NEAFC 31st Annual Conference.pdf - New England Association of ...

NEW ENGLAND ASSOCIATION OF FIRE CH~IEFS
Tuesday Morning Session, June 23, 1953
The Tuesday morning session of the New England~ Association of Fire Chiefs
convened in the Ballroom of The Wentworth by the Sea, President Molloy presiding,
at nine-forty o’clock.
PRESIDENT MOLLOY: We shall now start this morning’s session. There has been
a slight change in the program. I believe we have a very interesting speaker and that
you will all be interestedi in hearing the story c.f the recent tornado in the Worcester
area and the surrounding towns in Massachusetts.
The speaker is:_ Fred J. Maloney, Lieutenant~ of _Police, Worcester Police Department;
Director of Civil Defense, City of Worcester, Mass.; Director of the Police
Academy, Worcester, ~Mass.; .Graduate of the National Police Academy,. Federal
Bureau c..f Investigation; Has had thirty years of service in the Massachusetts. National
Guard; Veteran of the Mexican Punitive Expedition, W~rld~ War I and World War
II; Retired as Colonel, Infantry~ A.-U, S ......
~ _
Ladies and Gentlemen: ......
First ~let me say this. I am not an authority on .Civil Defense. It is also true
that the Department of Civil Defense in,.Worcester operated with efficiency. All of
the ten operating divisions mobilized and immediately went into action. What little
success we had during t.he tornado-wa-sdue to-the type of persons who headed our
c24visions. Without this type of personnel we could never have accomplished our mission.
Chief Travers of the Fire Department, Chief Finneran of the Police Department
and Commissioner of ’Public Works Earl R. Perry, after a reconnaissance of the
devastated areas established communications with this Headquarters, set up their
Command Posts, and remained in the field directing operations in close cooperation
with the other operating divisions.
Two years ago, we were given the mission to prepare an adequate defense for
the ,City of Worcester in the event of an atc.mic attack. Not much information could
f~e obtained as to just what an organization should consist of for a city the size of
Worcester. After giving this much thought an.d study, we decided to divide the city
into four Operating Zones, and established a Command Post in each zone for the
purpose-of operations. We also selected locations that would not be vulnerable to an -~
attack. To explain the details concerning tl-,ese Operating Zones would require too
much of your time at this convention.
We then_ decided to organize a general staff, a special staff, and ten operating
divisions as follows: Division of Fire, Division of Police, Divisicn of Public Works
and Utilities, Division of Communications, Division of Transportation, Radiolc.gical,
Biological and Chemical Divisicn, Civilian. War Aid Division, Evacuation Division,
Medical Division and Warden Division. After the key personnel were selected to head
these divisions, training programs were started, city-wide tests conducted, with command
post exercises, and each division commander was required to write his own plan
for the operations of his units in the event ~ of an emergency. This. required many hcurs
of planning for the commanders and in spite of the apathy, these organizations were
recruited enough for immediate action. The Director of Civil Defense and the Operations
Section constantly consulted and were advised by "these expert ccmman..ders
oa_all phases of ci,uil defense pertaining to their particular division. Only through this
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