Some people, particularly in rural areas, chaffed at blackout regulations since they were so far removed from military targets. "It is a favorite practice of fifth columnists.to leave lights on in isolated farm dwelling in a pattern which might point to a military objective, a guide to planes flying overhead." Early evening crowds quickly dwindled and "the lights of Broadway, far-famed for their brilliance, were snuffed out as by a giant hand." Meanwhile, air raid wardens "searched for light switches, pounded on doors, invaded hotels, and ordered the few automobiles remaining on the streets with unshielded headlights to the curbs." The neon signs and store display window lights still on in downtown caused a ruckus as "what remained of the street crowds gathered at these spots, angrily demanding that the lights be doused by rocks or any means." Footnote 5 In Portland the blackout was far from complete, but The Oregonian noted: "What the city lacked, however, in its first real war-condition blackout, was more than made up by the vigor of air raid precautions wardens, who worked furiously at the task of darkening the city." Many of Portland's streets were dark well before the 11 p.m. Western Oregon also fell under a blackout on December 8 after the Pearl Harbor raid raised fears of an attack on the mainland. But, despite the lack of flying distractions during the ten-minute blackouts, fears of widespread Halloween mischief failed to materialize. If we have the kind of demonstration from the planes which we hope for, with flares dropping and bombers and pursuit ships overhead during the black-out the kids will be much too interested in what is going on in the air to take advantage of the temporary darkness." County officials expressed great disappointment that weather curtailed the planned aerial activity one even complained that the Army pilots should have been better trained to fly in bad weather. Mason of Mason's Appliance Store in Tigard worried to Jerrold Owen of the State Defense Council ahead of time that his "place of business had to be darkened on that night when pure malicious conduct has taken the place of what was at one time just a little fun." Owen passed the blame for the timing on to the Army Air Corps but also said that "the opportunity for unusual mischief is much exaggerated. Problems associated with the maneuvers falling on Halloween were on the minds of some observers in Oregon.
Mason of Mason's Appliance Store in Tigard worried that his "place of business had to be darkened on that night when pure malicious conduct has taken the place of what was at one time just a little fun." Boy scouts served as messengers, guarded fire boxes, and patrolled as air raid precautionary officers. The night of the blackout inspectors were assigned to theaters and places of public assembly.
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Women fanned out across Portland's vast residential areas to patrol each block, "notifying occupants and giving instructions how to operate during the blackout." In the week prior to the blackout, the fire marshal sent inspectors to all of the theaters, beauty shops, sawmills, factories, warehouses and other sites in the area with instructions. All city, county, and state police sirens in the area, all ambulance company sirens, all public, private, and parochial school sirens, and certain large factory sirens also sounded. Instead, officials drafted existing sirens into service: all fire stations drove their fire apparatus outside of the station and sounded their sirens along with the traffic sirens in front of fire stations. (Photographs, Defense Council Records, OSA)įor the week prior to the blackout, the fire marshal sent his inspectors to all of the theaters, beauty shops, sawmills, factories, warehouses, and other sites in the area with instructions.Īt the time of the maneuvers, Multnomah County lacked the funds for a dedicated system of sirens to signal the start of the blackout. The lower photograph shows the same view during the blackout. The upper photograph shows Salem before a blackout exercise on Oct.
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