Fallout Shelter question

[Zoff12]

Been wondering this for a while now but have never asked. I was asked this question by a citizen and could not answer it... Since government owned fallout shelters are pretty much abandoned... who is in charge of them? We have a couple in my town and I have no clue who is supposed to handle them... if anyone. I am a cop in this town... still don't have the knowledge and nobody in the town government can answer the question. Any ideas?

[Penguin]

Not a one. It is a good question though I would love to hear the answer to it.

[Zoff12]

Not a one. It is a good question though I would love to hear the answer to it.
If I ever find out the answer... I'll post it. :think:

[NewbieAKguy]

There's going to be documentation somewhere. Which dept. built the thing? If that can be found out give said dept. (or whichever one replaced it if necessary) a phone call to get some info. I would also think it'd be in the city's paperwork somewhere....gonna be on file the plot, who owned the land before and who owns it now. Perhaps it's now under control of local gov't or sold to them because the Feds didn't need/want it anymore.

Is this fallout shelter open to the public or whoever to look for ID on walls/trusses/etc? Might have to hit the local library and start sorting through the old newspapers or whatever to see stories on when it was built and by who.

Only ideas I can think of at the moment. :think:

[HDR]

Been wondering this for a while now but have never asked. I was asked this question by a citizen and could not answer it... Since government owned fallout shelters are pretty much abandoned... who is in charge of them? We have a couple in my town and I have no clue who is supposed to handle them... if anyone. I am a cop in this town... still don't have the knowledge and nobody in the town government can answer the question. Any ideas?

I'm a ham operator; my old club was allowed to use the CD bunker because we were their ARES/RACES support so I'd try Civil Defense first.

CD is civilian volunteers but CD will be under some agency, maybe FEMA or the state version of it?

If there is an active Amateur Radio Club in town ask if they have an ARES or RACES officer. Hams communicate and after a disaster communications are needed. So if there is an ARES/RACES involvement they will know who they are sending data to during their drills.

[Zoff12]

I'm a ham operator; my old club was allowed to use the CD bunker because we were their ARES/RACES support so I'd try Civil Defense first.

CD is civilian volunteers but CD will be under some agency, maybe FEMA or the state version of it?

If there is an active Amateur Radio Club in town ask if they have an ARES or RACES officer. Hams communicate and after a disaster communications are needed. So if there is an ARES/RACES involvement they will know who they are sending data to during their drills.
I'll do that. Thanks.

[slamfire51]

I don't know of any fallout shelters these days. When I was a kid, buildings with basements in downtown Nashville had DOD fallout shelter signs on them.
Our county rock quarry was available for a community shelter in case of the big bang.
I went into it 10 yrs ago to see what it looked like. Caverns leading several hundred yards into the mountain were enormous. I'd say enough to hold the whole population of the town back in the 60's.
I'm pretty sure the CD does not exist any longer. I'm sure FEMA is in charge.

Here's a genuine DOD sign I bought online yrs. ago.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c80/Canis-latrans/fallout.jpg

[coppertales]

civil defense director. He may be called the emergency preparedness office now a days. Long ago it was determined if the bomb did drop, you were supposed to sit in a dark corner somewhere and place your head between your knees and kiss it goodby......bombs now days are much smaller than in the 50s-60s because of increase in missile accuracy. If a bomb was set off in Dallas, I doubt if we would be affected in Fort Worth. Dallas is 30 miles away and the prevailing winds are from west to east. It would be a good time to empliment your SHTF plan though.....chris3

[HDR]

I'll do that. Thanks.

I was involved with CD for about 8-10 years. Once a month we tested communications. It was kind of neat to see communications come up and link statewide.

There are bunkers and shelters; the biggest difference is as they have a job the bunkers aren't marked with signs There was a map in the CD area showing where all the shelters were located. :D

[Zoff12]

Whelp... found out about our local FA shelter. USPS uses it for storage. Talked to the Postmaster and he said it was cleaned out years ago and stripped to the bone. They have old records, decorations, ads, etc stored down there.

So ends the mystery. :shss:

[Penguin]

Well that was anticlimatic. Though not surprising. Good to know just the same thanks for letting us know.

[HDR]

Whelp... found out about our local FA shelter. USPS uses it for storage. Talked to the Postmaster and he said it was cleaned out years ago and stripped to the bone. They have old records, decorations, ads, etc stored down there.

So ends the mystery. :shss:

Perhaps that is what the guys in the black helicopters told him to tell others??


I bet the K-flies crew would agree there is that potential.... :shss:
:lool:

[Zoff12]

Perhaps that is what the guys in the black helicopters told him to tell others??


I bet the K-flies crew would agree there is that potential.... :shss:
:lool::yeah:

[HDR]

Well, they would...

:D

[slamfire51]

Wonder if Printerman knows any black chopper crews.
He may give us some insight. :dizzy:

[Mark Ducati]

The last time I saw a "fall out shelter" sign was back in college 20 years ago... actually a couple of them. One was in a parking garage with directions down to the bottom lot, the other was one of the basements in college.

I don't know that anyone needs to be in charge as there were no supplies stored there... it was just an area identified as a safe place to go... first come, first serve?

[deth502]

id concur with slam on this one. the only ones ive ever seen were just private/public buildings that had basements suitable for use as shelters. i dont think they were ever really government "owned".

on a side note, i have my grandfathers old cd badge in my attic, as well as a bunch of old cd id cards. im pretty sure they are defunct now.

[pastfinder]

The fallout shelters you refer to with the yellow and black signs fell under the jurisdiction of the National Fallout Shelter Survey (NFSS) begun under the Kennedy administration in the fall of 1961 and continuing into the Nixon administration. Privately owned or government buildings with rooms featuring a protection factor (PF) or 40 or higher (meaning a person would be exposed to 1/40 the amount of fallout outside the shelter = PF 0), with the permission of the owner (in case of private) were licensed, marked, and stocked with supplies for 50 or more persons as public fallout shelters. These were/are predominately in urban areas. In terms of public government bunkers/shelters, the federal government provided funds to harden communication facilities across the country (usually radio/television broadcasting stations) to use with the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) in the event of nuclear attack (and later natural disasters).

Some communities gathered together funds to build community fallout shelters as part of the Community Shelter Program (CSP) that also began in the Kennedy years. Many of these are long gone but some still exist.

Bottom line, if you see a black and yellow fallout shelter sign on an older building, part of the basement was likely a designated shelter area back in the day.

I've researched and written about this subject, if wondering...

[FunkyPertwee]

I'm glad I never had to worry about the bombs. Now its just everything else.

[slamfire51]

I'm glad I never had to worry about the bombs. Now its just everything else.

Yeah, it was a very disturbing time in the early 60's.
I remember the look of fear in my parents eyes and voices during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

[FunkyPertwee]

Yeah, it was a very disturbing time in the early 60's.
I remember the look of fear in my parents eyes and voices during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

I've always been fascinated with the time period and the mind set. Today's fear somehow seem trivial when compared to the threat of the whole country being transformed into Hell. At least if the country internally collapses, food still grows and the rain still brings nourishment.

[HDR]

In terms of public government bunkers/shelters, the federal government provided funds to harden communication facilities across the country (usually radio/television broadcasting stations) to use with the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) in the event of nuclear attack (and later natural disasters).

I was involved with RACES and the facilities were hardened. The facility was well thought out, CAT I6 generator, slept 8, and the tx/rx equipment was old.

[abpt1]

I was working in Bucks county courthouse the other week and in a nonpublic area I seen this thought of this thread and snapped a pic

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s298/abpt1/IMG_0439.jpg