Last updated August 17, 2025. This is an updated blog version of a Facebook posting from 2009. Research notes on civilian fatalities in fire apparatus accidents in North Carolina. Contents 2025 – Durham – Quint 19 / motorcycle, 1 fatality 2023 – Charlotte – Ladder 24 / motorcycle, 1 fatality 2019 – Kannapolis – …
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Looking back at the natural gas explosion and flash fire in downtown Wilmington August 5, 1987. Timeline On August 5, 1987, Welco Construction and Utilities Company, based in Florence, SC, was excavating in the 4600 block of Market Street. They were installing sanitary sewer lines in preparation for a project to widen Market Street. The …
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For our Friday history, let’s head over to Pasquotank County and Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City on July 31, 1974, when Navy radar plane crashed into a building, killing the pilot and three civilian workers inside. Two others aboard the plane survived with injuries, along with 12 others, including several firefighters. On that Wednesday …
Winston-Salem history hit. Before it crashed after a midair collision over Hendersonville, NC, on July 19, 1967, the first passenger jet operated by Piedmont Airlines had an unusual accident on the ground in May 1967. The airline had recently started jet service from their base at Smith Reynolds Airport. However, their hangar was located on …
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See Legeros photos | Listen to radio traffic Two alarms were struck at 7809 Harbor Drive, off Sawmill Road, on July 5, 2025. However, the second alarm assignment was soon cancelled. Dispatched ~10:21 p.m. for E4 E18 E16 E15 L15 L22 Sq14 B5 B3.[1] [1] Squad 14 as rescue unit, as Rescue 16 had been …
Two alarms were struck in west Raleigh on Friday, June 20, 2025. Dispatched ~12:06 a.m. for 4706 Blue Bird Court. Two-story apartment building. Engine 8 first-arriving, reporting fire in attic space. Engine 20 brought the supply line. Fire also/soon through the roof, from live power line found on roof and/or tree limbs touching roof. Second …
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This is a blog version of a Facebook posting from June 17, 2025. Looking back at the North Bald Head Wynd Fire AKA the Lighthouse Landing Fire, and which contributed to the reasons for purchasing the new apparatus. It occurred on Saturday night, November 20, 2021, and was one of the largest fire events in …
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This is a blog version of a Facebook Posting from May 4, 2020. Photos by Bonny Banas (top) and [goes here] (bottom). Looking back at the largest fire in the history of Bald Head Island in Brunswick County, NC. It destroyed ten buildings with 38 units at the Swan’s Quarter Condominiums on Wednesday night, September …
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This is a blog version of a Facebook posting on June 15, 2025. Looking back at the close call of all close calls, when a Navy jet fighter crashed within 200 yards of Perquimans County High School in Hertford, NC, on the morning of February 21, 1957. Two people were killed and a third person …
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Looking back at the “broken arrow” B-52 bomber crash near Goldsboro (NC) on January 24, 1961. With period photos and news clippings, plus a visit to the crash site today. At 12:15 a.m., a B-52G Stratofortress operated by the 424 1st Strategic Air Command Wing at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base and carrying two unarmed …
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