Greensboro’s 1904 American LaFrance Steam Engine #496

Here’s a history of American LaFrance steam engine #496, built in 1904 for Greensboro, NC, and later owned by private collectors in North Carolina and Florida, and finally residing at Cedar Point Amusement Park in Ohio. The restored steamer is being auction. This text and these images were copied from the auction listing.  “Built for …

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Run Card for Plane Crash at Umstead Park

See photos from Sunday and Monday at legeros.smugmug.com/Fire-Photos/2019/2019-10-umstead-crash Here’s a run card for Sunday night’s aircraft incident, after radar contact was lost with a small plane on approach to Runway 32 at Raleigh-Durham International Airport. That’s the smallest of the airport’s three runways, and perpendicular to the main runway. The tower notified crash-fire-rescue and airport …

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The “Hooks” of a Hook & Ladder

What did the “hooks” look like on the original hook and ladder trucks? Master historian Matt Lee included this picture in his 1997 book “A Pictorial History of the Fire Engine – Volume I.”[1] It’s one of the best pictures and explanations that I’ve come across. Note that there are two of them, a curved …

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Airport Orders Pierce Pumper – Update October 2019

October 10, 2019 Here’s a factory photo of the completed truck, as posted on this Pierce Flickr page: October 30, 2018 News from Raleigh-Durham International Airport. They’ve ordered a Freightliner/Pierce pumper to replace CFR 1, a 2005 Ford F-550/4 Guys mini-pumper, 500/250/20. And it’s the first full-size pumper in the airport’s history.[1]

Factory Photos of Cary’s Tillers

Here are factory photos of Cary’s twin tillers, a pair of 2019 Pierce Enforcer Ascendant 1500/200/107′ tractor-drawn aerials. New Ladder 1 and Ladder 3. Source is the Pierce Flickr page. Go there for larger versions. These are the town’s first tillers, and bump the Wake County TDA total to seven. Raleigh has four, Cary with …

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North Carolina Firefighters to be Honored at National Fallen Firefighters Memorial – October 6, 2019

The 38th National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Service will be held in Emmitsburg, MD, on Sunday, October 6, 2019, to honor 92 firefighters who died in the line of duty in 2018 and 27 firefighters who died in the line of duty in previous years. The North Carolina firefighters being honored are: Michael Gene Goodnight West …

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Wake Forest Plans Merger with Town

The Wake Forest Fire Department is planning a merger with the Town of Wake Forest, effective July 1, 2010. From this web page: Like many communities in North Carolina, the Town of Wake Forest is experiencing significant transition and growth in service demand, thereby increasing the challenges of providing core local government functions, including fire and …

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Wake County Fire Commission Meeting – September 19, 2019

September 22 The audio recording of the meeting has been posted. How to play the recording: 1. Navigate to http://www.wakegov.com/fire/commission 2. Click Fire Commission > Minutes & Agendas across the top row navigation options. 3. On the left side of the page, under Minutes, click 2019. 4. On the left side of the page, under Minutes, …

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Cary, Wake Forest Receive Tillers

Cary Receives First of Two Tillers On September 1, 2019, the Cary Fire Department received the first of two twin tillers, a 2019 Pierce Enforcer Ascendant 1500/200/107-foot. The second is finishing production. Also, a third tiller will be (or has been?) ordered for this fiscal year.  Photographer Lee Wilson was on hand, and has posted …

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