Fire School Program, 1955

Posted by Mike Legeros on 17 January 2020, 8:07 am

For your Friday enjoyment, here’s a vintage program from the 27th Annual North Carolina Fire College and Pump School, held in May 1955 in Charlotte. The popular event was conducted by the then-named North Carolina State Firemen’s Association. It was held from 1929 to 2002 in various locations around the state.

View a PDF version of the program at www.legeros.com/blog/docs/1955-fire-school-program.pdf

Scanned from a physical copy from the Hose & Nozzle archives, courtesy of the Troy Fire Department.

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Wake County Fire Commission Meeting – January 16, 2020

Posted by Mike Legeros on 13 January 2020, 6:52 am

The next meeting of the Wake County Fire Commission will be held on Thursday, January 16, 2020, at 7:00 p.m., at the Wake County Emergency Services Training Center, which is located in a warehouse building at 220 South Rogers Lane, in Suite 160.

Agenda is below. View the meeting documents.

Meeting Called to Order – Chairman Keith McGee
- Invocation
- Pledge of allegiance
- Roll of Members Present
Items of Business
- Annual Election of Chair and Vice Chair – Director Campasano
- Adoption of Minutes for November 21, 2019 Meeting
- Approval of Agenda
Public Comments
- Comments from the public will be taken at this time. Members of the public are invited to make comment to the Commission, with a maximum of three minutes per person. A signup sheet for those who wish to speak during the public comments section of the meeting is located at the entrance of the meeting room.
Regular Agenda
- 2020 Census Presentation – Tim Maloney
Information Agenda
- Fire Tax Financial Report
- Standing Committee Updates
  - Administrative
  - Apparatus
  - Budget
  - Communications
  - Equipment
  - Facility
  - Training
  - Volunteer Recruitment & Retention Committee
- Chair Report
- Fire Services Report
Other Business
Adjournment – Next Meeting – March 19, 2020

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Audio Recording from Commuter Plane Crash Response in Morrisville, 1994

Posted by Mike Legeros on 11 January 2020, 4:57 pm

Here’s a surprise historical find, newly discovered audio recording of the 911 call, the dispatch, and the first 13 minutes of radio traffic, of fire units responding to the commuter plane crash in Morrisville on December 13, 1994. Listen to the recording at www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwV4H5GVK_Y.

It was contributed by David Ferrell, a Morrisville Fire Captain and one of the first-arriving responders. American Eagle Flight #3379 crashed at 6:34 p.m. with twenty souls aboard. There were five survivors.

Have started updating my research materials, to incorporate the new information that the recording reveals. See those and more at legeros.com/history/stories/eagle-crashes/1994.

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New Trailer for USAR 3

Posted by Mike Legeros on 5 January 2020, 10:10 pm

North Carolina Task Force 8 has received a new trailer for USAR 3. It’s their first first curtain-side trailer, which will allow access from both sides as well as the back. It’ll replace a box trailer that transports their Base of Operation (BoO) portable shelter system, which includes tents, showers, cots, generators and HVAC systems, etc. And it’ll be further modified with a rear attachment to carry their Moffett forklift.

Why the new trailer and new style of trailer? Two reasons. First, they’ll increase their storage space by about a third, because side-loading allows for more efficient placement of stored equipment. Second, stuff stored in the back will no longer block access to stuff stored in the front. Side-access allows selective retrieval of equipment.

Also, note that their name and logo has changed. The state teams are slowly rolling out a rebranding that subtracts the word “urban”. Though they are training as and defined by FEMA as USAR teams, their response areas (and response capabilities) cover urban, suburban, and rural areas.

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Renovations to Station 11 – December Update – Moving Day

Posted by Mike Legeros on 17 December 2019, 4:20 pm

This is an ongoing blog posting about the renovation of Fire Station 11.

See Legeros updates below. See also ongoing Legeros photos. And here’s the official project site from the city.

Contents

12/17/19 – Moving Day
11/24/19 – Nearly Finished
9/27/19 – Doors Have Been Added
6/25/19 – Interior Work Has Started
5/29/19 – New Bays Nearly Complete
3/23/19 – Construction Has Started
12/7/18 – Rendering Added
12/6/18 – Companies Moved
10/12/18 – Site Plans, Floor Plans

December 17, 2019
Crews completed two days of moving today into their new old home. Station 11 was reactivated early this afternoon, with Engine 11 and Ladder 2 relocating from their temporary quarters at Station 7 and Station 15, respectively. Here are a some pictures:

November 24, 2019
Nearly finished. And a good-looking plaque seen through the windows…

September 27, 2019
Doors have been added!

Continue reading ‘Renovations to Station 11 – December Update – Moving Day’ »

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Vintage Air Ambulance Advertisement, 1947

Posted by Mike Legeros on 17 December 2019, 5:36 am

Found for sale on eBay. Advertisement for “America’s first air ambulance service” in Durham, from 1947.

Was this the same service that operated the air ambulance that crashed near Oxford two years later? To be determined. See that posting.

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Air Ambulance Crash in Oxford, 1949

Posted by Mike Legeros on 17 December 2019, 5:28 am

This is a blog version of a pair of earlier Facebook postings on Legeros Fire Line.

Here’s a photo and a news clipping about an early air ambulance crash in our area. Converted Cessna five-seat plane crashed near Oxford on August 25, 1949. Three aboard, the pilot and two nurses. Two died at the scene and the third, one of the nurses, died at the hospital. The plane was returning from New York to Durham, after transporting a patient, and attempting an emergency landing at “Brent Meadows farm.” The plane crashed into a cornfield after striking a tree. It was operated by Piedmont Aviation Inc.

Was this the same Durham-based air ambulance service seen in this vintage Esso advertisement from 1947? To be determined. See earlier posting.

See also Mike’s master Google map of Raleigh-Durham area plane crashes.

Phone photo of film negative by Charles Cooper, P0105/1-01-13-141 in the Durham Herald Co. Newspaper Photograph Collection #P0105, North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Statesville Daily Record, Friday, August 26, 1949.

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Durham Rescue Trucks in 1974

Posted by Mike Legeros on 13 December 2019, 10:55 pm

For your Friday enjoyment, here’s a vintage picture of Durham’s early rescue trucks. Left is the city-county rescue squad’s second truck, a late 1960s GMC van procured after the original late 1950s Civil Defense rescue truck was wrecked in November 1966.

Right is the squad’s third and newly repaired rescue truck, with a new Ford cab and chassis and remounted Murphy body. The prior unit, delivered new in 1973 with a one-ton Chevy chassis, was wrecked in July 1974.

Read more Durham rescue history at legeros.com/history/stories/durham-rescue. See also closer views at facebook.com/LegerosFire/posts/3161885430506330

Durham Sun photo, P0105_1_03_36_189 in the Durham Herald Company Newspaper Photograph Collection #P0105, North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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After the Attack on Pearl Harbor

Posted by Mike Legeros on 7 December 2019, 10:43 pm

On December 10, 1941, three days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, a meeting was held at the State Capitol in Raleigh with 170 fire chiefs from around North Carolina. State Fire Marshal Sherwood Brockwell (pictured center) provided instruction on wartime fire protection. He had just graduated from a school conducted by the United States Army at Edgewood Arsenal.

Civilian Defense

The Governor the day before had issued bulletin to the mayors of cities with over 5,000 people, describing how to organize Civilian Protection Committees. Numerous initiatives were started, ranging from blackout drills to the training of volunteer auxiliary firemen. The latter began serving and augmenting the fire departments in such cities and towns as Asheville, High Point, Kinston, Raleigh, and Tarboro.

In Raleigh in July 1942, certificates of training and arm bands were presented to 154 auxiliary firemen in a graduation ceremony at Hugh Morson High School. They were trained in wartime firefighting and rescue techniques, and participated in exercises including city-wide blackout drills from 1942 to 1944. The auxiliary firemen also assisted in actual emergencies.

Wartime Impacts

Other wartime impacts included the loss of personnel due to firefighters enlisting or being drafted into the armed forces, or leaving for war-industry jobs, and which often offered higher pay. There were also restrictions that affected infrastructure, with departments unable to obtain new apparatus or build new stations.

In Raleigh, the city needed an additional pumper for a new engine company in 1943. The solution? They purchased a 1919 American LaFrance “triple combination” from the town of Farmville. Similar restrictions on building materials delayed the building of a new Raleigh Station 1 for over a decade.

Photo credit: News & Observer. Pictured far left is Lt. Kenlon H. Brockwell, son of Sherwood and Post Fire Marshal at Fort Bragg. Right is Captain J. M. Munday, Drill Master of the Charlotte Fire Department.

About The Photo

From the December 11, 1941, issue of the New & Observer:

“Brockwell demonstrated the content of an incendiary bomb and explained the equipment needed and the procedure for extinguishing it. From a chart, he explained the appearance and effect of armor piercing, demolition, fragmentation, aerial mine, light and scatter aerial bombs. [He] also explained the action of white phosphorous and thermite, the formerly highly adaptable to sabotage, and offered ways of counteracting their flames.” He explained thermite is used against oil deposits, and urged special precautions in such places as Wilmington.

More Information

Read the Handbook for Auxiliary Firemen at legeros.com/history/library/civil-defense.

See these related blog postings:

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Meet Raleigh’s Newest Firefighters – Recruit Graduation, December 5

Posted by Mike Legeros on 2 December 2019, 6:35 pm

On Thursday night, December 5, 2019, nineteen new firefighters will join the ranks of the Raleigh Fire Department. Recruit Academy 44 will graduate in a ceremony at 7:00 p.m. at the Raleigh Convention Center, in Exhibit Hall C.

The new firefighters have completed a 32-week fire academy that included over 1000 hours of classroom, practical, and physical fitness training. Each has been certified by the State of North Carolina as a Firefighter Level II, Emergency Medical Technician, and Hazardous Materials Responder I. Most of their instruction was conducted at the Keeter Training Center in downtown Raleigh.

Mike Legeros photo