Vintage Footage of Shaw University Fire, 1991

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Found footage alert. Here’s 39 minutes of raw video from Meserve Hall at Shaw University, which went to four alarms in January 1991. Converted from VHS and posted to the Raleigh Fire Museum YouTube channel. Original videographer(s) TBD. Might’ve been two cameras operating, as the footage isn’t strictly sequential. 

Incident description below, from my Raleigh fire history timelines. Keyboard commanders note the aerial placement issues. The top of the building was tough to reach. Good discussion topic, though. How to get closer when fence + lawn presents. 

Watch footage or see embed below.

Incident Description

January 23, 199. Dispatched about 4:15 p.m. Fire guts the top two floors of the brick, Queen Anne-style building. The structure is 96 years-old. Began on third floor and raced through brick dorm and office building. Extensive damage. One student jumped from second floor window, was transported. Hundreds of spectators watched as flames shot out of the the roof of the Queen Anne-style building’s gabled ends. Built in 1896, building was one of oldest on campus. Building had recently be remodeled. Female students lived on top two floors, with admin offices on first floor. All 18 residents accounted for. Aerial apparatus deployed. Controlled at 20:30 hours. First alarm: E3, E1, T1, C52. Second: E2, E13, T8, SR1, R7, R6. Third: E5, E11, T11. Fourth, relief: E4, E16, T16, E8, E10, E17, E7. Plus C1, C2, C3, C4, C70, C71. Overnight: E9 (9 p.m.), E18 (11:30 p.m.), E6 (2 a.m.), E12 (4 a.m.), E15 (6 a.m.)

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RECAP – Wake County Fire Commission – Long-Range Planning Workshop, January 3, 2019

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January 6, 2019
Blogger David Handy has posted an excellent recap of this meeting, in this posting. He also adds a number of personal perspectives. 

His blog is titled Friends of Fairview, and is a newer site, created as a forum for raising citizen concerns about the Fairview Station 2 closure concept, proposed last summer to the Wake County Fire Commission.

Read about that proposal in our prior posting(s).

January 2
The Wake County Fire Commission will hold a long-range planning workshop on Thursday, January 3, 2019, from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., at the Wake County Emergency Services Training Center,  220 S. Rogers Lane, Suite 160. 

Agenda

Meeting Called to Order: Chairman Chief McGee

  • Invocation
  • Pledge of allegiance
  • Roll of Members Present

Long Range Planning Workshop

  • Validation of Perceptions
  • Defining roles and responsibilities
  • Where is the Fire Tax District headed in the future?
  • What are the guiding principles moving forward to be decided?
  • Other information to be considered in long range planning
  • Identify challenges moving forward
  • Wrap up

Adjournment – Next Meeting January 17, 2019

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Wake County Fire Tax District Long-Range Business Plan, January 2005

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Here’s another planned posting, first drafted in August 2018, when the Fairview Station 2 closure concept was being discussed. At the time, was updating my Wake County Fire Commission posted docs. They live here: https://legeros.com/blog/docs/wcfc.

Found in Mike’s archive, scanned copy of the Wake County Fire Tax District Long-Range Business Plan, as recommended by the Wake County Fire Commission, January 27, 2005.

The 47-page document contains recommendations on:

  • Performance Standards
  • Apparatus
  • Stations
  • Staffing
  • Financial Policies

View the 2005 long-range business plan (PDF, 7.8M)

For comparison, see also the 2009 long-range business plan (PDF, 1.0M)

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Vintage Vehicles of Ogden Rescue Squad

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How about some vintage ambulances and rescue vehicles? Found these on the Odgen Rescue Squad Facebook group. 

The squad was chartered in 1962, and merged with New Hanover Volunteer Rescue Squad in 2004.

The joint organization operated until 2014. 

2018-09-05-ors

 

 

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Raleigh Fire Department – Digitized Yearbooks from 1984 and 2002

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Whoops, this posting was originally planned in November. Let’s catch up…

The Raleigh Fire Museum in partnership with the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center in November 2018 announced the digitization of two fire department “yearbooks” from 1984 and 2002.

These commemorative volumes are no longer in print, and document the personnel, facilities, equipment, and history of the City of Raleigh Fire Department.

The web interface includes a full text search. You can also download in a number of formats including PDF, ePub, and Kindle.

View the Books

https://raleighfiremuseum.org/digital/

Learn More

Here’s a page of information about these and the two later yearbooks, in 2007 and 2012:

https://www.legeros.com/ralwake/raleigh/books/

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North Carolina Fire Departments in 1896

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Here’s a list of North Carolina fire departments in 1896, as reported by the Statistician of the North Carolina State Firemen’s Association, for the year ending April 1, 1896. This reported was printed in the proceedings for the Eighth Annual Convention Tournament, held in Salisbury, NC, on August 19, 20, 21. 

The printed document–61 pages, plus advertisements–was scanned at Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina. The library has a number of proceedings, from 1896 through 1936, though with missing years. See catalog record. Most of the copies are bound in hardcover collections.

Read the report (PDF 2.0MB)

Listed is information about Asheville, Beaufort, Charlotte, Concord, Durham, Elizabeth City, Enfield, Fayetteville, Goldsboro, Greensboro, Kinston, La Grange, New Bern, Raleigh, Tarboro, Salisbury, Scotland Neck, Statesville, Warrenton, Wilmington, and Winston.

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Warsaw Fire Chief Killed on Duty – December 31, 1949

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Here’s the front page of the Duplin Times from January 5, 1950, which includes a story on the death of Warsaw Fire Dept Fire Chief Stacy H. Britt, 38, who died in the line of duty in an apparatus collision on December 31, 1949.

You can read the entire issue at this digital North Carolina newspapers page. Just click through to the correct issue.

Chief Britt is one of two NC firefighters remembered by the North Carolina Fallen Firefighters Foundation on their Facebook page today.

Also on December 31, in 1969, Greensboro Fire Department Firefighter Jesse C. Gray died in the line of duty.

Alas, no free digital archives are available (that Legeros can find) for the Greensboro News & Record. But their archives are available, with paid access.

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Emergency Landing at Winston-Salem Airport, 1971

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From the May-June 1971 issue of Hose & Nozzle magazine.

Piedmont Airlines prop plane made an emergency landing at Smith Reynolds Airport in Winston-Salem. Jammed landing gear forced a belly landing.

Runway foaming was started, but stopped when the pilot reported that the plane had only a few more minutes of fuel. It had circled the airport for about 30 minutes before landing.

City and county fire apparatus, along with rescue squads and ambulances were on scene.

No fire was reported. A dozen passengers and crew were aboard. The flight originated in Knoxville and was headed to Washington. It was diverted to Winston-Salem when the pilot learned that the landing gear would not extend.

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Winston-Salem Snorkel in Action, 1975

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Random historical image. Winston-Salem’s “short” snorkel in action. Was a 75-foot FWD/Baker/Pittman, model year 1964. List of NC snorkels here: https://legeros.com/blog/snorkels-in-north-carolina/

From Hose & Nozzle magazine, March-April 1976.

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Pullen Road Extension – Historical Perspective

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The long-awaited Pullen Road extension opened yesterday. Here’s a city news release about the $3.8M project that extends Pullen Road to Centennial Campus Parkway, by way of a new roundabout at Bilyeu Street.  

But did you know that Avent Ferry Road originally ran through there, and connected with Western Boulevard just east of Pullen Road? Below is a historical perspective, showing maps from 1948 to present.

Catholic Orphanage and Cry Baby Lane

The area was known as Nazareth and was originally the site of Raleigh’s Catholic Orphanage, which operated until the early 1970s. Here’s a WRAL story about the facility.

And a fatal fire in 1905, at a dormitory for seminary students, inspired the later legend of “Cry Baby Lane,” a nearby road upon which visitors purportedly hear the screaming of children and smell smoke. Read this Legeros blog post for more.

Or see his Hidden Raleigh site.

Historical Perspective

Maps from then and now, with annotations. Click to enlarge:

2018-12-19-pullen-road-extension

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