Archive of entries posted by Mike Legeros

New Bern Firefighter Dies From Injuries After Apparatus Accident – 1963

Posted by on

Found another firefighter fatality of yore, from an account in Daniel Bartholf’s new book “History of Firefighter in New Bern, North Carolina.” Here’s the story, from the book and newspaper accounts, copied from the state library in downtown Raleigh. On February 26, 1951, a New Bern Fire Department engine overturned while en route to a …

Continue reading ‘New Bern Firefighter Dies From Injuries After Apparatus Accident – 1963’ »

New Book on New Bern Fire History

Posted by on

New book alert! History of Firefighting in New Bern, North Carolina – Colonial Days to the 21st Century has been published. The author is Daniel Bartholf, a 45-year veteran of the volunteer fire service (NY, NC, WV) and a member of the staff at the New Bern Firemen’s Museum. His bio is below. The softcover …

Continue reading ‘New Book on New Bern Fire History’ »

Wake Forest Engine Returns Home

Posted by on

Antique acquisition alert!  The Wake Forest Fire Department has re-acquired their old 1947 Chevrolet 6000/Southern pumper[1].  It was delivered in 1948, and replaced a 1934 Chevrolet pumper, which was given to the town’s second fire department, Wake Forest Fire Department #2. They were an all-black department, that operated separately from WFFD. And were one of …

Continue reading ‘Wake Forest Engine Returns Home’ »

New Source of Digitized Conference Proceedings

Posted by on

There’s a new source of digitized proceedings of the early conferences of the North Carolina State Firemen’s Association. The Internet Archive (archive.org) has digitized a portion of the proceedings in the North Carolina Collection at the University of North Carolina. The direct links are listed below, and each year’s proceedings is fully-searchable. There are also …

Continue reading ‘New Source of Digitized Conference Proceedings’ »

Handbook of Civilian Defense – 1942

Posted by on

New addition to the Legeros history library, the Handbook of Civilian Defense – What every loyal American can do to help the United States win the war. By Lt. Robert H. Rankin, St. John’s Military Academy and published 1942. https://legeros.com/history/library Scanned from copy in personal collection. Wee hardcover with 95 pages. Includes such “keys to …

Continue reading ‘Handbook of Civilian Defense – 1942’ »

Plane Strikes Fire Truck While Taking Off – Charlotte, 1977

Posted by on

Here’s an usual apparatus accident, reported by the Charlotte Observer on Saturday, April 9, 1977. Douglas Municipal Airport on Friday night, April 8. Piece of fire apparatus with three aboard. They were returning to the station, after doing some pre-planning of a DC-10 that had made a rare landing at the airport. The FFs radioed …

Continue reading ‘Plane Strikes Fire Truck While Taking Off – Charlotte, 1977’ »

Running Across America for Firefighter Cancer

Posted by on

Meet Matty Gregg, pictured below (center left) at Raleigh Fire Station 2 yesterday. He’s running across America for the Firefighter Cancer Support Network. For seven months and nearly 4,500 miles, he’s been spreading the word about firefighter cancer and the national support group.  The Firefighter Cancer Support Network is active in 35 states and growing. …

Continue reading ‘Running Across America for Firefighter Cancer’ »

Run Card for New Hope Woods Fire

Posted by on

Here’s the run card for New Hope Fire Department’s major woods fire last week, on Wednesday, May 29. Some 50 acres were involved, and threatened some residential structures. The resources included 60 firefighters, 34+ pieces of apparatus, and a complete EMS box alarm with 16+ EMS personnel.  The first units were dispatched at 5:02 p.m., …

Continue reading ‘Run Card for New Hope Woods Fire’ »

New Ladder for Northern Wake

Posted by on

Northern Wake Fire Department took delivery on Monday, May 21, of their new Ladder 35, a 2019 Pierce Impel PUC Ascendant, 1500/500/107-foot.  Once in service, it’ll be housed at Station 3 on Norwood Road. It replaces a 1999 Pierce Dash rear-mounted aerial ladder, 1500/200/20/105-foot.  It’s one of three incoming 107-foot Pierce quints in Wake County, …

Continue reading ‘New Ladder for Northern Wake’ »