Forty Years (Almost) of Raleigh Fire Academies

For your Friday enjoyment, here’s a montage of Raleigh Fire Department recruit academy academy class photos from 1978 to 2016. Includes Academy 41, which graduated last night in downtown Raleigh. Congratulations! This one’s an incomplete collection, however. Some of the group didn’t either a formal or even informal photo. See the entire collection of class …

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Raleigh Fire Department Recruit Academy 41 Graduates on Thursday, Aug 18

Raleigh Fire Department Recruit Academy 41 graduates on Thursday, August 18, at 7:00 p.m., in a ceremony to be held at the Duke Center for the Performing Arts. The thirty-seven recruits started their twenty-nine week academy on January 25, 2016. The program included classroom and practical instruction, as well as daily physical fitness training. They’ll …

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Run Card For Reported Shooting at Crabtree Valley Mall

See photos by Mike Legeros Here’s a run card and narrative about yesterday’s reported shooting at Crabtree Valley Mall. Gunshots were reported on the second floor, near the food court, just after 2:30 p.m. The mall was placed on lockdown, and then evacuated as law officers secured each location. The mall occupants (employees, shoppers) were …

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Raleigh Fire Hydrants Turning Yellow

Belated news. Raleigh fire hydrants are turning yellow. As announced in this June 10 press release, the public fire hydrants within the city limits will now be painted yellow. They’re currently painted red. Private fire hydrants will remain red. What’s the difference between a public and private fire hydrant, as defined here? They’re both connected …

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Celebrate Forty Years of Wake EMS on Thursday, August 4

Wake County EMS will celebrate four decades of service to the community at a public event in downtown Raleigh on Thursday night, August 4, at 7:00 p.m. at Meymandi Concert Hall, at the Duke Energy for the Perform Arts. Or what we called Memorial Auditorium back in the day. They’ll be celebrating their history and …

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Fire on the Mall! Thirty-Fives Years After the Mangel’s Building – July 7, 1981

Thirty-five years ago this month, on July 7, 1981, the Mangel’s Building on the Fayetteville Street Mall burned. The four-alarm fire was one of the largest in the city’s history. Hundreds watched as thick smoke blanketed the pedestrian mall, and as firefighters fought a difficult fire in an 80+ year-old building that was “built to …

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Vintage Photo of Vance Apartments and Fire Trucks, 1972

The Raleigh Public Record posted a story today [link expired:http://raleighpublicrecord.org/news/development-beat/2016/07/25/development-beat-miscellaneous-monday-2/] about a parking lot at the northeast corner of Edenton and Wilmington streetst that’s slated for development. The site was once occupied by Vance Apartments, a three-story, 36-unit complex that was the largest of Raleigh’s then-four apartment buildings. But no one has photo for the building, …

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Vintage Photo of Wake New Hope Fire Car, 1975

For your Friday flashback, here’s a News & Observer photo from October 23, 1975, showing a Wake New Hope Fire Department “fire car” at the Plantation Inn on Capital Boulevard. And a station wagon no less! (Make and model, readers?) There was a fire in an attic that was discovered about 11:00 a.m. and quickly …

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Raleigh Receives Class 1 Fire Protection Rating

Big news announced yesterday in this city press release, which I’ve adapted here: The City of Raleigh has received a Public Protection Classification (PPC) Class 1 rating from the Insurance Services Office (ISO). This achievement is the highest rating possible for Raleigh s state of readiness and defense against potential fire risk and property loss. …

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