College Students Will Participate In Mass Cambridge Evacuation

Local Civil Defense Director Edmund M. Burke Confirmed yesterday that a mass evacuation of Cambridge--with the University and Radcliffe participating--will be called this spring to test the city's new air raid warning system.

All students in this area north of the Charles will assemble on the Cambridge Common and in the Yard, and leave town as quickly as possible via Mt. Auburn St., Fresh Pond Parkway, Boylston St., and Concord Ave., Burke said. He added that the test will be conducted because Cambridge has been designated as one on the nation's 47 "target cities"--urban areas most likely to be attacked by a potential enemy.

The test will also give the city an opportunity to test its new siren signals: a steady three-minute blast for "alert," whooping or quick short blasts for "take cover," and another three-minute blast for "evacuation."

In previous siren tests, when "take cover" instead of "evacuate" was the order of the day, many University and M.I.T. students openly flaunted the rules by staying on the streets and thumbing their noses at the authorities, Burke recalled. Burke said that he is currently working closely with Dean Watson to insure cooperation in this spring's mass evacuation test.

All incoming traffic will be halted during the practice, Burke said, and all outgoing vehicles will be encouraged to pick up pedestrians along the way. Final destinations of the exodus are rural areas far enough from Greater Boston to insure safety from H-bomb effects.

A Civil Defense test planned for last June was not held because preparations were incomplete.