Wilmington Natural Gas Explosion and Fire – August 5, 1987

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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 company was operating as a subcontractor for Dickerson Carolina Inc. in Castle Hayne, NC.

~11:15 a.m. – Workers moved a Hitachi UH 123 tracked backhoe across gas and water service lines located in front of King’s Laundromat at 4615 Market Street. The movement likely caused a leak the underground six-inch gas line, which carried approximately 60 pounds of pressure.

A worker detected the small of natural gas and also observed the roadway pavement raising up and dirt blowing from underneath. He informed others, including requesting a call to the gas company.

~11:20 a.m – Equipment and men were moved away from the leak site and work was stopped.

First Engine Dispatched at 11:31 a.m. Continue reading ‘Wilmington Natural Gas Explosion and Fire – August 5, 1987’ »

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Navy Plane Crashes into Building at Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, July 31, 1974

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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 morning, a U.S. Navy Grumman TE-2A Hawkeye “submarine chaser” was practicing touch-and-go operations when it struck the aircraft maintenance and supply center at the end of the base runway about 9:15 a.m.

As reported in the next day’s Raleigh News and Observer, Lt. Cmdr. Walter M. Coburn was watching the air traffic from a helicopter. He said the aircraft skidded 200 feet and struck the building, which had once served as the base dining hall.

He said “the plane veered off the runaway after its engine failed during a third attempt at takeoff.” Smoke and flames started about 15 seconds after the impact. But there was no apparent explosion.

The building was occupied by 23 civilian employees. They had no advance warning of the crash, but some were able to run out of the building after the impact.

Crash Truck Gets Close Continue reading ‘Navy Plane Crashes into Building at Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, July 31, 1974’ »

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Car Strikes Jet on Ground in Winston-Salem – May 24, 1967

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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 the other side of North Liberty Street. The jets were towed to and fro, and vehicle traffic was stopped by a traffic signal and flagmen.

On the night of Wednesday, May 24, 1967, at 11:45 p.m., a Boeing 727 was being towed across the street. It had the roadway completed blocked. The stoplight was red on either side of the crossing, along with two flagmen, each holding a warning light and a stop sign.

Driving toward them in a 1965 Corvair was Ruth Pruitt, 41. She appeared to be looking to the right, witnesses later recounted, as she struck the aircraft, travelled under its belly, and collided with a utility pole several yards away.

The top of her car was flattened and Pruitt suffered facial lacerations. She underwent surgery the next morning at Baptist Hospital.

Damage to the plane was estimated at $25,000. Named the Manhattan Pacemaker, it was the first of two jets newly operated by the airline.

However, the Boeing 727 ended its service less than two months later, when it collided in midair with a small plane over Hendersonville, NC. Read that story in our prior posting.

Source: Twin City Sentinel, May 25, 1967

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Piedmont Flight 22 and the Midair Collision Over Hendersonville – July 19, 1967

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Read retrospective and research notes from 2017 (103M, PDF)

See other photos, clippings, and the NTSB report in this Google Drive folder.

Introduction

Looking back at the deadliest plane crash in North Carolina history, when 82 people were killed on Wednesday, July 19, 1967, after Piedmont Flight 22 collided with a Cessna 310 and both crashed in Hendersonville, NC.

Piedmont Flight 22 was flying a Boeing 727 with 79 souls aboard. It had taken off from Asheville Municipal Airport at 11:58 a.m., heading to Roanoke VA. One minute later, it collided with a twin-engine Cessna 310 that was approaching for landing. There where three people aboard the second plane, which had been chartered from Springfield, MO.  

They were flying 6,132 feet and eight miles southeast of the airport when they collided at 11:59 a.m. Both were operating under instrument flight rules. The planes crashed just south of the intersection of Interstate 26 and Highway 64. The crash site was just 200 feet from the interstate. [AC, 7/20/67]

The main parts of the passenger jet landed in a wooded area at Camp Pinewood, a private summer camp for children near Interstate 26. It burst into flames upon impact. The crash site was near the camp’s archery rang, and near the camp’s trash dump. [WSJ, 7/20/67]

Other debris fell in nearby neighborhoods. One young girl was hit by debris at her home on Highway 64 about a mile from the crash site. She was not hospitalized. [AC, 7/20/67]

The wreckage of the two planes was spread over an area 1.5 miles long and a half-mile wide, along a path to the north and northwest of the impact point. The passenger jet was upside down when it struck the ground. The Cessna was severely fragment and only one identifiable portion was found at the main wreckage site. [NTSB]

 

Continue reading ‘Piedmont Flight 22 and the Midair Collision Over Hendersonville – July 19, 1967’ »

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Lynn Road Fire Station – End of an Era

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This is a blog version of a Facebook posting.

Another milestone happened on July 1, 2025, in Wake County, when Northern Wake Fire Department ended operations at Station 5 at 1431 Lynn Road, at a facility co-located with Wake County EMS. 

The station’s response area was redistricted effective that date, with 27 first-due parcels reassigned to Durham Highway and Western Wake fire departments. NWFD Engine 51 (unstaffed) was housed on Lynn Road. Here’s a posting from April 26 about the redistricting. 

Thus ended the building’s 51-year life as a fire station.

The History

The Lynn Road fire/rescue/EMS station was originally erected by the Six Forks Volunteer Fire Department, relocating in 1974 from 5305 Six Forks Road.

In 1976, Six Forks Rescue Squad was organized by members of the fire department. They were later named Six Forks EMS.

In 2002, Six Forks VFD merged with Bay Leaf VFD, and the building became Bay Leaf Station 3.

In 2011, Six Forks EMS ceased operation and Wake County EMS took over.

In 2017, Bay Leaf VFD and Stony Hill VFD merged to form Northern Wake FD, and the building became Northern Wake Station 5.

The building is now exclusively operated as a Wake County EMS station.

Read More History

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Garner and Rolesville Municipal Mergers

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This is a blog version of a Facebook posting.

Congratulations to Garner Fire Department and Rolesville Fire Department. Effective July 1, 2025, each merged with their respective municipalities, Town of Garner, NC Government and Town of Rolesville, NC. Congrats to all.

They’re two of oldest community fire departments in Wake County. Garner FD was organized in 1952, with a small group of volunteers, a 1941 Ford auxiliary truck from Durham (and later sold to Harrells in Sampson County), and a used-car garage as their first station.

Rolesville Rural FD was organized in 1958, with their own volunteers and a 1958 Chevy/American pumper (still on the roster) and a military surplus truck-turned-tanker. They stored their pumper in the Rolesville Amoco Station.

The Garner merger was several years in the making, with milestones including the town contracting with a consultant in January 2021 to study the issue, the town passing a resolution proposing unification in May 2024, and the town approving the final merger agreement in March 2025. 

The Rolesville merger dates to 2021, when the fire department and the town started meeting collaboratively on the subject. In May 2024, the town adopted a unification resolution. Read more about the Rolesville merger. 

Looking Back

Historical photos of Garner FD, via Raleigh Fire Museum.

Historical photos of Rolesville Rural FD, also via RFM.

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Sedge Garden Fire Department / Triangle Fire Department History

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This is a blog version of a Facebook posting.

Looking back at the Sedge Garden FD in Forsyth County. Photo from the Winston-Salem Journal, November 14, 1999.

They were organized by the Sedge Garden Civic Club and started operating in 1951. Though the project may have been suggested as early as 1949.[1] They were the first community fire department in Forsyth County.

They bought a 29-year-old old engine from Winston-Salem, likely the 1922 American LaFrance Type 75, 750 GPM, reg #3844. (It was cited as a 1921 model in the WSJ on August 30, 1953.)

It was parked at Milam’s Service Station. And from the photo, they soon added a 1941-47 Dodge COE tanker.

SGFD answered their first fire call on March 27, 1951, a grass fire at Parkview. They had been in the “process of being organized” for about a month. Robah Thomas was the fire chief.

And on April 10, 1951, installation of a “centrally-located alarm whistle” was completed. Their response area was divided into four zones, with teams of firefighters named for each.

[1] Decades later 1949 was remembered as the organization year. Maybe a false start that fizzled?

Then What Happened? Continue reading ‘Sedge Garden Fire Department / Triangle Fire Department History’ »

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McCain Sanatorium Fire Department History

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This is a blog version of a Facebook posting.

Looking back at McCain Sanatorium in Hoke County, which added a fire truck in early 1952, reported the Raleigh News & Observer on February 17, 1952.

It was built out of “begging, bolts, screws, and the ingenuity of its driver, Paul Cloer,” who was the maintenance chief at the facility. Using a “junkyard truck chassis” he add a “red signal light” from a funeral home that was trading an ambulance, a siren from a deputy sheriff, and a motor from an auto dealer that he turned into a 250-gallon booster.

The new truck replaced an antique “three-wheel job that would scarcely extinguish a match flame.” It cost $660, versus the $14,000 to $15,000 cost of a new fire engine.

McCain Sanatorium was one of three in the state and was expanding its capacity, with the addition of 80 more beds to increase the capacity to 680. There was a new nursing home, new employee housing, and other improvements.

Originally named the North Carolina State Sanatorium in 1908, it was the first state institution for the treatment of tuberculosis. It was later renamed for Dr. Paul P. McCain, who served as its superintendent from 1924 to 1926.

As TB rates declined, the facility was repurposed as a corrections facility, as a minimum-security healthcare center for male inmates. The facility was permanently closed in 2010.

McCain Prison Hospital also had a fire department, and it was listed in the state department of insurance directory in 1982. 

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Raleigh Fire Department – Plans, Reports, and Studies

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This is a blog version of a Facebook posting.

Last week, the newly completed Raleigh Fire Department Master Plan was presented to city council, a consultant’s report commissioned last year. What’s the historical perspective on such documents? There have been many. Here are the ones that we know about:

Also, there were reports from the National Board of Fire Underwriters. Those were slightly different animals:

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Two Alarms on Harbor Drive

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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 dispatched two minutes earlier to a reported structure fire in Engine 24’s territory.

Two-story, single-family dwelling with 3,053 square-feet, including full basement.[2] Built 1983. Dispatch with multiple callers reporting smoke and flames.

[2] Structure had separate attic spaces over the main house and the garage area, firefighters later discovered.

Engine 4 first-arriving with heavy fire in the rear of the structure, including a boat on a trailer that was burning. Extension into the attic and through the roof within minutes.

First line inside, second line to outside rear, then taken inside. Third line also inside. Fourth? bumper line also pulled. Engine 18 boosting at hydrant past the house.

One injured firefighter reported ~10:37 p.m. Second alarm requested ~10:38 p.m. Staging at Sawmill and Harbor.

Second alarm units cancelled ~10:42 p.m. Injured firefighter was located.

Controlled ~11:05 p.m. Two additional engines, non-emergency, requested for relief at control time.

One firefighter injured, noted news reports, with a sprained ankle. One feline rescued and treated. Three people displaced.

Run card included:

  • 1st alarm – E4 E18 E16 E15 L15 L22 Sq14 B5 B3
  • Added – L4
  • Added – L6
  • Working Fire – A28 B2 INV1 DC1
  • Added – R16
  • 2nd alarm – E9 E17 E23 L23 L1 (cancelled)
  • Special call – E9, E17 (two engines for relief)
  • Medical – M44 M12 M32 M64 D1 D3 D9
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