WARSAW FIRE BRIGADE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80T00246A053000400001-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 14
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 17, 2010
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: March 7, 1960
• Content Type: REPORT

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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
This material contains information affecting the National Defense of the United States within the meaning of the Espionage Laws, Title
18, U.S.O. Secs. 793 and 794, the transmlaion or revelation of which in any manner to an unauthorlasd person is prohibited by law.
SUBJECT Warsaw Fire Brigade
DATE OF
INFO.
PLACE &
DATE ACQ.
a report on the Warsaw FireBrigade,
connected with it, and organization charts.
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L : Washington distribution indicated by "X"; Field distribution by
DATE DISTR. 7 MAR 19?0
NO. PAGES 1
REFERENCES RD
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The Warsaw Fire Brigade
1. The Central Fire Brigade Directorate is situated at 9 Ujar-
chowskie Street in Warsaw. It is subordinate to the Ministry of
Internal Affairs, coming under the competence of Deputy Minister
Stefan Antosiewicz. The directorate is directly supervised by several
inspectors of the Ministry.
2. The FireBrigade Directorate is headed by a commander and his
deputy, as well as by a civilian board with a president and a director.
The Voluntary Fire Brigade Association has about 350,000 members, and
much has been done recently to broaden its scope of activities. In
medium-size industrial plants of lesser importance, voluntary fire
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brigades are replacing the military organization, although the latter
are still operating in major plants. Voluntary fire brigade boards
have been attached to local councils and are financed by them. The
voluntary brigades are not subordinate to the military, but are paid
and equipped by the respective local authorities. In some plants,
women are also on the staff of the fire fighting service.
3. The Warsaw Area Fire Brigade headquarters (WKSP) is located
on Polna Street. The brigade comprises the following detachments:
a. lst Detachment, located on Torunska Street, Targowek.
It is equipped with one fire engine, one tank car, and one
radio set.
b. 2nd Detachment, located in Wtochy, near Warsaw. Its
equipment is similar to that of the 1st Detachment.
c. 3rd Detachment, located on Polna Street with the ~dKSP.
The detachment is organized into the following sections:
(1) Two sections, each of which is equipped with a
tank car with automatic pumps.
(2) One section equipped with one Mayirus ladder
(3) One reinforced section (nine men), equipped with
one fire engine with a motor pump and a. large quantity of
pipes.
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The 3rd Detachment has two cars equipped with radio sets. It
also has oxygen apparatus, foam extinguishers, an adequate
quantity of rope, telephone systems, and other equipment.
d. loth Detachment (Narchlewski), located at the corner of
Chtodma Street and the N-S line (?). It is equipped with two
fire engines, one with a radio set, and a water container.
e. 5th Detachment, located at 2 Majdanska Street, Praga,
near Targowa Street. It is equipped with two fire engines,
two tank-cars, one Mayirus ladder and two radio sets.
f. 6th Detachment, located on Nary moncka Street, at the
corner of Zjednoczenia Bld. It has the same equipment as the
5th Detachment, but no mechanical ladder.
g. 7th Detachment, located at 5). Pows. Slaskich Bld.,
Jelonki. Its equipment is similar to that of the 1st and 2nd
detachments. The building is large enough to accommodate
seven fire brigade sections.
h. 8th Detachment. This detachment, which also serves
as a training center, has only one operative section, but, if
necessary, at least four or five sections can be organized from
the center's personnel.
FF. P-,, PIT47
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L.. Minor operations are directed by commanders of the fire-
fighting sections or detachments, subordinate to the duty officer
of the alarm and command post. The latter, situated in the building
of the Warsaw Fire Brigade Headquarters, has a common battery, hand-
operated telephone exchange; a fire alarm center; one stationary
radio set, installed in the Ministry of Commudications building at
2 Chatubinski street, Warsaw (a 40 m high structure with a 52 m tall
antenna); and one set mounted on a truck per area. For directing
action from the command post, the duty officer has four portable
radio sets, operating on a frequency of 11.15 megahertz, and a
portable megaphone.
5. The following call-signs of radio sets are reported:
a. The command post set - "Neptun"
b. The Operations Officer's truck set - "Klamra"
c. The Warsaw fire brigade command truck set - "Gwardia"
d. Call-signs of radiotelephones on fire engines start
with the figures "01".
6. The radio sets and radiotelephones have an operational range
of over 40 kilometers. The radio sets are made in Poland and equipped
with Nowal tubes produced by (plant. The 50X1-HUM
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radiotelephones are made by the workshops of the maritime service
of Gdynia Radio Station. The transmitters are of the FM type.
The four portable radio sets at the command post are of the P-12
type, made by plant, have a radius of up to two km
and weigh 25 kg, including the battery. The Signals Directorate
of the Ministry of Internal Affairs greatly contributes towards
furnishing the Fire Fighting Service with proper signals equipment.
The departments of this Directorate are well equipped.
7. Telephone numbers PB-08 and 40071 are used in Warsaw for
fire alarm calls and the numbers have five extensions each at the
exchange of the command post. Calls to the former number are free
of charge from both private subscribers and public booths. A system
of fire alarm signalization was established during 1956-1959. It
consists of a network of electric cables, of exchanges installed
in some of the detachments, and of alarm devices installed at
distances of 300-500 meters along the streets of Warsaw. The latter
have a signalling arrangement, released by the person detecting a
fire, a telephone connection and an optical signal for the militia.
8. Fire fighting services of major institutions and industrial
plants are connected by direct telephone lines to the Warsaw Fire
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Brigade or the nearest detachment. The commander of the Warsaw Fire
Brigade is authorized to call up factory brigades in special cases,
over the special line.
Wartime Organization
9. In case of war, the Warsaw Fire Brigade Headquarters is turned
into a reinforced fire fighting regiment numbering 2,900 men, instead
of the usaal 800. (The present strength of the Warsaw Fire Brigade
is 600-650 men.) The regimental headquarters is organized as follows:
a. Regimental commander
b. Chief of Staff and second-in-command of the operations
department.
c. Fire prevention department
d. Signals department
e. Administration and personnel department
f. Quartermaster unit
10. The regimental headquarters is located at 193 (?) Kasprowicza
Street, in the shelter which is connected with the Warsaw Civil Defense
Command (TOPL). The shelter is built underneath a six-story building
and consists of two floors. The first floor contains five small
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rooms for contact with AA observation posts, the commander's office
(a large room), and a room for the telephone exchange. The second
floor contains three or four rooms, a ventilation room, and a
dosimeter chamber. The shelter is staffed by 30-40 men. The
Emergency Command Post has a shelter in the Czerniakowska Street
area, lower Nokotov Sielecka Street (?).
11. The regiment is to be organized into four battalions oper-
ting in Bialany, Henrykow, Water, and in either the Opacr Wielki or
the Piajeczna area. Each battalion has 650 men and comprises: one
service platoon each and their headquarters, an operations department,
a quartermaster unit, a signals officer, and a dosimeter and signals
section. Each comparV comprises three fire-fighting platoons, one
water supply platoon, one dosimeter and signals section, and a cooks'
section. Each fire-fighting platoon comprises the following:
a. Four fire-fighting sections of nine men each, equipped
with four Polish GAM vehicles, with STAR-21 motors, and radio-
telephones.
b. Water supply platoon, equipped with five km of pipe,
six or ten motor pumps, four km of cable, and four to five
field telephones.
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12. The establishment of permanent line and radio communications
with TOPL is planned, and the first TOPL units were organized in
late 1957. The organization of several fire-fighting companies
attached to TOPL is also planned. In 1959 telephone lines were to
be laid from the TOPL command post to the command post of the Fire
Fighting Regiment on Kasprowicza Street and to the Finergency Command
Post. Each TOPL unit commander, in charge of defense of a certain
region, will assign duties directly to the respective battalion
commander. The fire brigade is to be the first unit to enter the
town after an air attack by nuclear or conventional weapons. A
representative of the TOPL Command takes active part in fire fighting
exercises under wartime conditions and gives orders on the spot.
13. For radiotelephone contact with TOPL units, a channel with
a frequency of 41.3 megahertz is to be used. This channel is now
being tested by crystal sets. In case of mobilization, other TOPL
fire fighting companies are to be incorporated into the Fire Fight-
ing Regiment.
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14. The following individuals head the Warsaw Fire Brigade:
a. Lt. Colonel Zygmunt Jarosz is the commanding officer
of the Warsaw Fire Brigade.
b. Major Rafalski (friu), second-in-command of the Warsaw
Fire Brigade, is a political officer.
15. The following individuals are with the Central Fire Brigade
Directorate:
a. Colonel Bil:ewski (fnu) is deputy commander in charge of
operations.
b. Colonel Darczevski (fnu), commander of the Fire Brigade
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c. Lt. Colonel Pogorzelski (fnu), commanding officer of
the Supply Department of the directorate, has been an officer
since before World ,dar II.
d. Major Uswiecien (fnu)
is commanding
officer of the Operations Department at the directorate.
e. Lt. Colonel Zygman (fnu) is commanding officer of the
Military Department at the directorate.
Accompanying this report are the following attachments:
Attach. 1 - Structure of the Fire Brigade Directorate
Attach. 2 - Organization of the Warsaw Fire Brigade Headquarters
Attach. 3 - System of Line Communications for Directing Warsaw
Fire Brigade Detachments.
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