Yes, it’s history month at Blog Central. Was shown this last week, from a fellow researcher. The story of fire protection in Colonial Wilmington, from a May 1975 article in the Lower Cape Fear Historical Society Bulletin. Includes details on what was likely North Carolina’s first hand engine, delivered circa 1756. Plus a few details …
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Here’s a vintage booklet about the Salem Fire Department, printed for the occasion of their fiftieth anniversary, celebrated on September 16, 1893. The twenty-page booklet includes a history of the department going back to the Moravian settlement of 1766, and first fire protection laws in 1773. It’s presented courtesy of Duke University’s David M. Rubenstein Rare …
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The story’s been long-told that Fayetteville received a hand engine from Boston in 1832, in the year following the great fire of May 29, 1831. But get this, it was donated by the Boston Fire Department and bought with “voluntary subscription of its members.” From the Fayetteville Observer on May 22, 1832, the engine had …
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This is a blog version of a Facebook posting created on November 14, 2022. Holiday Island Fire Brigade was created in 1984 to protect the resort community in Perquimans County. The community was located some four miles outside of the nearby Bethel VFD district. Organized in July 1984, it protected about 250 residential structures and …
On September 11, 1939, a major fire in Manteo saw mutual aid arrive from far and very far away. Elizabeth City sent one or more units, from 67.3 miles away as the Google flies. As did Norfolk, VA, located 90.5 miles away today. Reported Fire Engineering magazine in their November issue, Norfolk’s new 500 Series …
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From the Coastland Times, Jan. 6, 1956, via Dare County Digital Heritage, and their extensive (and searchable!) archives of old newspapers. No other details.
Front page of the Watauga Democrat, January 1, 1953. Via the nifty North Carolina Newspapers site. Read this and other issues at https://www.digitalnc.org/newspapers/watauga-democrat-boone-n-c.
Back in the day, code words were used when requesting mutual aid from neighboring towns and cities. This was done to verify the authenticity of the requestor. The concept was first proposed at the 1950 conference of the North Carolina State Firemen’s Association. And enacted that year (I believe, need to check). By the time …
The North Carolina fire service is quite old, and goes all the way back to the late 1700s. Artifacts from earlier eras are harder to come by, and anything pre-1900 is a bonafide find. Thus it’s a hysterical historical pleasure to share some early conference proceedings from the North Carolina State Firemen’s Association, from August …
Continue reading ‘North Carolina State Firemen’s Conference Proceedings, 1896’ »
January 18, 2019 Photos posted of the dedication ceremony: January 13, 2019 The City of Raleigh is dedicating new Fire Station 12 on Wednesday, January 16, at 1:00 p.m. It’s located at 4306 Poole Road, about a mile east of old Station 12. It’s also the largest of the city’s twenty-nine fire stations, with over …
Continue reading ‘Relocating Fire Station 12 – Dedication on January 16’ »