Long before COVID crashed out shores, our fire departments and rescue squads assisted with another national health crisis. During the polio outbreaks of the 1940s and 1950s, they added iron lungs to their emergency equipment. Here’s the Durham Fire Department receiving one, as photographed by Charles Cooper for the Durham Morning Herald and/or Sun on …
These notes were originally posted on Facebook, after a trench rescue incident on Wednesday, January 15, 2020. See more photos from Mike Legeros in this SmugMug album. Incident Dispatched 11:03 a.m. Gas station construction site at 4209 Corners Parkway, near intersection of Glenwood Avenue and TW Alexander Drive. Below grade earth collapse trapping four …
Continue reading ‘Trench Rescue at Brier Creek – January 15, 2020’ »
Here’s a surprise historical find, newly discovered audio recording of the 911 call, the dispatch, and the first 13 minutes of radio traffic, of fire units responding to the commuter plane crash in Morrisville on December 13, 1994. Listen to the recording at www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwV4H5GVK_Y. It was contributed by David Ferrell, a Morrisville Fire Captain and …
Continue reading ‘Audio Recording from Commuter Plane Crash Response in Morrisville, 1994’ »
Found for sale on eBay. Advertisement for “America’s first air ambulance service” in Durham, from 1947. Was this the same service that operated the air ambulance that crashed near Oxford two years later? To be determined. See that posting.
This content has been moved to a dedicated web page at legeros.com/history/stories/durham-rescue.
Let’s build a timeline. Histories of rescue services in Orange County. To be updated over the coming days and weeks. Based on this Facebook posting. See also this Google drive folder of research documents. 1963 to 1969 1963, Apr – Class project started by UNC Air Force ROTC cadets, for a civilian defense “operational survival …
For your Monday enjoyment, vintage images of Greenville and Pitt County rescue trucks, as photographed by the Daily Reflector in the 1950s and 1960s, via Joyner Library at East Carolina University, via their Digital Collections. See individual images on the Facebook side, in this photo album.
The Wake County EMS System has a new numbering system for their ambulances. Now based on geographic district and shift configuration. Among the notable changes: Two-digit numbers for all ambulances. Single digits reserved for special event units. _7, _8, _9 reserved for peak-load units. The transition started around 9:00 p.m. on Sunday and finished around …
Continue reading ‘New Numbering for Wake County EMS System’ »
At the annual convention of the North Carolina State Firemen’s Association in August 1914, State Fire Marshal Sherwood Brockwell gave a presentation on first aid. Here’s a transcription, as printed in the published proceedings… Mr. Brockwell was called upon to give an address and a demonstration to the Convention on first aid to the injured. …
Continue reading ‘First Aid for the Injured – Firemen’s Conference Talk, 1914’ »
How about some vintage ambulances and rescue vehicles? Found these on the Odgen Rescue Squad Facebook group. The squad was chartered in 1962, and merged with New Hanover Volunteer Rescue Squad in 2004. The joint organization operated until 2014.
