Other titles:AMATEUR FILM BY ALFRED WHITE [Alternative Title]
Summary: Amateur film with titles shot by Alfred White, a Certified Accountant who joined his local Air Raid Precautions (ARP) unit at the outbreak of war, records a major practice exercise in Wandsworth (South West London), covering indoor administrative scenes as well as firefighting, casualty rescue and first aid support by female members of the unit.
Description: (Film is captioned throughout.) Dark interior scenes show Clapham incident room where details of a "Yellow Alert" are recorded and the fire brigade alerted by telephone (direct line to Balham Report Centre). At Wandsworth ARP Depot, wardens scramble and attend a fire in a derelict building. Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS) are summoned (extended scenes of fire tenders and other vehicles, including motorcycles, setting off). At the scene, ladders are deployed. Further shots of the incident centre, where details are recorded on a map with coded pins. Back at the burning house, AFS fire tenders have been set up and hoses are trained on the building. One officer climbs a ladder and rescues a "casualty" (actually a life-sized cloth dummy) from the roof. House is secured and smouldering debris removed. ARP Members at another incident (caption jokingly referring to them as "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves") carry pieces of scaffolding along a road (filmed from high angle). "Casualties" are carried away on stretchers, and tended to by female ambulance attendants who administer first aid; the wounded are then loaded into the ambulance. (Caption notes how one of the casualties would not "play dead".) Back at the incident room, paperwork is filled in. Final shot of helmeted ARP personnel walking towards the camera, one smoking a pipe.
Alternative Title:AMATEUR FILM BY ALFRED WHITE [Alternative Title]
