Swift Water Rescue Teams Leave Raleigh For Texas

Two swift-water rescue teams left Raleigh yesterday, headed to Texas to assist with the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. They were part of a five-team deployment requested by Texas emergency officials.  Personnel and equipment from NC USAR Task Force 8 and Task Force 9 departed from the Raleigh Fire Department training center, following a 10:00 a.m. …

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Active Shooter in Apex – May 30, 2010

This is a re-posting of a Legeros Blog Archives posting from May 30, 2010, that’s no longer available on the old site, due to technical problems. It was originally titled “This morning’s shooting in Apex.” Double shooting at 1201 Beaver Creek Commons Drive, at Target store. Dispatched about 11:09 a.m. Law enforcement response included Apex, …

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B-17 Bomber Crashes in Garner, May 9, 1944

The News & Observer this week published an excellent retrospective of the B-17 bomber crash[1] in Garner on May 9, 1944. The Flying Fortress crashed into a wooded area around 5:30 p.m. near the intersection of Garner and Vandora Springs Roads.  [1] Link now broken, http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/wake-county/article166514322.html Two crew members were killed, and either others parachuted to safety. …

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Bicyclist Finds Bee Sting Victim, Records Fire/EMS Response

Here’s a rarity, a citizen recording of an entire EMS call, from just after calling 911, to transport of the patient. Raleigh and New Hope fire departments, and Wake County EMS responded. Happened on July 7, when C. Spencer was bicycling on the Neuse River Greenway and happened upon an adult male suffering from multiple …

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Two Alarms on Parkville Drive on Thursday

Two alarms were struck on Parkville Drive in north Raleigh on Thursday morning. Engine 19 was first-due at 4830 Parkville Drive. They reported a heavy column of smoke visible, while en route. Headquarters upgraded to a working fire, prior to their arrival. Engine 19 arrived at a two-story, wood-frame, multi-family residential building (townhouses) with about …

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Raleigh Fire Department Announces Metropolitan Fire Cause as Undetermined

On Friday, the Raleigh Fire Department announced that the “fire of a century” at the Metropolitan Apartments has been ruled as “undetermined” for cause.  Here’s the full statement: On March 16, 2017, at approximately 10:03 p.m., the Raleigh Fire Department responded to a reported structure fire at The Metropolitan apartment complex (Metropolitan), 314 West Jones …

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Two Alarms on Prince George Lane

Two alarms were struck Friday morning at 9511 Prince George Lane. That’s near Six Forks and Strickland roads, in north Raleigh. Dispatched ~12:07 p.m. First-due Engine 4 was out of quarters, on another call. With multiple callers reporting the fire, the dispatcher upgraded the incident to a working fire, while the fire department was still …

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Five Alarms in Downtown Raleigh – Moved to New Site

March 26 This posting and its content has been moved to a dedicated page on the Raleigh Fire Museum web site. Head over to www.raleighfiremuseum.org/content/metropolitan. March 22 WNCN news links added, more suppression details, incident notes formatted, canteen service added, need to add to diagram “A/B/C/D explanation.” March 21 Added more news links, more damage …

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Vintage Photos of Henderson High School Fire, 1968

Passed along from our friends at the Henderson Fire Department is this Flickr album of vintage pictures of the Henderson High School fire on April 3, 1968. They were taken by Lyman McLean, a freelance photographer who worked for both the Henderson Daily Dispatch and the police department. The shots are from his personal collection, and now part …

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Thousands Evacuated, Dozens of Homes Burned – Western NC Wildfires of April 1985

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, …

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