Morning history. Random find. The first “rural truck” in Wake County history. Built by members of the Apex Fire Department in 1952, to expand service to “rural residents,” e.g. those that lived outside of the town limits. News and Observer photos from May (top) and August (bottom) 1952, scanned from film prints. Reported the paper …
Updated December 2022 with content from archive blog postings, replacing links to pages no longer available. Back in 2009, we published a series of blog postings, listing vintage fire cause reports from around North Carolina from the late 1940s through the late 1950s, as (a.) reported to the State Insurance Commissioner’s office, (b.) compiled by …
Continue reading ‘Cigarette Carried to Attic By Pigeon and Other Unusual Fire Causes’ »
Updated on December 11, 2022. Chart has been pushed to production, version 1.0. Here’s a draft of a Durham fire history chart, created in early 2020 during a run on DFD research. Let’s revisit and push the thing to production, shall we? View as JPG | View as PDF | Or via this Google Drive See …
Continue reading ‘Visual History of Durham Fire Department’ »
One of the longest-serving captains in the history of the Raleigh Fire Department is retiring. Captain Rich Coats (top right) will retire on January 1, 2023, with 36.28 years of service, including 23.99 years as a captain. He’ll rank just a hair behind Captain James C. Munns (bottom), who retired in 1999 with 37.36 years …
From the archives. Random find. Utility poles in downtown Raleigh that once had emergency phones mounted. September 2010. Plus one historical picture. In 1971, city officials authorized installation of a telephone system to replace the familiar fire alarm boxes and for reasons including the frequency of false calls. By that year, false calls accounted for …
This is an expanded version of a Facebook posting on November 24, 2022, and a blog archive posting (PDF) from April 8, 2010. Courtesy of the Don Sturkey Photographic Materials (P0070), North Carolina Collection, UNC-Chapel Hill Library, from Fatal Distraction by Philip Gerard in Our State magazine. Contents Introduction Timeline Charlotte Fire Department Narrative Introduction On …
Continue reading ‘Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 Crash in Charlotte’ »
This is a blog version of a Facebook posting from November 15, 2022. What’s the history of the city’s colored fire companies, as they were called, back in the day? Shown is a clipping from the Statesman on February 7, 1874, via North Carolina Newspapers. Great research topic for someone and made easier by the …
From 2018, map of Fayetteville annexation history, plus added locations of current and former city and county fire stations.
How exactly did New Bern Assistant Fire Chief John “Johnnie” J. Gaskill die in the line of duty on November 6, 1904? His death has been long-attributed to injuries resulting from a fire horse kicking him in the head. In recent years, NBFD historian Daniel Bartholf dug deep into surviving records and newspaper clippings and …
Continue reading ‘Death of New Bern Assistant Fire Chief Johnnie Gaskill, 1904’ »
Here’s a master list of all motorized tractor-drawn aerial ladders (tillers) (plus one tiller rescue) past ‘n’ present ‘n’ future in North Carolina. View master list of tillers (PDF). List last updated June 2025. Big thanks to Andrew Messer, for his western/central NC apparatus data.