This is a blog version of a Facebook posting from June 8, 2025.
Looking back at the Norwood City Fire Department, that operated from the 1920s to 2016. Today, the Town of Norwood NC is protected by Center Rural Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department. Below are assorted milestones and other citations from the local newspaper. See source clippings and more in this Google Drive.
Early Fire Protection
1922 – Town fire equipment consisted of a chemical tank and hand hose reels. [SNP, 3/4/58] The town population in 1920 was 1,221. [Wiki]
1924, Mar – First fire truck delivered. It was equipped with a chemical tank. [SNP, 3/11/24]
1925, Jun – Snapshot from Sanborn Maps. NFD had a volunteer chief and “no organized company.” Ford truck with two 35-gallon chemical tanks, 150-feet of one-inch hose attached to each tank. Two hand chemical extinguishers and one ladder. Plus 1000-feet of 2 1/2-inch hose. No alarm system, used church bells and mill whistles. Fire station was one-story building behind town jail (still standing!) on Allenton Avenue (today Campbell Street) and beside water tower.
Fire Department Reorganized
1944, Mar – Fire department reorganized and upgraded. The effort was led by Franklin Hutchinson, also named as new fire chief. Members built the first fire truck using a 1939 Chevrolet truck. [SNP, 2/4/58, 11/22/63] By May 29, 1945, they had saved five homes. [SNP, 5/29/45] The town population in 1940 was 1,515. [Wiki]
1946, Feb 12 – NFD planned to build a second fire truck as a service truck and using a donated 1941 Mercury station wagon. It would be modified carry “much of the equipment that [was] overloading the present truck.” They would also add a front-mounted pump, booster tank, and a set of ladders. The current fire truck was built in 1944 by department members and with no cost to the town. [SLP, 2/12/46]
1946, Sep 9 – NFD had an “auxiliary hook and ladder fire truck” by this time. It was also stolen a few days earlier, after sitting in front of Maner’s garage with the keys in it. It was recovered two days later, undamaged. It was subsequently painted red “to make it more conspicuous.” [SNP, 9/6/46]
1946, Sep 20 – Second fire truck had been added. It was “christened” the prior week. [SNP, 9/20/46]
1947, Jan 17 – Date cited for establishing Norwood City Fire Department, in a 2011 news story. [SNP, 1/23/11]
Rescue Squad and Rural Department
1956, Jul 7 – Department had started a project to “organize and equipment a rescue squad” to serve the area. [SNP, 7/17/56]
1957, fall – Norwood Rural VFD organized, to protect areas outside of the town. It was also called Norwood Community Rural VFD, Center Rural VFD and Norwood Central VFD. By January 1958, they had two pumpers, including the former Ca-Vel plant pumper. The trucks were housed in the old H & M Motors building in town, but they had purchased a lot for building a fire station. They had 25 volunteer firemen. [SNP, 1/21/58]
1957, Dec 6 – Town received its first factory-made pumper, a Ford F-700/American LaFrance, 750/300. Cost $13,000, delivered by rail, and the same type as recently added by the city of Albemarle. NFD had two trucks, with three others in town as needed from NRVFD (two trucks) and the Ca-Val plant (one truck). The town had about 42 volunteers, with another 25 or more in the rural department. [SNP, 12/6/57]
1958, Feb 4 – Snapshot. NFD was located adjacent to the town hall on Main Street. The firemen had completely renovated and furnished the basement and had a “complete kitchen and comfortable meeting room.” They had the following vehicles:
– 1939 Chevy/____ pumper, 500/215
– 1942 Mercury station wagon pumper conversion with front-mounted pump, 300/121
– 1957 Ford F-700/American LaFrance pumper, 750/300
– 1957 Chevy automobile, fire chief’s car
– 1948 Cadillac ambulance, used as Norwood Rescue Squad vehicle
– Trailer and 16-foot boat with outboard motor
1958, Aug 5 – New fire station under construction for NRVFD at 117 Campbell Street, across from the town water plant. One-story brick building with two bays. [SNP, 8/5/58]
1959, Nov 20 – Fire Chief Thomas Hutchinson, 53, died suddenly while en route to the hospital, following a heart attack the day before. He was the owner and operator of Hutchinson’s Cleaners. [SNP, 11/20/59]
1960, Jun 24 – Jack Hutchinson, brother of the late fire chief, was appointed chief of department. He replaced assistant chief Pines Maner, who had been serving as acting chief. [SNP, 6/24/60]
1961, May 25 – New rescue truck placed in service, firefighters renovated and equipped a 1952 Ford panel-van. It replaced an older ambulance-type rescue truck. The Norwood Rescue Squad was a division of NFD. The captain was C. J. Clayton. The squad was comprised of NFD members. [SNP, 4/25/61]
1962, Feb 24 – Volunteer firefighter Jessie S. Thompson died after suffering a heart attack while fighting a fire. He was resident of Norwood and an appliance salesman by day. Was he a city fireman? A rural fireman? TBD. The time of death was 4:20 p.m. [MJL]
1963, Nov 5 – New fire station erected on Campbell Avenue at Pee Dee Avenue, part of a new $45,000 town hall complex. NFD and all other town departments were scheduled to move in over the next few days. The old town hall was located about two blocks away. [SNP, 11/5/63]
1963, Nov 22 – Pines Maner named Chief of Department on November 14, 1963. [SNP, 11/22/63]
Later Decade
1980, Dec 5 – City officials approved adding equipment to the rescue squad’s ambulance, to meet stand standards. The squad did not want to be a franchised ambulance provider of emergency transport services but were willing to provide those services in “life or death” situations. The county was interested in using the squad to meet the needs for additional ambulance service in the south part of the county. [SNP, 12/5/80]
1989, Jul 13 – Newspaper reported that the “first responders from the Norwood Rescue Squad” had quit. The fire chief had notified the county EM director that “they no longer wanted to be a first responder agency.” So-called nuisance calls were the problem, when arriving rescue squad members found patients who were not seriously ill or not needing emergency service. Early in the year, NFD sent a signed petition to the (local?) Emergency Management Service Board, signed by the 23 volunteer firemen and first responders, and gave the board until April 30 to do something about the calls. [SNP, 7/13/89]
1989, Nov 9 – By this time, NRVFD was moving into a new fire station and the old fire station had been bought by the town, which would use it store trucks and equipment. [SNP, 11/9/89]
1991, Jul 1 – Norwood Rescue Squad had resumed operation by this time. Then on July 1, the squad had stopped operating because of problems with insurance coverage, due to carrier requirement that all members of any town-operated squad be state certified at no less than Ambulance Attendant level. City officials asked NRVFD to take over the service. The rural department subsequently formed a first responder unit that was funded by the town. [SNP, 7/11/91]
2001, Jun 5 – Last newspaper reference to the Norwood Rescue Squad, also called Norwood Rural Rescue Squad. [SNP, 6/5/01]
2002, Nov 14 – Bid advertisement for a 1250/1000 pumper on a 2000 or newer International 4900 chassis. [SNP, 2/11/02]
2006, Oct 10 – Snapshot of NFD. Had 22 volunteers and answered an average of 75 calls per year. Tim Huneycutt was Fire Chief, replaced Chris Furr, after Chief Furr passed away. Apparatus:
– 1986 Chevy equipment van
– 1989 pumper-tanker
– 1998 Chevy Suburban
– 2002 pumper-tanker
– Brush truck
– Rescue boat
2010, Oct 7 – First paid fire chief had been hired by this time. John Lambeth, 49, recently retired from Albemarle. Lambeth had also volunteered with NFD since 2004. The new chief would work 20 hours a week, and be assisted by Andrew Cauble, also employed by AFD, and 20 volunteer members. [SNP, 10/7/10]
2015, Feb 18 – Planned delivery date for new 2015 E-One pumper. It replaced a 1999 pumper, which would be converted into a service ladder truck. The current 1975 service ladder truck would be repurposed as a pick-up truck. [SNP, 2/8/15, 3/26/15]
2015, Apr 23 – Bid advertisement for contractors for second fire station on Indian Mound Road. The satellite station was required for the town to “meet its legal obligation of providing a fire station within five miles” of residents of Edgewater and Eagle Point communities. [SNP, 2/8/15, 4/23/15]
2015, Aug 9 – Plans to build a second fire station had stalled. Land had been purchased, site plan had been created, and financing had been secured, but approval from the Local Government Commission was stalled. One member thought a new $475,000 fire station wasn’t necessary, and notably with three fire stations already within four miles of each other. The other two were a pair of CRVFD stations. The new station had been planned since at least 2015. The project was later cancelled, after the newly elected town council reversed the previous board’s decision to build the second fire station. [SNP, 8/9/15, 4/19/16]
2016, Jan 10 – Town council opened the year’s first meeting with “hopes to repair relations” between the town and the rural fire department. Plans for a second city fire station on Indian Mound Road “recently came to a halt” and the officials discussed alternate solutions to protect the area, and to recoup the money already invested in the project. One proposal was to start discusses with CRVFD “to explore options for contracting fire coverage.” However, there had been “past friction” between town officials and the rural department. The prior week, the Town Administrator and the Fire Chief both met with representatives with the state fire marshal’s office, to “weigh the options of contracting” as “opposed to merging into one.” The town was also working with the contractor of the Station 2 project to get the deposit refunded as well as the money back that was paid for permits. [SNP, 1/10/16]
Entire Fire Department Resigns
2016, Apr 19 – Town firefighters and the mayor resigned Monday night, “fed up with rumors and innuendos” that the town council wanted to eliminate the municipal department in favor of contracting with CRVFD. All of the fire department’s officials quit—some 15 firefighters including the chief, two assistant chiefs, two captains, and a lieutenant–and Mayor Beverly Johnson followed their lead and later announced her resignation. Within ten minutes of the resignations, town officials contacted the 911 center and requested immediate coverage from the rural department. [SNP, 4/19/16]
2016, Apr 24 – Town officials signed a temporary contract with CRVFD, in an emergency session on Thursday. The rural department would provide fire and rescue services within the town limits through June 30. After that, the temporary contract would be extended or a new contract created. The town was already paying CRVFD $15,000 a year for first responder coverage and no additional cost was incurred, CRVFD agreed to wave additional fees due to the extenuating circumstances and stressors faced by the town. [SNP, 4/24/16]
2016, May 3 – On Monday night, the terms of a new fire protection contract were made public. The town would pay $75,000 annually to CRVFD. The town was already paying $6,000 annually for fire responder services. The additional fire services would cost $65,000. For the first year, the town would pay a one-time fee of $15,000 for integration of services, or pay a full amount of $90,000 by July 10. The contract was for three four-year terms, with two terms renewing automatically and including a 2.5 increase every four years. The town would retain ownership of the NFD assets but allow CRVFD to use the radios and electronic devices. [SLP, 5/3/16]
2016, May 26 – “Residents balk at proposed mayoral changes.” Citizens “unleashed their latest angst” at a town council meeting on May 16, in response to a proposed change that would change how the mayor was elected. Instead of an election by voters, the mayor would be appointed by town commissioners. [SNP, 5/26/16]
2017, May 23 – CRVFD volunteer firefighter Christopher Coone, 28, died off-duty in a vehicle accident. He was a town employee, who was driving a town work truck at the time of the accident. [SNP, 5/15/17]
2017, Jun 1 – CRVFD held a public hearing on Tuesday to discuss plans to build a new fire station on Main Street. However, the public meeting “turned into a verbal altercation between citizens.” CRVFD proposed a new $2M facility with double the square footage of the current fire station.
2018, Jun 5 – New CRVFD fire station on Main Street was under construction at this time. The $1.8M facility was expected to be completed by the end of the summer. [SNP, 6/5/18]
2023, Jan 21 – Town approved new contract with CRVFD, raised from $76,875 annually to $135,500 plus a one-time payment of $53,125 for capital improvements. The additional funds were needed “for a new truck and to outfit the satellite station.” [SNP, 12/10/22, 1/21/23]