The White Falcon - 03.02.1967, Qupperneq 1

THE
WHITE
©(Dm
U. S. NAVAL STATION, KEFLAVIK INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, ICELAND
Volume VIII, Number 5 Friday, February 3, 1967
Award In Fire Prevention Contest
Goes To Station Fire Department
Winning of the National Fire
Prevention Contest is indicative
of the “high degree of profes-
sionalism and strong dedication to
duty,” displayed by the combined
Icelandic-U.S. Navy firefighting
force here, Captain Emile E.
Pierre, Jr. naval station comman-
ding officer, declared this week.
The local fire department took
the top prize for fire prevention
in 1966 among Navy firefighting
units at installa-
tions having a
daytime popula-
tion of between
1,500 and 3,500
personnel.
The station
fire department
will receive a
distinctive plaque
denoting its win-
ning of the
Group II Grand
Award.
The contest is sponsored by
the National Fire Prevention As-
sociation to recognize excellence
in fire safety, education and per-
formance. Judging is based on
samples of publicity material sub-
mitted to support claims of fire
prevention activities carried out
during the year. Last year, the
naval station fire department re-
ceived honorable mention in the
contest.
Though fire prevention is a
year-round effort, its highlight is
Fire Prevention Week, proclaimed
each year by the President, en-
compassing the anniversary date,
Oct. 9 of the 1871 Chicago fire.
During the week, fire department
personnel actively demonstrate
NEW PERSONNEL OFFICER—
Commander Paul H. Andersen is
the new Iceland Defense Force per-
sonnel officer. He relieved Com-
mander Charles E. Forsha who is
now stationed at the Naval Air
Station, Pensacola, Fla. CDR An-
derson reported here from duties
in the Office of the Chief of Na-
val Operations, Washington. He is
married and his wife Eugenia and
their daughter Paula reside at
Key West, Fla.. They have a son
Mark who is a student at the
Medical College of Virginia at
Richmond.
fire prevention techniques and
holds numerous drills to make per-
sonnel aware of fire danger.
The naval station fire depart-
ment is under the direction of
Fire Chief Sveinn Eiriksson, a
veteran of more than 15 years in
firefighting and fire prevention.
He supervises a force of 46 Ice-
landic and 16 Navy fire fighters.
Operating 24 hours per day,
seven days per week, the fire de-
partment is split into three shifts,
each led by an assistant chief
with years of practical experi-
ence. Three inspectors are re-
responsible for checking shops
for fire hazards and recommen-
ding ways of eliminating them.
Maintenance of fire extinguishers
throughout the station and testing
alarm systems are important
functions of the fire department.
Some 10,000 fire prevention in-
spections are carried out each
year. Industrial buildings are
checked monthly, places of public
assembly daily, hospital weekly,
barracks and domitories monthly
and family quarters annually.
A frequent fire safety violation
and one that is difficult to pre-
vent is personnel smoking in bed.
To these violators, Chief Eiriks-
son had this to say:
“Be sure and leave a copy of
your last will and testament and
the name of your next of
kin with the commanding of-
ficer. Make sure your in-
surance policy is paid up. Let
someone know where to send the
remains. Advise other building oc-
cupants that you intend to endan-
ger their lives.”
Fire Department Answers
Call To Help Fight Fire
The Naval Station Fire Depart-
ment responded to a call for help
Friday night, when fire struck in
the small fishing village of
Grindavik, 17 miles southeast of
the Naval Station here, destroy-
ing a two story house.
The fire department was called
to the scene by the Keflavik Vo-
lunteer Fire Department shortly
after 7:00 p.m.
Responding to the call, a four
man crew was dispatched to the
scene from the Naval Station un-
der the direction of Assistant
Fire Chief, Sigurbergur Sveins-
son. Arriving on the scene at 7:30
p.m. Sveinsson reported that the
structure was totally engulfed in
flames.
As 500 of the Grindavik towns
people watched with fright, fly-
ing sparks threatened the safety
of their own nearby homes. Rain
showers aided the fire-fighters in
controlling the blaze from spread-
ing to other neighboring dwel-
lings. Winds fanned the fire, and
in sixty-minutes, the five room
house was completely destroyed.
At day-break the following
morning, the structure was a
pile of cinders.
More Daylight Hours
Rising Temperatures
Arrive With February
Rising temperatures and more
hours of daylight are in store as
the Iceland winter begins a gra-
dual break with the arrival of
February.
February is the beginning of a
gradual transition from the win-
ter season to the summer season.
Although winter will linger on
during the month, the Greenland
high pressure area gradually be-
gins to weaken and the tempera-
ture begins its seasonal rise. The
most notable change in the
weather during February is the
increasing number of daylight
hours.
According to the climatology
outlook for February, issued by
the U. S. Fleet Weather Facility,
nearly three hours of daylight
will be added during the month.
For example, the sun rose at 9:12
a.m. and set at 4:16 p.m. on the
first day of the month. On Feb.
28, it came up at 7:45 a.m. and
went down at 5:43.
The daily maximum tempera-
ture is expected to hit 37 degrees,
cooling off to a minimum of 29.1
degrees. Proof that the weather
can become summer-like in Febru-
ary is the 48 degree record high
occuring last year. At the same
time, perhaps just as a reminder
that winter is still here, the tem-
perature can also move rapidly
downward as it did in 1954 to a
record low of 11 degrees.
Prevailing wind direction will
(Continued on page 3.)
High School Level
Group Study Classes
Now Being Offered
Registration is now being con-
ducted by the Education and
Training Office, Bldg. 752, for
enrollment in the high school level
group study classes.
These courses will comence
Feb. 6 and will be held at the
A. T. Mahan School one night a
week from 7-9 p.m. Courses be-
ing offered and the day on which
classes will be held are as follows:
Mondays: Natural Science
Tuesdays: English
Wednesdays: Mathematics
Thursdays: Social Studies
Anyone attending the classes
will be given credit for partici-
pating in off-duty self improve-
ment programs.
For further information, con-
tact Miss Lynn Lee, Monday thru
Friday during the hours of
9-11:30 a.m. and 1:30-3:30 p. m.
at the E & T Office, Bldg. 752.
The Keflavik Squares will hold
an election of officers Sunday,
Feb. 5 at 2:30 p.m. in the Captain
Sparks Rod & Gun Club prior to
square dancing. All interested
square dancers are urged to at-
tend this important meeting.
Eiriksson
How Many Ground Hogs
Did You See Yesterday?
Yesterday was Ground Hog Day and according to folklore,
should have been a time of extreme happiness or sadness, depen-
ding on whether you are a lover of the winter or summer.
For the ground hog, or wood-
chuck, on emerging from his win-
ter burrow is supposed to check
the sky and if he sees cloudy
weather, stay outside in anti-
cipation of the balmy weather
that’s sure to come. But if the
sun is shining, casting a shadow,
the rodent quickly returns to his
burrow and that is a sure indi-
cation that six more weeks of
winter is in store.
The tale of the ground hog fore-
casting the weather for the next
six weeks was brought to the
United States by British and German immigrants.
In the early part of this century, a group of wags near Quarry-
ville, Pa., organized the Slumbering Ground Hog Lodge. On the
morning of Feb. 2, members would don silk hats and carrying
canes, go into the fields seeking the burrow of a woodchuck. When
a burrow was located, everyone gathered round to watch the ac-
tion of the ground hog. In one period of time, the ground hog’s
action was reported to have accurately predicted the next six
week’s weather eight times and missed seven.
Since the members of the White Falcon staff are firm believers
in Ground Hogology, we thought it only proper to celebrate the
day by sponsoring a ground hog hunt. Unfortunately, we didn’t
think about it until too late to publicize the hunt in last week’s
issue. Nevertheless, we planned to offer a suitable reward to the
first person delivering a live ground hog to the newspaper office
in Bldg. T-44. With a live ground hog in our office, all sorts of
possibilities could have been opened up. Instead of just forecast-
ing the weather once a year, it could have been trained perhaps
to do it three or four times annually, or maybe monthly or weekly.
The newspaper could have been a veritable fount of weather in-
formation — telling readers when it was O. K. to go ahead and
put the overcoat in the cleaners, when to break out the bermuda
shorts, whether to plan a skiing of fishing trip, etc. It might have
been possible to lend the ground hog to the Fleet Weather Ser-
vice. Since everyone knows a ground hog requiresl loss maintenance
than an aerographer, a significant contribution to cost reduction
could have been realized.
Alas, just as we were all fired up over plans for next Feb. 2
some prosiac soul heartlessly reminded us — there are no ground
hogs in Iceland!
EDUCATIONAL TOUR—Twenty-nine students of the Commercial Col-
lege of Reykjavik toured Defense Force facilities last Saturday. The
students were given a series of briefings on the Iceland Defense
Force, Naval Station Comptroller and the new dependent’s school, Fire
Station and the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service facilities.
The morning tour was completed with refreshments at the Officers’
Club. Aboe Navy Airman Thomas D’Alonzo, AFRTS, explains the
functions of the television camera to (left to right) Olafur Axels-
son, Victor Bjornsson, Gudmundur Markusson, Magnus Gunnarsson.
(WHITE FALCON STAFF PHOTO)