Cary, Apex, Morrisville, Western Wake Family Tree

April 2020 This family tree has been expanded to include Apex and Morrisville, which joined in operational consolidation with the Cary Fire Department in 2019. The new chart reflects the change and the past history of both AFD and MFD. View as jpg | View as pdf (2.1M)   October 2016 How about a visual history …

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Virtual Wake County Fire Commission Meeting – Tuesday, April 28

April 29 Here’s the agenda packet, with the slides shown at Monday’s meeting. Download from www.legeros.com/blog/docs/wcfc/2020-04. Here’s the direct link (mp4, 128MB) to the WebEx recording. Or navigate to the file from www.wakegov.com/fire/commission/minutes.  April 26 The Wake County Fire Commission meets this week. They’ll hold a special-called meeting, and their first-ever virtual meeting, on Tuesday, …

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Rolesville Planning Future Fire Stations

April 25, 2020 Project update. Signs have been added to the three future fire station sites. Some land has also been cleared.  Mike Legeros photos October 7, 2018 Rolesville Rural Fire Department celebrated their 60th anniversary today, with a reception and open house. (Pictures coming!) Displayed was this Davis/Kane drawing and site design of a …

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Umstead Park Plane Crash, October 2019 – Incident Notes

On October 20, 2019, starting at 7:25 p.m., fire and EMS units were dispatched to a reported plane crash at Umstead State Park, which borders Raleigh-Durham International Airport. The dispatched address was the intersection of Ebenezer Church Road and Graylyn Drive. The airport control tower reported loss of radar contact with a light plane, later …

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Apex Adds Second Ladder, Staffed Rescue

News from Apex. They’ve added a second, fully-staffed ladder company, effective April 6. On that date, Ladder 34 (at Station 4) and Ladder 35 (at Station 5) were both in service. This followed the graduation of a recruit academy, which added sixteen firefighters to the full-time ranks. The backstory on the second ladder company is …

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New Ladder for Fuquay-Varina

The Town of Fuquay-Varina recently received a new ladder truck. This 2019 Spartan/Smeal rear-mount, 1500/400/105-foot was delivered on February 27, 2020.  Specs include: Four-section ladder and 105 feet of heavy-duty 100,000 psi steel and features a 750 pound working tip load without any restrictions in relation to elevation, extension or rotation, while flowing 1,500 GPM. …

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New Ladder for Apex

Recording this older news as a blog post, for the historical record. Late last year, the town of Apex received a new ladder truck, a 2019 Spartan/Smeal, 2000/400/105-foot. It was delivered in September/October. Exact date TBD.  New Ladder 35 was placed in service at Station 5 on January __, 2020. It was operated at Station …

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Vintage Audio – Three Alarms on Edwards Mill Road, 1990

For Friday enjoyment, here’s some vintage radio traffic of the Raleigh Fire Department operating at a three-alarm fire off Edwards Mill Road on July 21, 1990. It was recorded by veteran fire buff Jeff Harkey during a period of severe storm activity. The ninety minutes of radio traffic–both before and after the major incident–has been …

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Raleigh Retires the Last Fire Horses, November 1914

The Raleigh Fire Department ended its horse-drawn era in November 1914. Reported the News & Observer on November 14, 1914: “Faithful Fire Horses No Longer Needed” “Bill and Frank Will Never Again Carry Wagon to a Fire; Both Have Fine Records” “Bill and Frank, the two beautiful black horses of the old Rescue Company, have …

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Boone Gets a Tiller!

This is a blog version of a Facebook posting from June 10, 2019.  For years, many have heard that the Boone Fire Department in Western North Carolina once had a tiller. And it was parked in the rear of Station 1, in an downstairs bay accessed by an alley.  After years of searching–okay, occasional searching–Mr. …

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