Longest Serving Raleigh Fire Captains

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One of the longest-serving captains in the history of the Raleigh Fire Department is retiring. Captain Rich Coats (top right) will retire on January 1, 2023, with 36.28 years of service, including 23.99 years as a captain. He’ll rank just a hair behind Captain James C. Munns (bottom), who retired in 1999 with 37.36 years of service, including 24.1 years as a captain. But both are passed by Captain Royce Lassiter (top left), who retired in 1973 with 27 years as Captain. He’s the longest-serving found so far.

From more recent eras, here’s that data, from Legeros records:

  • J.C. Munns – 24.1 years
  • Rich Coats – 23.99 
  • Glenn Jones – 23.3 
  • Terry Partin – 23.3
  • Titus Brown – 21.8
  • Charles Mann – 20.4
  • Donnie Carter – 20.0
  • Wilbur Beasley – 19.9
  • Jerry Melton – 19.7
  • Charlie Narron – 19.6
  • Robert Stanley – 19.4
  • Stan Heath – 19.4
  • Steve Wilson – 19.2
  • Michael Franks – 19.0
  • etc.

For captains from farther back, that’s harder to find. Been using news clippings, in particular. Found so far:

  • Royce Lassiter (ret. 1973) – 27 years
  • W. Leonard Choplin (ret. 1949, first RFD member to retire) – 22.2 years

What about others, like Captain James White, retired 1968 with 42 years? Or Captain Charlie Hayes, retired 1971 with 40 years? TBD on those!

Related reading, Raleigh Fire Department Personnel Records, 1913 to 1941. Hand-transcribed from handwritten records. View PDF document.

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Fire Truck Spotters Guide

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New infographic, take one. Preemptive answer to social postings asking “why are there fire trucks here?” AKA, Mike’s spotter’s guide to the Raleigh Fire Department. Give it a test drive. 

See larger PDF version.

 

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Mapping The First Six Forks Fire Stations

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Morning map play. Using USDA aerial images from 1959 and 1971 to pinpoint the exact location of the original Six Forks FD locations. Plus a 2021 aerial image noting their approximate locations today. Maps via UNC Library.

From my notes:

  • 1956, first fire station is converted barn on south side of Howells Store at 4129 Six Forks Road, which was located just south of the second/southern section of Lassiter’s Mill Road and Six Forks Road. Later location of Firestone Tires at North Hills Mall. The barn had room for one fire engine, and a canvas tarp covering the opening. There was a 7.5 HP siren on a pole beside the barn. The barn was being used as a fire station by September 1956.
  • 1959, circa, second fire station is a tin structure with a gravel floor in the 4400 block of Six Forks Road, on the east side of Six Forks, about mid-block. The building had room for two trucks, and a pair of pivoting doors. It was erected by March 1959. The fire department vacated its original location behind Howell’s Store. [Wish we had a surviving photo of this building.]
  • 1962/63, third fire station location is 5305 Six Forks Rd. Three-bay building constructed. Present location of EMS station #3. The 7.5 HP siren is moved farther north on Six Forks Road, to a spot near Northclift, near Sandy Forks Road. The alarm on the building itself is a 12-volt, battery-powered vehicle siren. From the Wake County BOC meeting on November 5, 1962, the department is reported as in process of building a new fire house, and will “assume its fire protection responsibilities January 1, 1963.”

Continue reading ‘Mapping The First Six Forks Fire Stations’ »

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Emergency Phones

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From the archives. Random find. Utility poles in downtown Raleigh that once had emergency phones mounted. September 2010. Plus one historical picture.

In 1971, city officials authorized installation of a telephone system to replace the familiar fire alarm boxes and for reasons including the frequency of false calls. By that year, false calls accounted for 80 percent of the alarms transmitted by the “street boxes.”

Planned were 320 telephone boxes, with all calls recorded on tape. The Emergency Phone Response (ERP) boxes served for decades, until overtaken by the widespread use of cell phones. The last telephone boxes were removed from service in 2007.

The last box alarm was sent from Box 433 on May 14, 1973, for an incinerator that set off sprinklers at a building. The alarm system, with some 270+ boxes, was subsequently dismantled.

On March 18, 1974, the surplus equipment was sold, including 250 alarm boxes, thirteen gongs, four registers, and one repeater. Purchasers included the towns of Henderson, Lexington, and Thomasville.

Vintage photo from a 35mm slide scan via Raleigh Fire Museum, from a collection found at the Raleigh/Wake Emergency Communications Center years ago. See those pics in this Flickr album.

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Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 Crash in Charlotte

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This is an expanded version of a Facebook posting on November 24, 2022, and a blogs archive posting (PDF) from April 8, 2010.

Courtesy of the Don Sturkey Photographic Materials (P0070), North Carolina Collection, UNC-Chapel Hill Library, from Fatal Distraction by Philip Gerard in Our State magazine.

Contents

  • Introduction
  • Timeline
  • Charlotte Fire Department Narrative

Introduction

On the morning on September 11, 1974, Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 crashed on approach to Douglas Municipal Airport in Charlotte. The Douglas DC-9-31 was carrying 78 passengers and 4 crew members. It crashed into a wooded area just short of the runway while on instrument approach in dense fog. The crash killed 71 people, including four who died later. It remains the worst plane crash in Charlotte history and the second-worst in North Carolina History.

The CFD and NCANG response included:

  • Blaze 1, 2, 5, 8, from the airport fire station.
  • Car 2, 3, 5, Engine 1, 2, 5, 10, 13, 21, Ladder 10, Platform 1, Tanker 19, 20 dispatched to the scene.
  • NC ANG ambulance manned by CFD personnel.

Other fire departments:

  • Steele Creek VFD
  • Moore’s Chapel VFD
  • Woodlawn VFD
  • Plus others

Rescue squads and ambulance services:

  • Charlotte Life Saving Crew
  • Charlotte Ambulance Service 
  • North Mecklenburg Rescue Squad
  • Belmont Rescue Squad (Gaston Co.) 
  • Stanley Rescue Squad (Gaston Co.)
  • York Ambulance Service (South Carolina)

Other agencies:

  • Charlotte Police Department.
  • Mecklenburg County Police Department
  • North Carolina Highway Patrol
  • FBI plus special-trained officers from Charlotte, Greensboro, Burlington, Winston-Salem, and the NC SBI. 
  • North Carolina Air National Guard
  • US Army, helicopter from Fort Bragg to hospital, for patient transfers
  • Red Cross.
  • Salvation Carmy.

Timeline 

0732 – Plane disappeared from radar.

0735 – Control tower airport fire station of a crash about a mile off Runway 36. The duty officer implemented the city’s disaster plan, which included contacting CFD communications 

0735 – Three crash trucks responded from the airport fire station, Blaze 1, Blaze 2, and Blaze 5.

0736 – CFD communications dispatched Car 5, Engine 10, and Engine 13. The Steele Creek FD was also dispatched. 

0740 – Blaze 5 arrived on scene, near yard of a farmhouse, and found the aircraft in split sections, including burning sections, and in a wooded area.

0741 – Mecklenburg County Police received first notification, from a resident. 

0745 – CFD Car 5 was approaching scene, saw dense black smoke from wreckage, and found two badly burned victims, who told him there were other victims in the wreckage. Car 5 subsequently assumed command.

0746 – Charlotte Ambulance Service received call from Eastern Air Lines. Nine crews from two shifts were present, preparing to changing shifts. Five of eight ambulances responded, while a sixth ambulance stopped at Memorial Hospital to pick up three physicians who would serve as triage officers at the scene. 

0748 – By this time, the first victims were transported by Steele Creek FD rescue unit. Second set of victims soon transported using NCANG ambulance manned by Charlotte FD personnel. City ambulances were still en route and would arrive 19 minutes later.

0749 – CFD fire alarm dispatched Car 2, Car 3, Engine 5, Engine 2, Squad 1, and Ladder 10 to the crash scene. Engine 4 was dispatched to stand-by at Station 10. Training Division was notified. Additional CFD units were dispatched over the next two hours.

0750 – CFD Fire Alarm notified Charlotte Life Saving Crew, Charlotte Ambulance Service, Red Cross, Memorial Hospital, Presbyterian Hospital and Mercy Hospital. 
At Memorial Hospital, the disaster plan was enacted and a 45-bed clinic was set-up on the west side of the building. 

0755 – Around this time, the fire at the wreckage was extinguished, recalled later as taking about 15 minutes. 

0807 – Charlotte Ambulance Service ambulances arrived at the crash site. 

0820 – CFD Chief of Operations arrived and assumed command. 

0900 – By this time, 13 patients had arrived at Memorial Hospital, including a CFD firefighter with a broken leg. The hospital was informed that no more survivors were expected to arrive.  

1000 – By this time, a temporary morgue had been established at the National Guard Armory at the airport. 

1000 – By this time, the Salvation Army had established a food center for workers at the morgue. Similar food stations were being set-up at the crash site and at Memorial Hospital. 

1030 – By this time, fire and rescue operations completed. Command turned over to SCFD chief. CFD units returned to quarters, with Blaze 1 remaining on scene.

1200 – By this time, a helicopter from the 57th Medical Detachment at Fort Bragg had landed at Memorial Hospital, to transfer survivors to a Charleston (naval?) hospital.  

1715 – The first recovered bodies arrived at the temporary morgue, transported using a refrigerated van from Associated Grocers Mutual of Carolinas. 

Charlotte Fire Department Narrative Continue reading ‘Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 Crash in Charlotte’ »

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Black Fire Companies of Fayetteville

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This is a blog version of a Facebook posting from November 15, 2022.

What’s the history of the city’s colored fire companies, as they were called, back in the day? Shown is a clipping from the Statesman on February 7, 1874, via North Carolina Newspapers.

Great research topic for someone and made easier by the ever-expanding collection of digital newspapers on that site. Here’s a video by Legeros with research tips, for the site. 

Here are a few notes, from found articles this week. Memo to self, add these to my pages on Fayetteville FD history and Black Firefighter History of NC. 

  • 1873, Apr 19 –Statesman editorial opines that a colored fire company would benefit the town.
  • 1873, Jun 6 – Statesmen story that the colored men of the town “resurrected the old castaway fire engine” formerly used by the McLean Fire Company, and “made a trial of its capacities.” It threw a “volume of water upon the ball above the clock on the town market building.” The newspaper added “let the new company organize and elect officers; and let its members be exempted from the payment of a poll-tax to the town.”
  • 1873, Jul 12-Statesman story mentions that a colored fire company celebrated the fourth of July with a parade. Also cites an engine house of theirs.
  • 1873, Oct 16 – North Carolina Gazette reports “last Friday afternoon the colored fire company were out on practice and parade. A short time after its going back to quarters, the alarm of fire was given for the 7th ward, which brought out the whole fire department of the town. It proved, however, to be a false alarm.”
  • 1874, Feb 7 – The Stateman notice, shown, names the colored fire company as the Frizzel Fire Company.
  • 1874, Sep 3 – North Carolina Gazette reports on a fire and mentions the colored fire company that “worked splendidly, as it always does; and, notwithstanding the fact that the alarm was given when the majority of the members were at home at dinner, they would have saved the building if there had been a sufficient supply of water.”
  • 1875, Apr 8 – North Carolina Gazette reports on recent state legislature act authoring a (re)organization of the fire department, which was followed by a town ordnance. The new FFD consisted of a Chief Fire Warden and seven assistants, the white Engine Co. No. 1, the black Engine Co. No. 2, the black Hook and Ladder Co., and the white Bucket Co. Each company would have a captain, four assistants, a secretary, and treasurer.
  • 1875, May 13 – North Carolina Gazette reports that the Frizell (sic) Fire Company took their engine and equipment to the Market House and “surrendered them to the municipal authorities.” They apparently disbanded and in protest to a matter involving the Registrar refusing to allow the votes of certain men who claimed to be fire company members.
  • 1875, Aug 28 –Educator notice, signed by “many citizens,” condemning the “many false reports and misrepresentations” being circulated about the town’s black population, with regard to the colored fire company, their disbanded in May, and what reads like politics that were in play.
  • 1877, Sep 20 – North Carolina Gazette reports that a parade will be held that day with the town’s two colored fire companies along with a company from Raleigh.

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Death of New Bern Assistant Fire Chief Johnnie Gaskill, 1904

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How exactly did New Bern Assistant Fire Chief John “Johnnie” J. Gaskill die in the line of duty on November 6, 1904? His death been long-attributed to injuries resulting from a fire horse kicking him in the head. In recent years, NBFD historian Daniel Bartholf dug deep into surviving records and newspaper clippings and wasn’t able to find a consistently cited cause.

In his 2019 book History of Firefighting in New Bern, North Carolina – Colonial Days to the 21st Century, Bartholf writes “On November 6, 1904, Assistant Chief Johnnie J. Gaskill died at 29 because of complications from a “brief but very distressing illness”. He had been sick for two weeks. His exact cause of death is unclear. (Nov. 8, 1904 The Daily Journal)”

Looking at some surviving newspaper clippings, see below, this information is presented:

  • Charlotte Daily Observer – Nov 8, 1904 – “…died last night after a week’s illness of blood-poisoning.”
  • Daily Journal – Nov 8, 1904 – “He had been sick for two weeks and from the first his case was regard as desperate.”
  • North Carolinian – Nov 10, 1904 – “The cause was a complication of diseases.”

Gaskill was buried at Cedar Grove Cemetery on November 8. The hearse was drawn by the state’s oldest fire horse, “Old Jim.” Recounted a special report to the Charlotte Observer, “Both fire companies attended in a body, and the fire bell was tolled as the services were being conducted.”

Alas, no death certificate has been found to date by Legeros.

Continue reading ‘Death of New Bern Assistant Fire Chief Johnnie Gaskill, 1904’ »

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Master List of North Carolina Tillers

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Here’s a master list of all motorized tractor-drawn aerial ladders (tillers) (plus one tiller rescue) past ‘n’ present ‘n’ future in North Carolina.  

View master list of tillers (PDF).

List last updated June 2025. 

Big thanks to Andrew Messer, for his western/central NC apparatus data.  

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