Tarrytown Mall Fire – August 12, 1967

Bucket trucks working. Let’s look back at the Tarrytown Mall fire in Rocky Mount on August 12, 1967. Tarrytown Mall was the first enclosed mall in eastern North Carolina, the third enclosed mall in the state, and the 26th enclosed mall in the United States. (The first was Southdale in Edina, MN, a suburb of …

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Eden Fire History – Plus Leaksville, Spray, and Draper

This is a blog version of a Facebook posting from March 27, 2021.  Who wants some Eden and Tri-Cities fire history? Found these pics, maps excerpts, and news articles from various sources. Three departments merged in 1967 to create Eden FD: Leaksville FD Jan 1915 – No fire department. [Sanborn]  Dec 1921 – Two volunteer …

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R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company Building 256 – August 27, 1998

On August 27, 1998, a former tobacco factory complex in downtown Winston-Salem burned in a major fire that brought some 200 firefighters and most of the city fire department to the scene. It was battled for nearly seven hours, destroyed three large buildings, and closed a five-block area to traffic. Here are research notes on …

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Durham Public Safety Program – 1970 to 1985

Contents Introduction Short Version Long Version Sources Introduction Presenting a timeline of the Durham Public Safety Officer program, which combined fire and police duties from 1970 to 1986. Collected from dozens of news articles during that time period. See below for source materials, including a larger collection of 1,300+ newspaper articles about DFD going back …

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History of the Second Engine at Durham Station 2

Let’s look at the history of a second engine at Durham Station 2. In 1928, was surveyed by the National Board of Fire Underwriters. Among the findings was that the city needed more fire stations. It noted that while fire companies were grouped for protection of the main mercantile and manufacturing districts, additional engine companies …

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Block of Buildings Burns in Downtown Durham, July 1944

Morning history. Let’s take a deep dive into a major fire in the Bull City back in the day. See also comments for additional notes. On Saturday night, July 8, 1944, one of the largest fires in downtown Durham’s history destroyed an entire block of buildings along “Tobacco Row.” The first call was received at …

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Siloam Bridge Collapse – February 23, 1975

Updated: March 25, 2025, with additional clippings and artifacts added to the linked Google Drive. This is a blog version of a Facebook posting from February 2025.  Here’s a short summary about the Siloam Bridge Collapse, that we learned about this week.  This happened on Sunday night, February 23, 1975, in Siloam, NC, on the …

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Raleigh Run Numbers – 2024

Run numbers for Raleigh for 2024. Here they are and now including incident type totals and a quick historical comparison. Overall Summary Total incidents – 58,166 Total per-unit runs – 83,697 Historical Comparison   2024 2023 2022 Total Incidents 58,166 54,746 53,238 Total Per-Unit Runs 83,697 77,425 73,166 Here’s a PDF document with numbers from …

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Broughton Hospital Fire Brigade

Remembering the Broughton Hospital Fire Brigade in Morganton. The hospital opened in 1883 as the Western North Carolina Insane Asylum. It was the state’s second psychiatric hospital, after one was established in Raleigh. The new hospital was built on a 283-acre site, just south of downtown Morganton. In 1885 and 1886, two new wings were …

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Charlotte South Park Fire After-Action Report

The Charlotte Fire Department has released an after-action report on the Liberty Row Fire (AKA South Park Fire) on May 18, 2023. The five-alarm commercial structure fire was one of the city’s largest in recent history.  Read the 96-page document (PDF)  Listen to radio traffic from the fire (YouTube)  Five alarms in Charlotte on May …

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