SUBJECT: FIREFIGHTERS BRIEFED ON UFOs FILE: UFO2836
BY A.J.S.RAYL for Omni
It only makes sense that civilian emergency personnel from police to
firefighters may be called to the scene of a close encounter, real or not.
But despite their role on the front lines of virtually any emergency, our
country's "first responders" have never been given any kind of background on
the UFO phenomenon, until now.
For a detailed briefing on the topic, all professional rescuers need do is
refer to the new, second edition of the Fire Officer's Guide to Disaster
Control (Fire Engineering Books and Videos). Used by the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) in its National Fire Training Academy Open Learning
Program, the book covers, in addition to more traditional fire fare, the ABCs
of UFOs: In practical language, the manual examines potential problems like
disruption of transportation and communication, possible psychological and
physical impacts, and speculation about government secrecy. To fire up
imaginations, the manual also presents a hypothetical alien encounter.
This radical primer was the brainstorm of the late Charles W. Bahme, a former
Los Angeles Fire Department deputy chief, who researched UFOs for years.
According to Bahme, his interest was ignited August 26, 1942 during the famous
"L.A. Air Raid." As sirens and news bulletins announced an enemy invasion,
Bahme, then a young Navy fireman, watched some 20 objects zoom and zigzag
overhead. "They changed course at incredible speeds while gun crews along the
coastline pumped more than 1,400 rounds at them," he said. Two hours later,
all was quiet on the Western front. "Rumors that they were extraterrestrial
craft, that one was shot down, were never confirmed," he said. "The official
explanation--weather balloons--was never taken seriously."
After serving as security coordinator for the Chief of Naval Operations, Bahme
went on to write the original Handbook of Disaster control in 1952, and the
first Fire Officer's Guide to Disaster Control in 1978. Finally, in 1993, he
teamed up with William M. Kramer, a district chief with the Cincinnati Fire
Department, to write the current manual.
So, if confronted with something alien, what's a firefighter to do?
Considering the federal law (14 CFR, Ch. V, Part 1211) giving NASA arbitrary
discretion "to quarantine under armed guard any object, person, or other form
of life extraterrestrially exposed," the primer suggests it would be
"inadvisable to make personal contact" unless one is willing to submit to
quarantine should the law be invoked.
That notwithstanding, the manual advises, "In the absence of overt acts
indicating hostility, there may be no danger in approaching a UFO with a
positive, solicitous attitude of wanting to be of service," which may be
"telepathically sensed by those aboard." But, "Any display of weapons could be
construed as unfriendly."
The quids UFO section is primarily informational, says Kramer, "intended to
get fire officers thinking. Nearly everyone has told me they were impressed
that a mysterious subject was taken out of the closet, and many believe we
are, somehow, eventually going to make contact with other forms of
intelligent life."
In general, the UFO community approves. "While a few of the sources aren't the
best," says Mark Rodeghier, scientific director of the Center for UFOStudies
in Chicago, "nobody else has even tried to devise a plan for public officials
before."
**********************************************
* THE U.F.O. BBS -
http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
**********************************************
