Found for sale on eBay, a vintage Wilmington airport fire department badge, back when the airport was called Bluethenthal Field. It was named for aviator Arthur Bluethenthal, the first person from Wilmington killed in World War I. The airport was dedicated in 1928 as same. Its name was changed in the 1950s to New Hanover …
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On November 22, 1967, Statesville Fire Captain Lee Roy Horton, 41, was killed in a bomb blast, when his booby-trapped personal vehicle exploded beside Station 2 on Security Drive. This unusual story comes by way of the North Carolina Fallen Firefighters Foundation. They’ve announced this year’s honorees to be added to the state memorial on …
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Belated posting. Whispering Pines Fire Department Lt. Donald “Reid” Key II died on December 27, two days after developing a headache, after returning to the station following a fire call. The headache worsened the following day, and his wife took him to Moore County Regional Hospital in Pinehurst. After an evaluation, he was airlifted to UNC-Chapel …
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On December 21, the Durham Highway Fire Department changed the unit numbers of their apparatus. They’re now using a numbering scheme that’s based on their Wake County fire station numbers: Durham Highway joins the following other Wake County fire departments, that also use that numbering scheme: Bay Leaf – 12/120s, 25/250s, 36/360s Hopkins – …
November 18, 2019 Found some more information, from this Durham Morning Herald story, December 28, 1950: ” Glen Lennox Residents Get New Fire Truck – Chapel Hill, Dec. 27 – Residents of the Glen Lennox housing project awoke Christmas morning to the music of a fire siren and looked out of their windows to view …
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Vintage article from a publication called Carolina Rural Fireman, in April 1982. Thanks to our friend Joseph Zalkin for finding in his archives. About the first county fire department First Responder program implemented by the Fairview Fire Department. Other early implementations included the City of Raleigh (1977, first field use; 1980, city-wide), Raleigh-Durham Airport (1978), …
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From his archives of retired Wake County EMS veteran Joseph Zalkin comes this 19-minute short film, A Will and a Way – The Story of Emergency Medical Services in North Carolina. Produced by the North State Office of EMS with a grant from the North Carolina Association of Insurance Agents, it describes the evolution of the …
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The town of Chapel Hill is preparing to demolish Fire Station 2 on Hamilton Road. It will be rebuilt as part of a commercial development on the site. Engine 2 will move to temporary quarters in a modular home at 204 Finley Golf Course Road. They’ll be moving around the end of the month. Construction will …
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This week, Engine 2 moved into temporary quarters at the old city radio/signals/sign shop on South Wilmington Street, in preparation for the renovation of their Pecan Street engine house. See this earlier blog post for information on the “down to the walls” rebuild. This makes the fifth location for Station 2 since the career fire department was …
What have been the worst wildfires in our state’s history? Either in recent decades or way back when? Below is a “worst one” from 1985. Let’s look back at another series of huge wildfires in western North Carolina. From the Raleigh Times on April 5, 1984, found while doing some local fire department research. List format, …