One of my favorite fire apparatus sites is the Facebook group Fire Trucks at War. Anything and everything related to military fire apparatus. Its run by military fire historian Ted Heinbuch, who runs the web site of the same name: www.firetrucks-atwar.com. North Carolina military fire apparatus appears fairly frequently, typically posted by Pete Brock, our …

Continue reading ‘Fire Trucks at War on Facebook – Cherry Point Crash Trucks’ »

September 10 From reader Micah Bodford as well as this SPAAMFAA Facebook group posting, here’s the history of the rig, as well as four earlier photos. Click to enlarge: Credits left to right, top to bottom: Jack Wilson; Maxim Factory Photo / Max M. Smith Collection; Tucker Dempsey; Jack Wilson. 1968 Maxim Model 262R, Serial …

Continue reading ‘UPDATED – Vintage Photo of Sunset Beach Maxim Rescue’ »

From the files of reader/contributor David Raynor, here are some fire department step vans of years and decades past. Click to enlarge: Left to right, top to bottom: Knightdale (Wake County) – 1995 1990s? Chevy, rescue/equipment truck – #8 Goldsboro – May 1996 Command post – Old Truck 15, a staffed manpower/equipment company. Nashville (Nash) …

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From the files of reader/contributor David Raynor, here’s a quartet of vintage tankers from Johnston and Wake counties. Left to right, top to bottom: West Johnston FD – Tanker 166 – 1960s (?) Dodge – January 1996 Clayton FD – Tanker 6 – 1960s (?) IHC – June 1999 Wilson Mills FD – Tanker 2 …

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Let’s look at some law enforcement special units. Greensboro Police Department and their bomb squad trucks, past ‘n’ present. Reader/contributor David Raynor shares the vintage pictures. Top picture at the city garage in 1987, with containment equipment mounted on an ex-military 6×6. Bottom picture at the training center in 1991, with containment equipment mounted on …

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From the files of reader/contributor David Raynor, here are vintage photos of two Wilmington Fire Department rigs. Top is a 1979 Chevy/1990 Sturdy Equipment manpower unit. Called Service 1, it operated as a “flying squad” with an Engineer, Relief Driver, and two firefighters. It was originally a 1979 E-One/Chevy midi-pumper, and converted in 1990 to …

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From the files of reader/contributor David Raynor, here are vintage photos of two unusual rigs from Shelby, NC. That’s Cleveland County, to the west. Top is Water Tower 30 (also called Ladder 30 at some point), a 1983 Ford F800 with local bodywork and a 35-foot articulating “water tower.” A former electric company bucket truck, …

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From the files of reader/contributor David Raynor, here are a pair of rigs photographed in 1995, somewhere in North Carolina. He didn’t record the location. Readers, can you identify? David Raynor photos

Found for sale on eBay, magazine advertisement from 1943 for Oren Fire Apparatus in Roanoke, VA, showing Scotland Neck’s Engine No. 1. Maybe readers can share some history of the rig. Click to slightly enlarge: