right. I was talking about a worse condition. If you have a gridiron system of water mains cross-connected at every corner and valves located at each corner so you could cut off any section the plan would be ideal. If you had a break in one section you could segregate the break and still have the system working. But a lot of you don’t have cross-connections and valves, then if you have a break in a main, the far end is dead.
Question. Is it true that modern airports have a conduit to be placed on each end of the water main, that is light, and easy to handle ?
Mr. Shepperd. They should have them not only at airports, but also in every fire department to serve as jumpers across open sections.
Quite recently an engineer for an airport being built in the Caribbean wanted to know about fire protection for the aprons where all the planes are parked in front of the hangars. He said it was suggested to him by someone in the War Department that they provide water heads which would cause a flow of water over the entire apron and down into a gutter. But that plan seemed to have one fault, in that in the event of a plane tank leaking and taking fire, the flowing down the apron would carry burning gas under other planes. We suggested use of fog nozzles, which
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would discharge fog over the entire area. That would probably be more effective, but not 100 percent so.
Question. Do you think our greatest obstacle to surmount will be the indifferent attitude towards the emergency ?
Mr. Shepperd. Very much so. Not until we are stung will we wake up. It has always been that way.
Question. Mr. Shepperd, you stated as far as London was concerned, there were 36 auxiliaries to each engine ?
Mr. Shepperd. There are 25 to 30 trailers for each pumper.
Question. We are much interested in bringing that situation here at home. For example, take New York City; what did you suggest there ?
Mr. Shepperd. I would say 10 to 15 trailers per company; not more than that.
Question. For each engine?
Mr. Shepperd. Not more than 10 to 15. That would be plenty because New York has many more engines and fire companies in proportion to population than London, and its area is less. You might take London’s practice, and adopt it over here, but it would present several fallacies. In the first place, New York is better built than London, smaller in area, has more fire companies, and will probably never have the intensified attacks they have there, where manufacturing of bombs is done on the European continent and shipped only 40 to 50 miles to the point of use. They can’t provide the same intensified bombing here with bases so far away. The difficulties of bombing, impossibility of intensified bombing, better type of building construction, large number of fire companies we have would
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all make the London trailer proportion inapplicable here.
I think 10 or 15 per engine company are plenty, and probably more than we need.
Question. That’s 10 to 15 trailer pumps for each engine ?
Mr. Shepperd. For each engine.
Question. Take a city that has frame dwellings------
Mr. Shepperd. You need them more. You’ll need all of 10 to 15 per engine company.
Question. You stated 10,000,000 feet of fire hose was manufactured in this country and shipped abroad. Can you tell us the type hose sent over there ?
Mr. Shepperd. It’s single jacket rubber-lined hose. But remember, London always used unlined linen hose, so this is quite a departure. I believe one of the reasons why we are not building linen hose for them now is that we can’t get the linen.
Question. Can you give us any round figures in regard to hose lost in raids in London ?
Mr. Shepperd. I haven’t the least idea. Your guess is as good as mine.
Question. You spoke about pumping the water probably 2 miles in relay. Now, we have been informed that England has purchased single jacket rubber-lined hose. Is that hose efficient to stand the pressure ?
Mr. Shepperd. Not efficient. They have had as many as 20 pumpers in line, supplying a lay-out hose. That is not efficient practice. Of course, single jacket is much cheaper and much lighter, and for the service they expect to give it, it will probably serve. You see, the hose is left attached to the hydrant all the time. They don’t expect
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the war to last forever, so they are not worrying about 10-to 20-year guarantees for life of hose.
But, as far as pressure goes, their trailer units are made small, with usually around 100 pounds discharge pressure, though the larger ones may give 250 pounds pressure. On the small units you can use single jacket, but for the regular service, using single jacket would not be advisable.
Question. Mr. Shepperd, do you feel our biggest problem is in educating our public in the defense proposition I
Mr. Shepperd. That’s a big problem. I was at a meeting of the New York State Defense Committee recently and it was suggested that there be an evacuation of Radio City, in New York, evacuation of the Empire State Building, and evacuation of one block in Brooklyn to wake the people up to the serious problems facing us today.
Question. What is the situation in regard to these small pumps? Something tells me 4 or 5 of the companies are signed up for 6 or 8 months in advance.
Mr. Shepperd. No; that is incorrect. One manufacturer told me the other day that he could put out 1,000 in 1 month. There’s nothing to worry about there. Of course, now that fire equipment has been given partial priority, there should be no difficulty getting fire apparatus.
Question. With regard to the trailer pumps, the 10 or 15 that you mentioned per engine is, of course, an arbitrary figure. On the other hand, some cities are larger than others, and the smaller cities don’t have the reserve apparatus coming in. For instance, take Trenton; it covers a small territory. On the other hand, New York City has a large territory; and if they have localized bombing, they can call in local apparatus, but Trenton doesn’t have that
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reserve to call upon. In my opinion, a city the size of Trenton should have a larger number of auxiliaries than larger cities.
Mr. Shepperd. I believe so, especially in areas susceptible to bombing. In New York, the large buildings are fairly fire-resistant and do not present a very severe problem. I don’t believe there is any great danger of serious loss in the high-value districts of the larger cities along the coast, but I do believe that if fires get going in residential sections, such as in Queens in New York, they will wipe those places out.
Question. On the question of arousing the public, do you not believe that radio addresses would be one of the most valuable methods of doing so?
Mr. Shepperd. I believe it would be effective, but I am afraid if you concentrate on a large number of addresses at one time, an effect opposite of that desired might result. I don’t believe the people are conscious of what is ahead of them.
Question. I would like to state in that connection that a great many people in this country are already aroused, and a big part of our problem might be to feed those people who are aroused some information and instructions, so that they in turn might feed it to others. An interesting and spectacular way of doing that is to have a considerable supply of these training bombs which we are using here, magnesium bombs, which simulate to all effects and purposes the kilo bombs that the Germans are now using, take those out, set them off, and show people how to put them out. That’s something they could work with., and it would be interesting.
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Mr. Shepperd. I fully agree with you on that. In our convention in Boston the Chemical Warfare School is cooperating with us and is going to put on a demonstration of that type. We will have 1,500 fire officers and chiefs present, and I am sure the demonstration will be widely publicized in the papers and there will subsequently be more appreciation of the dangers facing us. I believe the demonstration will go a long way in that section toward arousing the public to what is ahead of them.
Question. In recent months in Providence, R. I., which is a small city, there was conducted a survey by members of the National Board of Eire Underwriters. As a result of that survey, the impression was given through the editorials in our local newspapers that we had too much of an expense in supporting the fire department. That impres-sion was created in the public mind. The editor of our local newspaper stressed the point on economy and cutting down the number of our force to keep it within an economi-cal program which has been laid out by the City Fathers, so to speak.
Now, if they have created that impression in the mind of the public—understanding that this is merely our local problem—and that it has had its effect, can you tell me how a couple of small potatoes like myself are going to overcome that and arouse a new feeling such as you expect us to go back and arouse ?
Mr. Shepperd. In Newark, N. J., a couple of years back, they were going to make a big cut in the fire service; in fact, they were going to abolish 12 fire companies.
The fire chief was on a spot. He called in all of his battalion chiefs who covered the sections where the fire
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companies were operating, and he said, 11 tomorrow morning, give me a reason in black and white why each marked company should be maintained.” The next morning, each battalion chief came in and gave the reasons, very good reasons. For example, an old folks’ home would have no immediate protection, and they would have to wait for an engine to come up a long hill which, in the wintertime, was a slow process with ice on the hill. Similarly there was a good reason offered why each company should remain open.
So when it came to the hearing before the city council, the fire chief got up and said, “Here is the story: Company No. 14 here protects the old folks’ home. There is no other company within a mile of it, and the nearest company has to go up a hill which, if the hill is coated with ice, means a 4-mile detour. If you close that station, the responsibility is upon you. I recommend it remain open.” Each company had a real reason for its continuance. They closed but one company.
Many recommendations for cutting down fire protection are due to someone wanting to make a name for him-self by cutting municipal expenses.
Question. Mr. Shepperd, I agree with Colonel Fisher that a way of creating public interest would be a demonstration of magnesium bombs or simulated magnesium bombs, but what is the availability of magnesium ?
Mr. Shepperd. I don’t know how much it would take. Probably Colonel Fisher could tell us that.
Colonel Fisher. I was asked recently to make an estimate on that. My estimate is, we should be able to turn out 50,000 a month, but as I begin to think of it I realize
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that that may be small. When I gave that figure over the telephone the other day, it seemed to me like a good start.
I would like to state in that connection that we are not fighting this battle alone now. We have got a powerful man and a powerful organization behind this business in Washington, and I think it is going to go places. This course here is one indication of the fact that we are going to do things. The same office of civilian defense that has control of these matters is also hooked up intimately with the outfit that controls priorities in this country, that controls who gets magnesium. It seems to me a relatively small amount of magnesium would be necessary, and I believe those people will see it in that light and that they will see that a reasonable amount is made available for this very important purpose.
However, I am talking about something that I don’t know much about and am not authorized to speak of with authority. Certain things have been suggested and I hope these matters will straighten themselves out in time. In other words, I don’t think the outlook is entirely gloomy.
Mr. Shepperd. I believe that by working through the various fire organizations, including the volunteers who represent a large percentage of our small-town population, we might be able to accomplish results. I know that volunteer firemen will go to meetings a couple of thousand strong. They are interested in spectacular demonstrations, and when they go back they will carry the story back with them. I don’t know whether crowds could be gotten out anywhere else for demonstrations. Possibly by working through the fire service, and particularly the volunteers, you might be able to spread the gospel indirectly, and
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more quickly, than if you try to go to groups out in the field.
Question. Mr. Shepperd, is there any plan you think could be worked out for coordination between the military and civilian defense, and, in the event we are bombed, do you think we would be far better off so far as discipline and organization are concerned, if we were supervised by the military 1
Mr. Shepperd. They are cooperating in that manner in England now. The British Government has given the fire service money for auxiliary apparatus and the fire service is partially under the military now. To the exact extent, I don’t know. Over here, the fire service has had contact with some of the Army posts, and they advise the fire service that they will handle their own fire defense. But I believe cooperation can be developed. I believe Mayor LaGuardia, who is down in Washington, can develop cooperation if it is necessary. When the time comes, if it is found necessary, I am sure cooperation will be accomplished.
Question. Will you give us your views on the use of 1%-inch hose ?
Mr. Shepperd. I am in favor of 1%-inch hose, from observation of its use. The use of 1%-inch hose, particularly in rows of attached houses, such as “taxpayers’,” is invaluable. Let’s take the typical example where there are four or five houses in a row all attached. A fire starts in the one in the center. You don’t know which way it is traveling, and it may be going in both directions. If you come in with a 2%-inch line, and go to either side, you drive the fire the other direction. If you come in with the 1%-inch hose, using two lines you can cover the fire from both sides and put it out without its extending. It
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will handle 95 percent of the fires for you. New York City doesn’t use 1%-inch hose except in the outlying districts, but the smaller hose is gradually moving in.
Question. Do you think the 1%-inch hose should displace the present booster line ?
Mr. Shepperd. I don’t think so.
Question. Years ago, wasn’t it generally recommended we carry 3-inch hose ?
Mr. Shepperd. Yes; and it is still recommended that 3-inch with 2%-inch coupling, which is good practice; but such hose is chiefly for long stretches, and not for ordinaryfires.
IID
HANDLING INCENDIARIES
I want you to bear in mind, in working with incendiaries, that this is the type of work you men are going to be doing in the event of an attack. Your job is instructing the civilian population and the men under your guidance and direction in the art of handling these bombs. Incendiary fires are too small to justify calling in the fire department, and it is only when an old-fashioned fire results from incendiaries that you will be called in.
Requirements for Successful Incendiary Attack.
What do we have in our local communities that might be suitable targets for enemy attack? You must make advance preparation to meet such an attack. Some of the requirements for a successful incendiary attack by an enemy are as follows:
1.	A target must have some tactical value; in other words, it must be important from a military or morale standpoint.
2.	The target must be within striking distance of the weapon used to disperse the incendiaries. Back in 1917 and 1918, when grenades were used, fires could not be started at any great distance. A little later rifle grenades were used. There are definite ranges for that. And there were artillery weapons firing incendiaries such as white phosphorus. Today the most effective means of dispensing incendiaries is by plane, which necessitates computing the range of a plane. It looks as though the sky is the limit of flight.
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3.	The targets must be combustible. It would be very foolish for an enemy plane to drop bombs on an open field. They would not start any fires. It would not be of any great importance to drop a number of small magnesium bombs on concrete roofs previously located by reconnaissance.
4.	The incendiary itself must be easily ignited.
5.	The incendiary should burn with a high enough intensity to ignite the combustible material around it. It must get hot enough to set fire to things.
6.	The incendiary should burn a long enough period to make certain the material with which it comes in contact is set on fire.
7.	The incendiary, to be effective, should be difficult to extinguish.
8.	The incendiary should be light enough so it can be broadcast wholesale, starting numerous fires. It is more effective to use a large number of small bombs rather than one large one.
9.	The incendiary should be cheap enough to permit its use in large quantities, and it should be easily procured.
With these things in mind, let us proceed with the types of incendiaries, their requirements, and what incendiaries we are likely to experience.
Types of Incendiaries.
There are several incendiaries that will ignite easily. Phosphorus will ignite spontaneously. Thermit can be set off very readily with a firing charge. Our magnesium unit, can be ignited fairly easily. The oil incendiary is the most difficult to ignite. The problem with oil is to have enough
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of a highly volatile liquid in the oil so it will have a low flash point and will catch fire and burn readily. Some of the bombs examined abroad were found to contain nothing but crankcase oil. They did not ignite because there was not enough of the low flash point liquid in them to ignite the body of heavier oil.
r Oil produces practically twice as much total heat as magnesium, surprising as it may seem; at the same time, your magnesium has a higher burning temperature. We are principally interested in getting a high intensity to start and carry on the fire so it will give off a considerable quantity of heat for a long time.
Lightness of weight, as has been said, is important in aerial dispersion. The thermit bomb is about four times as heavy as the magnesium bomb, size for size. That means that a plane which could carry a thousand magnesium bombs could carry only one-fourth as many thermit bombs. In addition to that problem there is the question of shape and container.
German Type of Bomb.
In the German type of bomb the fuse is armed. An arrangement is made whereby about 10 to 20 of these are carried in a case. There is a device which pulls 10 or 20 of the pins simultaneously, and then the bombs are all dumped. Notice the tail which is used to guide it slightly and notice that the ignition is in the nose.
As a result of this shape, however, the bomb has very poor ballistics. The bomb is not going to travel in any definite, regular course. You can’t aim it at a target. All you can do is scatter out the bombs and hope that a good percentage will hit inflammable materials and get results.
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The important thing about this bomb is that the entire bomb burns, except for the tail which, being of steel and iron, will not bum. This is an efficient type of incendiary, because there is very little waste.
English Type of Bomb.
Another type bomb is the English type. The bomb has a piece of iron on the nose to give it weight. There are no fins on it. There is a safety pin which is pulled in the same manner as the hand grenade. The case is made of magnesium, similar to the German bomb.
The English type bomb is hexagonal and is slightly heavier than the German bomb. Seven or eight can be put in a bundle, fitted together in a case, and dropped in bunches. The scattering effect or the spread of these bombs in falling is due entirely to the wind and the way they happen to fall out of the case. There is no means of guiding or directing the bomb.
Contents of Bomb.
For the bomb filling, the Germans have been using various mixtures. The one which is probably the oldest type is thermit, with a starting or firing mixture added to it. Thermit is iron oxide and aluminum. It looks very much like pieces of iron.
It is extremely difficult to set fire to thermit. It takes a temperature of approximately 3,000° to set it off. The starting mixture which we are using is barium nitrate. Some have used barium peroxide and have obtained the same results. Barium nitrate furnishes the oxygen just as the iron oxide furnishes the oxygen over here. Flake
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aluminum and grain aluminum—-it is not aluminum powder.» If we used aluminum powder the action would be so violent that it would blow the shell to pieces. So, instead of using the powdered aluminum which would cause an explosion, we use the flake or grain. Just a little bit of sulfur is in there, probably to carry on the burning after it once gets started. Sulfur burns fairly readily. This mixture is called M-8.
In loading the bomb, pressed pellets are best to use— just press them in the correct size and diameter and press them down with about 500 to 1,000 pounds pressure with this M-8. Then up near the top place a small charge of “First Fire.” This “First Fire” has black powder, and that black powder flash is sufficient to set fire to the M-8.
What is the purpose of M-8? It is not to cause fires because there is not enough of it to do any good. If there were, we would use something like thermit, a big 10- or 20-pound can. It is not used to injure personnel, although it does to an extent (it will shoot out 3 or 4 feet). The real purpose of M-8 is to raise the temperature of magnesium to a point where it will melt and begin to burn. The burning temperature of the magnesium shell is about 2,300° F. We have to get the magnesium burning thoroughly. So that is the function of this filling.
This is not necessarily the mixture which will be used permanently or eventually. It is one which is approved for practice at the present time. Experiments are being made continually.
Magnesium Fire.
I am going to talk about magnesium fire. There are certain hazards in connection with magnesium. After you
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have found out what the hazards are, formulate your own plan for handling the particular situation. We are safe in assuming that the method Great Britain is using to handle incendiary fires is not necessarily the only way. That is the way they have found to be most successful in their situation. There may be conditions here or we may have variations in these bombs which will necessitate some changes. So let us utilize our common sense, take advantage of English experience, but attempt to improve upon their methods.
Extinguishment of Magnesium Fire.
Let us consider the various means of extinguishment that we might try on a magnesium fire. First, consider a solid stream of water. In burning magnesium, the magnesium grabs the oxygen from the air and forms magnesium oxide. In other words, a magnesium bomb must have oxygen. It is possible to cut off the supply of oxygen and thereby extinguish the fire.
When magnesium comes in contact with water, this action takes place:
Mg-J-ILO=MgO 4-IL
the magnesium is going to take oxygen out of the water in addition to getting it out of the air and is going to form the same magnesium oxide. The hydrogen which is produced is going to be loose—and you noticed recently how hydrogen, when mixed with air, explodes. If you use a solid stream of water, put it in fast and allow it to penetrate to the bottom of the burning magnesium, you can see wThat is going to happen. Steam is going to form down in the body of the bomb, and steam suddenly raised to a temperature of 600° or 700° will explode.
TYPICAL KILO MAGNESIUM (ELECTRON) INCENDIARY BOMB
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If we use a spray of water or a fog, as we sometimes call it, and put it over the surface, we are not allowing penetration of water into the bomb but merely contacting the outside surface. The action is taking place from the outside only, and we are causing action to continue. Incidentally, notice what we are doing. Magnesium is picking oxygen out of the air; that’s one source of burning. Magnesium is picking oxygen out of water; that’s another source of burning. Therefore, the ordinary bomb would burn from 10 to 20 minutes, depending on the surface on which it is burning. If it is burning on a sheet of iron, it will burn as long as 20 minutes. If it is burning on wooden or combustible material out of which it can extract moisture, vapors, and fumes, it may burn out in 10 minutes. But whatever time it takes, say 10 or 20 minutes, let’s remember that when you put water on the burning metal it cuts down the burning time and by doubling the amount of oxygen which the magnesium has available it will, therefore, speed up the action.
What about acid-soda extinguishers ? If we apply acidsoda to a magnesium fire, we have the same effect as a solid stream of water, because the only function of the acid and soda in that type of extinguisher is to force the water out. You have 2% gallons of water spraying on the fire, and you are going to have a violent reaction.
What about foam extinguishers'? Foam is a material which is aluminum sulphate, or plain alum and soda with some sort of a binder. The binder is usually tobacco juice or licorice extract. The alum and soda, when dissolved in water, will react on each other and produce carbon dioxide. The bubbles of carbon dioxide are coated with the binder which forms an impervious layer on the surface. Tn ci-
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dentally, when this binder, which is an organic material, is heated, it will char a little bit so you will have an added effect there.
But what is going to be the effect of foam ? You have to discharge it with water. What does water do on magnesium ? That should answer the question.
That brings us to the next type of extinguisher, the carbon dioxide extinguisher. Carbon dioxide looks something like this: CO2. Notice there is oxygen present. Magnesium has a tendency to grab oxygen wherever it can get it. Let’s see what happens. The magnesium is hot and is going to take part of the oxygen
Mg+CO2=MgO+CO
or carbon monoxide. Would it be possible to use a carbon dioxide extinguisher in a closed, tight place if you had a burning magnesium fire? No, of course not. And if that were iron or a hot metal of any sort, it might have a tendency to rob the carbon dioxide of some of its oxygen and form CO.
Now supposing that conditions are just right, we will use twice as much magnesium. The result will be C plus magnesium oxide. In other words, there is a possibility of two different products whenever a carbon dioxide extinguisher is thrown on burning magnesium. You might have carbon or you might have carbon monoxide. Presence of carbon will be shown by some black smoke and particles floating out into the air.
Let us consider the effect of carbon tetrachloride extinguisher. There is a lot of argument about this extinguisher. Carbon tetrachloride vaporizes very readily. You do not get much cooling effect from carbon tetra
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chloride. Water would produce a greater cooling effect— more damage, of course. But we are not depending on the cooling effect of carbon tetrachloride. What we are depending on is the blanketing effect. There is 21 percent of oxygen in the air; cut that down below 16 percent and your fire will go out. If we vaporize carbon tetrachloride, that puts a higher percentage of carbon tetrachloride vapor in the air, and as a result we have a lowering of the oxygen concentration and subsequently the fire should go out.
There is one thing I want you to watch in the use of this extinguisher. The same thing is true of carbon dioxide or any gas which does not support life. Remember that carbon tetrachloride vapor is half sister of chloroform, and you know what chloroform vapor does in a tight place— it puts you to sleep. Carbon tetrachloride will probably do the same thing.
There is considerable argument as to whether or not carbon tetrachloride, whenever it hits hot metal, undergoes a decomposition and forms phosgene. Some of our laboratories tell us we do not get phosgene, but some men who have worked with carbon tetrachloride claim they do.
So much for that. Now, what would be the effect if we were to cover burning magnesium with asbestos flakes. Asbestos is a mineral which in its natural state has water tied up in it chemically. When the temperature of asbestos is raised high enough, water is exuded, causing a violent action. Therefore, I wouldn’t depend on asbestos entirely as a means of smothering fire.
What about talc? Talc does not have the moisture in it that asbestos has, and it does a fairly good job. I think the British have been using it to a great extent. You
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notice brown spots begin to form on talc when you put it on hot metal. The problem here is the availability of talc.
What about the application of sand 2 Sand is about the cheapest and most available material we have. In using sand as a smothering agent, remember it may have been subjected to rain and consequently contain moisture. If moisture is present you are liable to get some action. In addition we have this effect: Sand is silica, and silica at the high temperature of burning magnesium will react chemically. I don’t mean to advise against the use of sand. Sand is available, it is cheap, and if a sufficient amount is put on the bomb, you will be able to smother it. Since sand is porous, your covering must be fairly heavy.
Now a question arises. Shall we fight the burning bomb or shall we fight the fire ? That is a problem of fire fighting, of course, but I am passing it on with respect to the householder. This is a case where you must train your civilian population to use judgment. I think the rule should always be this: Never let your fire get out of control.
Safety of Personnel.
Another question. What about safety to personnel in handling this type of bomb? Possibly 1 out of 50 of the magnesium bombs may be loaded with explosives. That is one case in which we should use extreme caution. Those bombs usually explode in about 2 minutes’ time. That may not be a hard and fast rule. We have a problem there that we must solve ourselves. We may hit 49—or even 50—of them without any explosive in them. Is it safe to ignore the one possibility and take a chance on not getting out ? Should we use some sort of protective device
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like an asbestos blanket or shield of some sort to approach that fire?
Number of Fires.
One plane is capable of starting a great many fires. This is the same information published in Fire Engineering, in the N. F. P. A. Quarterly, and also in Fire Defense.
Magnesium bombs are used to start a large number of fires. If 80 to 85 fires are started for every 1,000 bombs dropped, the problem confronting you is obvious. In other words, it is up to the householder and the civilian to be trained in knowing how to handle those fires.
Targets of Small Magnesium Bombs.
What targets are most suitable for the small magnesium bomb? Answer: Any target which has a more or less inflammable or flimsy roof; these bombs do not have much penetrating power. Residential areas would probably suffer from this type of bomb. Magnesium bombs might, do some damage , in industrial areas which do not have concrete roofs. Remember that the bomb will ignite in the attic and do its job in that upper space.
Another Incendiary: The Oil Bomb.
There are two or three good types of incendiaries. One type of a bomb which is doing a good job whenever it functions is the oil bomb. A cubic foot of oil is about 2% times lighter than a cubic foot of magnesium. It is very light, so a large quantity of oil is necessary to produce a sufficient intensity or total heat to start a good fire. In other words, if we were to make an oil bomb the size of a
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2-pound bomb, we probably would not have much over a pint of oil. A pint of oil would not start a very serious fire; any housewife could handle it. The real effect of oil bombs is obtained by use of large ones. A large number of these bombs have been duds. It is a problem to get them started, but when they do work they start a considerable fire.
Now a word of caution about an oil fire. You know that if you shoot a solid stream of water down into a crater filled with oil, the oil, being lighter than water, is going to float up causing the oil to overflow and spread the fire. Never use a solid stream of water on an oil fire. One of the greatest developments that the fire service has seen in the last few years has been the vapor nozzle, or fog nozzle.
The vapor stream must be handled carefully. As the oil burns, flame rises. There is an area just above of oil vapor, gasoline vapor. There is no burning directly above the oil. There is a shortage of oxygen at that point, but when the oil vapor rises and comes in contact with the air, there is a burning effect. You can operate there with that fog-nozzled vapor stream, and just wipe the surface off. Then you have done two things: First, you have cooled down the vapor which is causing the fire; second, you have concentrated a large amount of the fog or vapor into steam and you have diluted the oxygen above the burning oil, resulting in both a blanketing effect and a cooling effect. Incidentally, whenever water changes into steam there is a cooling effect. So you have two factors which are helping to put out the oil fire.
I will mention two of the disadvantages of oil bombs: (1) Unless a light volatile oil is used, there will be difficulty in igniting it. So gasoline or naphtha or some in
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flammable material must be added to the heavy oil. In liquid form, if that oil drops any distance and the bomb bursts, there will be a scattering effect, and the chances are that scattering or spreading may take place before there is a chance to ignite the material. (2) Another disadvantage of oil is that it is fairly easily extinguished.
Now for some of the advantages of oil: (1) Probably the most important fact is that oil is cheap and abundant. (2) It has a higher heat of combustion than magnesium once it gets started. (3) Oil has a tendency to saturate a target; as a result, the burning can penetrate the material.
Variation in Oil Bombs.
There is a variation in these oil bombs. It is possible to add some material to gasoline and solidify it. For every 1,000 grams of gasoline, we would use approximately 50 grams of stearic acid and about 7% grams of lye, which is dissolved in about 125 cubic centimeters of alcohol. Stearic acid, lye, and alcohol are dissolved together and poured into the oil. The oil will then jell and produce a solid material. It still has gasoline in it and it will still burn. The advantage of solid oil is this: A burst produces chunks of oil rather than drops of oil spreading out and scattering, and the bigger the chunk the better the opportunity of getting intensity of heat at a particular point and setting fire to the material.
One other variation in the use of oil is the addition to this solid oil of some shavings or pieces of metallic sodium. Sodium takes fire and ignites imediately upon contact with water, generating hydrogen sufficient to form an explosive mixture. If you mix this material, use caution in adding
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sodium because you may not have an oil which is free from water; you may not have an alcohol which is free from water; and you may get an evolution of hydrogen right in your hands. So be cautions in trying to make up the sodium type of oil bomb. When you put water on that type of bomb you have reignition of the oil.
White Phosphorus as an Incendiary.
One other type of incendiary is white phosphorus. The melting point of white phosphorus is low—about 111° F. and white phosphorus ignites at about 113°, or 2° higher than its melting point. Furthermore, it ignites spontaneously.
White phosphorus is an incendiary agent third in importance. It is primarily a smoke producer. Secondly, white phosphorus is a casualty agent used to produce burns. Thirdly, it is used as an incendiary. It has a very low burning temperature. It would be used most probably on thatched roofs, dry leaves, and similar materials which catch fire and burn easily. Phosphorus is the one incendiary which can be put out very readily with water. Throw water on it, either spray or solid stream, and the phosphorus goes out. However, as soon as the water drains away the phosphorus may take fire and reignite, thus causing another problem.