Relocating Fire Station 12 – Dedication on January 16

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January 18, 2019
Photos posted of the dedication ceremony:

January 13, 2019
The City of Raleigh is dedicating new Fire Station 12 on Wednesday, January 16, at 1:00 p.m. It’s located at 4306 Poole Road, about a mile east of old Station 12. It’s also the largest of the city’s twenty-nine fire stations, with over 18,000 square feet. This dedication was original scheduled in September, but was postponed due to Hurricane Florence, and preparations for its impacts in Raleigh. 

Here’s a brief press release.

See also Legeros photos of the new station, its construction, and the old station and its history. 

2018-08-15-rfd
Lee Wilson photo

Continue reading ‘Relocating Fire Station 12 – Dedication on January 16’ »

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Tarboro Fireman Dies From Illness After Fire – 1899

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Note: This is a version of a posting from Legeros Fire Line on Facebook. See that posting for reader comments and discussion.

Found a reference to a Tarboro Fire Department firefighter fatality, and apparently duty-related. From the Proceedings of the North Carolina State Firemen’s Convention in 1899, page 26, from the Secretary’s Report:

“Death has again invaded our ranks. This time one of our former treasurers has been taken. Died February 16th, 1899, Chas. G. Bradley, of Tarboro Hook and Ladder Company. Death was caused by severe illness, contracted by being wet and overheated attending a fire a week or more before death.”

This makes one of the state’s oldest line-of-duty deaths, after three Asheville firemen were killed in 1891, in a train derailment, while returning from the state firemen’s convention in Durham.

Next steps, to learn more about the Tarboro fireman? Suggest these sources for additional information:

  • Genealogy sites to find the death certificate, if it’s available. Such as Ancestry via subscription or your local library. Or Family Search, which has free accounts. 
  • Tarboro newspaper articles, from back in the day. Good source for those are the online resources from the North Carolina Government and Heritage web site. But you’ll need a library card, to use those news sources.
  • Digital North Carolina Newspapers, also as a source for news stories. 
  • Find-a-Grave. 

Physical resources could include town minutes, if any are surviving from that era. Check with the town clerk. Copies of surviving newspapers are another possibility. Check local/area libraries. Maybe also the university. 

Good luck!

Below is a screen grab of conference proceedings, scanned from physical copy at Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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Raleigh Run Numbers – 2018

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Here are totals for Raleigh Fire Departments unit runs and total calls last year…

Total Calls – 42,157
Total Runs – 62,033

E1 – 1,983
E2 – 1,830
E3 – 2,668
E4 – 1,249
E5 – 1,305
E6 – 882
Sq7 – 2,400
E8 – 2,070
E9 – 1,834
E10 – 1,689
E11 – 2,735
E12 – 2,622
E13 – 1,431
Sq14 – 1,600
E15 – 2,539
E16 – 1,963
E17 – 1,345
E18 – 1,178
E19 – 2,556
E20 – 1,713
E21 – 1,699
E22 – 1,478
E23 – 831
E24 – 927
E25 – 940
E26 – 1,058
E27 – 796
E28 – 794
E29 – 343

Special – Hurricane Matthew
E106 – 8
E110 – 11
E118 – 9
E129 – 3

L1 – 952
L2 – 2,041
L3 – 1,147
L4 – 2,300
L5 – 1,106
L6 – 417
L7 – 1,076
L8 – 1,007
L9 – 272

R1 – 1,281

B1 – 542
B2 – 664
B3 – 544
B4 – 325
B5 – 853

C20 – 141 (Platoon Division Chief)

Car 401 – 15 (Chief Fire Investigator, special called)
Car 402 – 188 (Fire Investigator)

Air 1 – 91
Air 2 – 89

HM1 – 83 (haz-mat)
HM2 – 101
HM3 – 77
HM4 – 41
HM5 – 84

MP1 – 25 (mini-pumpers)
MP2 – 12
MP3 – 10

USAR 801 – 25 (swift water rescue)

Busiest Engines

E11 – 2,735
E3 – 2,668
E12 – 2,622
E19 – 2,556
E15 – 2,539
Sq7 – 2,400
E8 – 2,070
E1 – 1,983
E16 – 1,963
E9 – 1,834

Busiest Ladders

L4 – 2,300
L2 – 2,041
L3 – 1,147

Busiest Battalion Chief

B5 – 853

Busiest Rescue (ha)

R1 – 1,281

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Greensboro’s South Side Hose Company in 1899

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Found this this weekend. Vintage photo of Greensboro’s South Side Hose Company in 1899. They were the winners annual state firemen’s tournament Championship Reel Race. The winning times were:

  • 49 sec – Greensboro, South Side Hose Co. No. 4
  • 50 1/4 – New Bern Steam Fire Engine Co. No. 1
  • 51 sec. – Goldsboro, Hose Co. No. 1
  • 51 sec. – Salem, Eagle Hose Co. No. 4
  • 54 sec. – Chicora, Fayetteville

Salisbury Hose Co. competed, was was ruled out. Eagle Hose Co. No. 7 of Greensboro withdrew, in favor of South Side.

The winning team was awarded the championship belt, to hold and display until the next year’s tournament. They also won $125 prize. The second place team won $75.

The contest consisted of members pulling a hand hose reel, running (pulling) and laying hose from a fire hydrant, connecting the hose to the hydrant, removing the other end of the hose from the reel, attaching a nozzle to the hose, and flowing water in the fastest time possible.

Distance they ran? Either 50 or 150 yards, based on the race. Can’t quite tell which one.

Pictured in the proceedings of that year’s North Carolina State Firemen’s Convention annual convention and tournament, bound copies of which are cataloged at Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina.

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Charlotte Fire Department Helps Move Polio Patients – March 5, 1945

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On March 5, 1945, the Charlotte Fire Department assisted with the “greatest mass transfer of polio patients in history”. 

Led by Fire Chief W. Hendrix Palmer, the fire department helped the Charlotte Variety Club move 88 patients from the emergency polio hospital in Hickory to the new polio unit at Charlotte Memorial Hospital.

Travelling the 75-mile distance was a caravan consisting of fifteen ambulances, 74 automobiles, and “a number of trucks.” The vehicles traveled at 30 miles an hour and were escorted by members of CFD, police from Charlotte and Hickory, and the State Highway Patrol.

In Hickory, Chief Palmer carried the “first little polio patient” to the caravan and placed her on the ambulance. He also led the procession.

The mass transfer was sponsored by the Charlotte Variety Club, a “motion picture and showmen’s organization,” with Chief Palmer, Charlotte Police Chief Walter Anderson, and Mecklenberg County Police Chief Henry C. Severs assisting.

The story was recounted by North Carolina State Firemen’s Association Statistician Albert Brinson, in his annual report to members, which was included in a booklet with other business reports, but no conference proceedings, as the 1945 convention was “cancelled due to war conditions.” However, he cited 1944 as the year, instead of 1945. 

The story was also covered in local newspapers and by wire services, such as a UP stories printed in the Rocky Mount Telegram on August 5 and August 6, 1945. See below. They added a few details, including Rock Hill Variety Club as the named sponsor, and noting that ten Charlotte firemen would help with moving the children. They were “especially trained to assist in any emergencies.”

The UP stories adds that forty-eight nurses would be assisting, and that the “mile-long” caravan would include two trucks, ten state highway patrolmen, four Charlotte motorcycle officers, and four county police units. They also noted the distance as 60 miles. 

The patients ranged from 10 months to 29 years in age. 

Rocky Mount Telegram, August 5, 6, 1945

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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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