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