From the Department of Gender Studies, here are a couple stories from the 1890s about the Greensboro Fire Department’s Eagle Hose Company’s “mascot,” Miss Lillian Brown. Plus a photograph that appeared in the 1896 proceedings of the North Carolina State Firemen’s Association.

Newspapers copied from newspapers.com, via free access from the NC State Government & Heritage Library. Proceedings excerpt via this library of mine. 

Also found these last week, very early Charlotte news stories about their first fire engine and fire company. They’re dated between 1834 and 1845.

Plus an 1856 story about a public meeting held for the purpose of organizing, or perhaps re-organizing, the fire department. Good breadcrumb trail for anyone interested in pursuing.

From newspapers.com via free access from the State Library of North Carolina. Originally posted as a pair of postings on Legeros Fire Line on Facebook, one of several about the early histories of the state’s oldest fire departments. Click to enlarge:

Found these last week. Newspaper article about an early iteration of the Wilmington Fire Department in 1842. Might be the original or first “formal” version of WFD. Plus an editorial from the year before, with detailed suggestions for same. Plus an account of the great 1840 fire, that they reference.

From newspapers.com via free access from the State Library of North Carolina. This is a blog version of a posting from Legeros Fire Line on Facebook, one of several recent postings poking into the earliest histories of the state’s oldest fire departments. Click to enlarge:

Continue reading ‘Wilmington Fire Department Organized – 1842’ »

With the South Atlantic Fire Rescue Expo starting next week in Raleigh, here’s a visual history of the prior conference locations. In the style of a heat map. 

Needs a little work. Starting with a better base map. Also, Winston (2) and Winston-Salem (9) are merged into one, with Winston-Salem (11). Also, also, tournaments were conducted for the first few decades. Could be fun to add those, in some fashion. 

Another idea, create a second map–or interactive map, with layers–showing the locations and counts of the “colored” firefighters association, which also held annual conventions for decades. 

Source data included below. 

   
North Carolina State Firefighter’s Association

Counts of conference locations. Note that the event was cancelled three times during World War II.

15 – Raleigh
13 – Greensboro
12 – Asheville
11 – Charlotte
11 – Wilmington
9 – Winston-Salem + 2 – Winston
8 – Carolina Beach
8 – New Bern
7 – Durham
6 – Fayetteville
6 – Morehead City
4 – Salisbury
2 – Boone
2 – Goldsboro
2 – Hendersonville
2 – Hickory
1 – Gastonia
1 – Greenville
1 – Hamlet
1 – High Point
1 – Lumberton
1 – Pinehurst
1 – Statesville
1 – Wrightsville Beach

North Carolina Volunteer Firemen’s Association

Counts for conference locations. From 1890 to 1978, though the source data is incomplete. Need locations for a number of years. Also, this convention was cancelled a number of times during World War II:

9 – Wilson
7 – Warrenton
6 – Tarboro
5 – Greenville
5 – Oxford
3 – Concord
3 – East Spencer
3 – Elizabeth City
3 – Farmville
3 – Wake Forest
3 – Washington
3 – Winston
2 – Charlotte
2 – Durham
2 – Enfield
2 – Greensboro
2 – Monroe
2 – Raleigh
1 – Fayettville
1 – Henderson
1 – Louisburg
1 – New Bern
1 – Rocky Mount
1 – Salisbury
1 – Wilmington

Question from reader Dave Parker, asking the age of this North Carolina Pump School booklet, that someone at his station received from a retired guy some time ago.

Answers Legeros, it likely dates from between 1953 and 1966. Those were the years that the North Carolina State Firemen’s Association conducted an annual pump school separate from their annual fire college and drill school.

The fire college was first held in 1929, and ended in 2002. Or maybe later. Legeros is still researching.

As for the pump school, these were those dates:

1953 – 1st – Charlotte 
1954 – 2nd – Charlotte 
1955 – 3rd – Charlotte 
1956 – 4th – Charlotte 
1957 – 5th – Charlotte 
1958 – 6th – Charlotte 
1959 – 7th – Charlotte 
1960 – 8th – Charlotte 
1961 – 9th – Charlotte 
1962 – 10th – Charlotte 
1963 – 11th – Charlotte 
1964 – 12th – Charlotte 
1965 – 13th – Greensboro 
1966 – 14th – Raleigh 
1967 – No more separate pump schools