Found for sale on eBay. Vintage trade advertisement of a 1924 White/Childs triple-combination, that served Laurinburg Fire Department. Click to slightly enlarge:
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College of Charleston Mini-Pumper
How many colleges around the Carolinas (or farther) have their own fire engines? One of our readers recently spotted this one (thanks Greg!), a College of Charleston (SC) mini-pumper. Their fleet also includes an ambulance.
Pictures are from the school’s Department of Public Safety Facebook page. Here’s a description of their Fire & EMS branch:
The Chief of Fire and EMS is designated as the College’s Fire Marshal and coordinates all fire safety activities at the College in conjunction with the City of Charleston Fire Department. The Chief and his staff routinely conduct fire/safety inspections of all facilities and equipment, initiate fire drills, handle all fire-related investigations and reports in conjunction with state and local agencies, coordinate ongoing training/certification efforts for department staff members, collaborate with community and state emergency management teams, and make recommendations concerning improvements in fire safety to appropriate administrative representatives. Source: annual security report (PDF)
Readers, what other college-based fire and/or EMS services are around?
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Raleigh Fire Department Newsletter – Winter 2018
The Winter 2018 issue of the Raleigh Fire Department newsletter has been published to www.raleighfirenews.org. Yes, you might be a nerd, if you have a separate domain for news of your favorite FD.
Old-school, old-style reporting. Eight pages about facilities, incidents, apparatus, personnel, et al. And in our eleventh year! Contents of the new issue:
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The newsletter is published three times yearly. The editor is Mike Legeros, and he’s ably assisted by many in the department’s various divisions. Thanks, all, for your help.
Read the latest issue(PDF), which has been posted to www.raleighfirenews.org.
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New Wilson Fire Department History Book
New book alert! The [Illustrated] History of Wilson N.C. Fire/Rescue Services 1858-2017. Published late last year. Authors are Odis Daughtridge and Brian Oliver[1].
You can view the entire book on its Mixbook page, through a page-by-page flash interface. The complete text is also displayed. Use your browser’s find feature to search for specific words
Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Letter from the Chief
- Illustrated Timeline 1858-2017
- History of Stations and Facilities
- History of Apparatus
- Portraits of Current Members
- Profiles of Career Fire Chiefs
- Portraits of Retired Members
- Photos Past ‘n’ Present
- All-Time Roster
Ordering
This step’s a little trick. Visit the book page at https://www.mixbook.com/photo-books/interests/wilson-n-c-fire-rescue-services-history-1858-2017-16357407.
Click order toward the top left of the page. From there, you’ll have to create a Mixbook account. They don’t appear to allow “guest” check outs. Then complete ordering.
Postscript
[1] Oliver is the son of retired Wilson Fire Chief Donald R. Oliver, who served 1992 to 2017. He’s also the co-author of a Morrisville FD history book, published in 2015. It’s also available via Mixbooks. Brian Oliver is a career firefighter in Morrisville and former Greenville and, recently, works part-time with Raleigh, in an EMS support role.
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Raleigh’s Old Truck 16 Found… in Wilmington Scrapyard
Recognize this one? That’s Raleigh’s longtime Truck 16, a 1995 Simon-Duplex/LTI aerial platform that the city recently sold as surplus. Was found this week in Wilmington by reader Tim Henshaw. Click to slightly enlarge:
Tim Henshaw photos
Here’s the rig in its glory days, as photographed by Lee Wilson:
Lee Wilson photo
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Two Alarms on Dansey Drive This Morning
Note: This posting incorporates information from this narrative posted by Wake New Hope Fire Department.
See more photos by Mike Legeros
Two alarms were struck this morning at 4713 Dansey Drive. The reported structure fire was dispatched at 7:55 a.m. for Engines 19, 15, 27, 11, Ladders 2, 5, Rescue 1, Battalions 1 and 5, and New Hope Engine 1, as automatic aid for closest engine. Headquarters advised that callers reported a fire on a back deck.
While en route, New Hope Engine 1 upgraded to a working fire. They arrived at 7:59 a.m. and reported heavy fire and smoke from the rear of a two-story, garden-style apartment building with 6,514 square-feet. Built 1983, say tax records.
Engine 1 crew stretched a 1.75-inch hand line into the structure, and started an interior attack. Engine 19 then arrived, secured a water supply, and began assisting the interior crews with fire attack. Battalion 1 arrived, assumed command, and requested a second alarm. Dansey Drive and New Hope Road were designated at staging area.
With multiple reports of people still inside the building, Rescue 1 was assigned search and rescue, and to assist with evacuating any residents. Also by this time, Wake County EMS requested a second alarm, to bring additional EMS resources to the scene.
At 8:10 a.m., all firefighters were ordered out of the second story, and soon out of the entire structure. Evacuation tones were sounded and a Personal Accountability Report (PAR) was conducted.
By this time, Ladder 5 was ready for aerial operations, positioned in front of the structure and with a supply line from Engine 27. The aerial stream was used for several minutes, to knock down heavy fire in the attic. A ground monitor, also supplied by Engine 27, was also used for exterior fire attack.
After the bulk of the fire had been extinguished, crews went back inside the structure to extinguish hot spots. The fire was placed under control at 8:42 a.m.
No injuries were reported. Four of the eight apartment units were damaged. Five people were displaced. The cause was determined as accidental.
Run card:
- First alarm: NHFD E1, RFD E19, E15, E27, E11, L2, L5, R1, B1, B5.
- Working fire: C20, A2, C402
- Second alarm: E21, E22, E28, L1, L4, A1.
- EMS first alarm: EMS 3.
- EMS working fire: EMS 15, D3.
- EMS second alarm: EMS 19, EMS 6, EMS 4, EMS 63, D1, D9, M95, M96, T1.
News coverage:
Incident report with pictures:
Photos:
- Mike Legeros (full series)
- Mike Legeros (partial on Facebook)
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African American Heritage in the Raleigh Fire Department
The Raleigh Fire Department has a rich heritage of African Americans, both during the volunteer era of the 19th and early 20th century, and as members of the career department beginning in 1963. We’re reminded of this legacy with the recent passing of two retirees: retired Division Chief Richmond Davis, and retired Senior Firefighter Shirley Boone.
Chief Davis was one of seven of the city’s first career black firefighters, hired 1963-64. He climbed the ranks over his 30.2 years, as the city’s first black fire captain (1974), first black Battalion Chief (1980), and first black Division Chief (1991). He also served as Chief of Training.
Firefighter Boone served the city for 20.8 years as a full-time firefighter, and for many subsequent years in a part-time capacity in Administration. She was one of the first black women hired by the fire department, between 1978 and 1982.
Their stories and others have been compiled by Historian Mike Legeros (that’s me!), in a newly expanded history document.
The 50-page document includes stories and information and data about the city’s black firefighters, their volunteer-era predecessors, early station assignments and working conditions, a class-action lawsuit, the hiring of the first females, and new and renewed efforts at recruiting for diversity in recent years.
Read the history at www.legeros.com/ralwake/raleigh/history/black-history
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Vintage Photo of Guilford County Airport Fire Spill Support Unit
Thanks to a reader, who came upon this vintage picture the other week, from the collection of Scott Mattson. Thanks for sharing, Micah!
Vintage Guilford County Fire Services support unit. Looks like a 1960s Dodge truck, which had been converted into a lighting and generator unit. It’s pulling a two-axle cargo trailer lettered as “oil spill control unit.”
Scott Mattson Collection
Both were housed at the airport fire station, which was also headquarters for county fire services. The county’s oil spill response team was created around 1977 or 78, and included this 1958 Chevy tanker. Click to enlarge:
Scott Mattson Collection
In a Greensboro Daily News article on February 13, 1978, the “special county oil spill team” was described as being created sixteen months prior.
Technical expertise was provided by the Division of Environmental Health, while the “sweat and backbreaking labor of containing an oil spill” is provided by the County Fire Marshal’s office.
The fire marshal’s office had created a fleet of emergency vehicles for oil spill response, including a lighting truck with a gas-powered generator, a trailer with absorbing materials and tools for spill containment, a pumper truck that can “suck up offending oil or contaminated water”, a general maintenance truck that pulls the trailer, and a jeep.
Read more in Mr. Blogger’s recent history of Guilford County Fire Services and history of the PTI airport fire department: www.legeros.com/history/stories/pti-airport.
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Close Views of Early Raleigh Fire Engines
Random historical photo(s) from the Raleigh Fire Museum. Visit this photo album to see others. Visit this apparatus register to learn more about these rigs.
Fire apparatus at the North Carolina State Capitol, circa early 1920s. Courtesy Raleigh Fire Department.
Pictured left to right are:
- 1912 American LaFrance Type 5 combination chemical and hose truck
- 1918 American LaFrance Type 45 triple combination pumper
- 1916 American LaFrance Type 17 aerial ladder
- 1922 American LaFrance Type 14 combination service truck
- 1914 American LaFrance Type 12 triple combination pumper.
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Mayview, Belgrade, Loco Fire Departments Plan Merger
From the Jacksonville Daily News on February 21, three fire departments in Jones and Onslow County are planning a merger.
They began discussions in December, with a merger plan presented at a February 20 meeting. The merger is expected to take effect on July 1.
Details on each department:
Maysville Fire & EMS, Inc.
Jones County
404 Main Street
Chartered 2/5/82
32 members
Belgrade Volunteer Fire Department, Inc.
Onslow County
7561 New Bern Highway
Chartered 10/20/59
15 members
Loco Volunteer Fire Department, Inc.
Onslow County
2731 White Oak River Road
Chartered 2/22/85
20 members
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