A couple of pages from my dad's Home Guard notebook.

Fascinating stuff, I've just read this and want to read more of his writings on poisonous gases etc.

I'll try to scan some more, maybe tomorrow.

Some more

Chris. It must be remembered that during the war men not only did home guard or fire watch duty's they also did there normal working day as well which was at least a 56 hr week or more.

Yes, Jim, as you know, my dad worked a full day at Laird's before his Home Guard duties.

Thanks for posting Chris, always nice to see the originals. Thankfully gas was never used, after seeing the effects in WW1 it took the effect of a deterrent, the Germans reluctant to use it knowing they would have got it back 10 fold.

Thank you very much for posting this info Chriskay, I will have a careful read and take notes.

PB

Why, are you planning am attack?

Keep a look-out, there's more to come.

Nothing sinister, honest LOL
I just find reading the effects of various gasses and chemicals interesting.
I know I could look this info up on the internet but I'm not really that interested but your Dad's notebook is already presented to us on here.

Thanks,

PB

Fire-fighting gases (halons) owe their rise to early experiments with gas warfare. The problem has always been a way of combining fire-fighting capability with toxicity. Earlier fire-fighting agents, like CBM (ChloroBromoMethane) were extremely efficient at displacing oxygen from the gases of combustion. The problem was that, in the case of CBM, the by-product was phosgene gas!! This is the same gas that was used in the trenches of WW1. In later years, gases like CTC (Carbon TetraChloride) were used to fight fires. Same problem, though. Good at putting the fire out-but very toxic with the by-product gas. In addition to this, many servicemen used to use the contents of CTC fire extinguishers (usually identified by a corrugated-style body with a pull lever at one end) to dry-clean stains from their uniforms-thus rendering the extinguisher useless in a fire, cos it was empty!! Later still, a red dye was added to the contents, so that it prevented servicemen from repeating this exercise!! Recently, ICI in UK and Duponts in USA developed what was perceived to be the perfect balance between toxicity and fire-fighting capability. They called it BCF (BromoChloroDifluoroMethane.) This proved excellent as a multi-purpose, non-damaging fire extinguisher. It left no mess and dealt with all common fires-including "mixed-risk" fires. Unfortunately, being a CFC it was banned by the Montreal Commission-much to the disgust of the fire industry and the fire brigades. When discharged onto a fire, the resultant gases did not destroy the ozone layer, nor did they cause too much problem with breathing (unless you put a fire out in a broom cupboard!!) Only when it was discharged into air did it create a problem, because there was no chemical reaction with the products of combustion, which effectively neutralised the CFC. Another example of burocratic nonsense triumphing over common-sense.

Thanks for the info, We used to have fire extinguishers (the brass ones) on the buses which contained Carbon Tetrachloride.

PB

Glad you found it interesting!! :-)