Time for another chart! Here’s the visual history of the steam fire engines in North Carolina, beginning with their heyday in the 1860s and 1870s. They were labor savers that transformed the hand-powered fire service, although a few steamers were also hand-pulled during their early years. See the chart in JPG format or PDF format. …
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From the Department of Gender Studies, here are a couple stories from the 1890s about the Greensboro Fire Department’s Eagle Hose Company’s “mascot,” Miss Lillian Brown. Plus a photograph that appeared in the 1896 proceedings of the North Carolina State Firemen’s Association. Newspapers copied from newspapers.com, via free access from the NC State Government & …
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Also found these last week, very early Charlotte news stories about their first fire engine and fire company. They’re dated between 1834 and 1845. Plus an 1856 story about a public meeting held for the purpose of organizing, or perhaps re-organizing, the fire department. Good breadcrumb trail for anyone interested in pursuing. From newspapers.com via …
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Found these last week. Newspaper article about an early iteration of the Wilmington Fire Department in 1842. Might be the original or first “formal” version of WFD. Plus an editorial from the year before, with detailed suggestions for same. Plus an account of the great 1840 fire, that they reference. From newspapers.com via free access …
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Here’s something interesting. Couple stories from 1874-75 suggesting that the Charlotte Fire Department’s famous 1866 Jeffers hand engine–see in recent years at special events statewide–was once named “Crazy Hannah.” The articles are attached below. See what you think. CFD reacquired the engine on March 28, 2012. It was originally purchased by the city in 1866, and …
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With the South Atlantic Fire Rescue Expo starting next week in Raleigh, here’s a visual history of the prior conference locations. In the style of a heat map. Needs a little work. Starting with a better base map. Also, Winston (2) and Winston-Salem (9) are merged into one, with Winston-Salem (11). Also, also, tournaments were …
Question from reader Dave Parker, asking the age of this North Carolina Pump School booklet, that someone at his station received from a retired guy some time ago. Answers Legeros, it likely dates from between 1953 and 1966. Those were the years that the North Carolina State Firemen’s Association conducted an annual pump school separate …
For your Friday enjoyment, here’s a montage of Raleigh Fire Department aerial apparatus. Every one from the beginning but not complete. The gaps start after the 2004 tiller. Photo credits are Raleigh Fire Department, Lee Wilson, Mike Legeros, Jeff Harkey, Joel Woods, Tommy Rich, and Elizabeth Reid Murray. See more photos in this Flickr collection …
Here’s another addition to my (very) slowly growing digital library at https://www.legeros.com/history/library. Charlotte Fire Department millennium history book from 2000. Scanned from my personal copy. Believe this was their second history book, with an earlier one in… 1990, or abouts. Will get/borrow a copy of that sometime. Charlotte Fire Department – Millennium History 2000 was …
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Have added a pair of Greensboro Fire Department history books to my digital library at https://www.legeros.com/history/library. Greensboro Fire Department – 1808 to 1984 Greensboro Fire Department – 1808 to 1990 Both are 96 pages in length, and were published by the Taylor Publishing Company, which produces school yearbooks. Scanned from personal copies. Forthcoming is Greensboro’s …
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