Kenly Fire Department Firefighter John M. Davis Jr. was buried yesterday in his hometown in Johnston County. Hundreds of mourners gathered yesterday morning at Kenly Funeral Home & Cremations on East 2nd Street. Burial followed at Center Ridge Presbyterian Church on Glendale Road, with a procession of 60 fire trucks and emergency vehicles escorting the …
Continue reading ‘Kenly Firefighter John Davis is Laid to Rest’ »
Vintage Wilmington fire apparatus as photographed in September 1997. Wait, when did trucks from the 1980s start qualifying as vintage?!? Courtesy of David Raynor, a blog reader, fire buff, and former law officer who lived in Raleigh and Greensboro in his day. Pictured left to right, top to bottom: 1987 Ford/Grumman pumper, 1000/500 1985 Ford/Quality …
Continue reading ‘Vintage Wilmington Fire Apparatus in 1997’ »
Found for sale on eBay, vintage dealer photos of Howe fire apparatus from what looks like the 1970s. The Garner Fire Department had a pair of these International/Howe pumpers, one 1974 model and one 1976 model. Same size pump and tank on each. Readers may have more information on these trucks. Click to enlarge:
May 10, 2016 Here’s the agenda for the May 12 meeting. See accompanying agenda packet (PDF): Meeting Called to Order: Chairman Lucius Jones Invocation Roll of Members Present Public Comments Comments from the public will be received at the time appointed by the Chairman of the FireCommission for 30 minutes maximum time allotted, with a …
Continue reading ‘Updated – Wake County Fire Commission Meetings – May 5 & May 12, 2016’ »
For your Monday evening enjoyment, here’s another vintage photo from David Raynor, this one of a Raleigh service ladder truck, operating at a fire at St. Mary’s and Hargett streets in 1987. That’s Truck 15, a 1964 GMC that was shop-built using the ladder rack from Raleigh’s first service truck, a 1922 American LaFrance. It …
Continue reading ‘Vintage Photo of Raleigh Service Truck in 1987’ »
On Saturday and the same day that the state’s fallen firefighters were honored in a ceremony at Nash Square in downtown Raleigh, another member of the North Carolina fire service died in the line of duty. Kenly Firefighter John M. Davis Jr., 45, suffered a heart attack while working at the scene of an overturned …
Continue reading ‘Johnston County Line of Duty Deaths – Historical Perspective’ »
In September 1969, a new fire engine was delivered at Raleigh-Durham Airport. The Ansul 480 “aircraft crash rescue vehicle” was built on a 1969 International Harvster Loadstar chassis by Southeastern Safety Appliance Company in Charlotte. The Airport Authority authorized its purchase on August 5 of that year. It cost $32,250.50. The truck was equipped with …
Continue reading ‘New Crash Truck Delivered at Airport – September 1969’ »
This Saturday, May 7, 2016, the annual North Carolina Fallen Firefighters Memorial Service will be conducted at Nash Square in downtown Raleigh. The event starts at 1:00 p.m. and will be preceded with a parade at 10:00 a.m., featuring honor guards, pipes and drums, and fire apparatus. See event information. In addition, motorcyclists from across …
Continue reading ‘North Carolina Fallen Firefighters Ceremony – May 7, 2016’ »
Arrangements were announced today [link expired] for Pineville Firefighter Richard Sheltra, who died in the line of duty at a strip mall fire in Charlotte on Saturday. Sheltra is the seventeenth line-of-duty death in (or from ) Mecklenburg County. The first were recorded in 1914, when Charlotte Fire Chief J. Harvey Wallace and Captain William …
Continue reading ‘Mecklenburg County Line of Duty Deaths – Historical Perspective’ »