In view of the fact that many UFOlogists believe that we are fast approaching a time when overt landings of UFOs will become less remarkable, and in the absence of our knowing whether their visits are friendly or hostile, it would not be remiss to give some thought to the part that fire departments might play in the event of the unexpected arrival of UFOs in their communities. For example, what would be your course of action as an incident commander at the scene of a school ground where a UFO has crashed into the boiler room, rupturing a fuel line, and ignition has occurred in the spilling oil, endangering the occupants of the craft who are trapped in the wreckage? If your rescue attempts are successful, and two of the five small alien creatures are injured but still alive, how do you dispose of the dead and treat the survivors? How would the presence of children on the school grounds affect your actions? What persons and agencies would be notified?
The authors have never read any advice on these matters. The following admonition was printed on the inside front jacket of Frank Edward's book on flying saucers:
WARNING
"Near approaches of UFOs can be harmful to human beings. Do not stand under a UFO that is hovering at low altitude. Do not touch or attempt to touch a UFO that has landed. In either case the safe thing to do is to get away from there very quickly and let the military take over. There is a possibility of radiation danger and there are known cases where persons have been burned by rays emanating from UFOs. Don't take chances with UFOs!
In view of the federal law (cited earlier) empowering NASA's administrator to impound, without a hearing, anyone who touches a UFO or its occupants. it would be inadvisable to make personal contact unless you are willing to submit to NASA's quarantine requirements, should the law be invoked.
Besides the possible physical effects of approaching a UFO, e.g.. burns, radiation, etc., there may be psychological effects produced by force fields that could induce a hypnotic state in the viewer, loss of consciousness, memory relapse, and submission to the occupants. Jacques Vallee, author of "The Invisible College" cautions that we should consider psychic effects, such as space-time distortions experienced by percipients of craft-like devices which appear to fade away—dematerialize—and then reappear; of alien, strange voices or thoughts that may effect involuntary changes in the manner in which witnesses may react in such circumstances .
Perhaps the above warnings of Edwards and Vallee are a little too cautious and apprehensive to adopt as a general pattern of conduct in every situation. In the absence of overt acts indicating hostility, there may be no danger in approaching a landing (or landed) UFO with a positive, solicitous attitude of wanting to be of service. This nonaggressive mental state may be telepathically sensed by those aboard or emerging from the craft; a form of nonvocal communication is a possibility. It goes without saying that any display of firearms or other weapons on your part could be construed as unfriendly and likely to thwart your intention of conveying a helpful attitude.
In a best case scenario, you may be able to obtain guidance as to the appropriate actions to take, whether of a life-saving nature, e.g., in quelling a fire, abating a spill, and of preservation of property, or even in the reduction of apprehension on the part of your response team and the spectators.
In a less optimistic scenario, you may have engine trouble upon approaching the scene, and radio contact could be lost with your dispatcher. If at night, your headlights could go out, the city could be blacked out, and your portable generators may malfunction when you attempt to use them for fans and portable lights. It would certainly be an inopportune time for your comrades to announce that they had decided to take their pensions, effective immediately.
In any event, the incident could provide invaluable experience for further training in coping with rare and difficult emergencies. Whatever "inside" information you are able to pass along to your fellow officers and citizens of the world might help to alleviate unreasonable fear, so that there would be less likelihood that we would ever again experience the panic and hysteria that was created by War of the Worlds a half century ago. Truth is the best cure for the unknown. A list of some of the available books on Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) is found in Appendix H.