Restaurant Burns During Busy Night at NC State Fair, October 1964

On Tuesday night, October 13, 1964, a restaurant building at the fairgrounds was destroyed during a busy night at the North Carolina State Fair. Thousands were attending the fair, and watched with rapt attention as “portable” restaurant was consumed by flames. The $100,000 structure was a loss, and the blaze likely inspired the creation of …

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Car Strikes Durham Fire Station, Fire Captain Narrowly Escapes Injury or Worse

How’s that for a dramatic headline? Dateline Durham on Monday about 4:15 p.m., where Capt. Andrew Johnson had been sitting on a bed at Fire Station 14 on Umstead Road. Thirty seconds later, a car crashed through the wall and struck the very spot where’d been sitting, reported the Herald-Sun. Herald-Sun photo The four-door sedan …

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Matthew in Raleigh – Firefighters, Water Rescues, and Rescued Rescuers

Contents Part I – Hurricane Matthew Part II – Old Stage Road Part III – Rose Lane Part IV – Numbers Part V – Wake County Water Rescues Part VI – Sources Part I – Hurricane Matthew On Saturday, October 8, heavy rain and winds pelted Raleigh and Wake County as Hurricane Matthew passed along …

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Water Rescue Teams Operating in North Carolina After Hurricane Matthew

Let’s start a list of the swift-water rescue teams operating in North Carolina since Saturday and the arrival of Hurricane Matthew: Apex FDARR-MAC (Arrington FD, Mar-Mac FD)Asheville FD (as TF2)Cary FDCarolina Beach FD Chapel Hill FD (+ as TF8)Charlotte FD (as TF3 and NCHART)Clayton FDCumberland County SO (as TF?)Davie CountyFayetteville FD (as TF9)FEMA Task Force …

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NC USAR Task Force 8 Deploys to New Bern From Raleigh

This afternoon, Thursday, October 6, North Carolina Urban Search & Rescue (USAR) Task Force 8 deployed a Type II Water Rescue team to New Bern, NC, to be on standby for Hurricane Matthew. The fourteen members and their four vehicles departed from the Raleigh Fire Department Keeter Training Center at 1:15 p.m. They deployed a …

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Run Card For Reported Shooting at Crabtree Valley Mall

See photos by Mike Legeros Here’s a run card and narrative about yesterday’s reported shooting at Crabtree Valley Mall. Gunshots were reported on the second floor, near the food court, just after 2:30 p.m. The mall was placed on lockdown, and then evacuated as law officers secured each location. The mall occupants (employees, shoppers) were …

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Fire on the Mall! Thirty-Fives Years After the Mangel’s Building – July 7, 1981

Thirty-five years ago this month, on July 7, 1981, the Mangel’s Building on the Fayetteville Street Mall burned. The four-alarm fire was one of the largest in the city’s history. Hundreds watched as thick smoke blanketed the pedestrian mall, and as firefighters fought a difficult fire in an 80+ year-old building that was “built to …

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Vintage Photo of Wake New Hope Fire Car, 1975

For your Friday flashback, here’s a News & Observer photo from October 23, 1975, showing a Wake New Hope Fire Department “fire car” at the Plantation Inn on Capital Boulevard. And a station wagon no less! (Make and model, readers?) There was a fire in an attic that was discovered about 11:00 a.m. and quickly …

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Saturday’s Water Rescues in Raleigh/Wake County

Here's take one of a list of the water rescues in Raleigh and Wake County, from Saturday morning through early Sunday morning. Awaiting data from Cary. Another post coming about the two rescues of rescuers, on Old Stage Road and Rose Lane. Address Units Time Notes Southgate & Proctor E3, L4, R1, M2, B5, B2 ...

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Yesterday’s Apparatus Collision in Wayne County

The New Hope Fire Department in Wayne County has posted these pictures of their Engine 1, which was rear-ended yesterday while responding to a call. It was struck by a tractor-drawn gasoline tanker on Highway 70 Bypass near mile marker 336, at the emergency turnaround. There were no injuries, no was was there any leak …

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