Raleigh Fire Engines Built in Raleigh

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This is a blog archives posting from October 2010. The page is corrupted on the old site, so we’re re-posting here.

From a reader, here’s what looks like a delivery photo (or at least a polished posed photo) of one of two 1986 EEI/Pemfab pumpers that served the city of Raleigh. Equipped with 1500 GPM pumps and 500 gallon tanks, they were delivered in late 1986, and assigned to Engine 3 and Engine 5. Read more about the engines.

More interesting, both were built in Raleigh. Did you known that a fire truck company was once located here? They were named Emergency Equipment Inc. (EEI), and we’ve blogged about them before, in this posting from 2009. Here’s also an old advertisement we found. 

Emergency Equipment Inc.

Walt McCall’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Fire Engine Manufacturers, published in 2007, contains information about EEI and its predecessor Atlas.  

EEI operated from 1983 to 1999. They built both custom and commercial fire apparatus, including “first-responder type mini pumpers,” engines, tankers, pumper-tankers, rescue pumpers, and rescue trucks. Most of their custom rigs were built on chassis from Spartan Motors. Commercial chassis were specified by the purchaser. Pumps were built by Hale.”

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Spectacular Blaze Sweeps Four Buildings – November 1915

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On November 6, 1915, the “largest fire in Raleigh’s history” threatened an entire city block, as the News & Observer and other buildings burned. Two firemen escaped death, as a building collapsed upon them, as they sprayed water from a rooftop. Windows melted across the street, flying embers started fires. Sound familiar?

The 6:05 a.m. blaze started on the third-floor of a four-story  printing company, and soon spread to the buildings next door, including the two-story News & Observer building, and the second time in three years that the paper’s plant and offices were destroyed by fire. Five people were injured, including four firemen including the two mentioned above, and over $300,000 of property were destroyed.

The intense blaze produced embers that started ten other fires in the vicinity, and charred paper was reportedly picked up as far as Apex, sixteen miles away. The crowd of spectators that gathered was compared to that of the State Fair.

Read about this historic blaze on the Raleigh Fire Museum web site.

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Durham Opens New Fire Station 9

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Last week, the Durham Fire Department activated their new Station 9, at 1648 Midland Terrace. It was placed in service on April 13 at about 9:00 a.m. The single-story engine house as three bays and 8,908 square-feet. It houses Engine 9. The facility cost $4,321,600.

Features include separate accommodations for eight firefighters per shift, fitness room, captain’s offices, dining room, kitchen, covered portico/patio, and other support facilities. And it’s a significant improvement from the original Station 9, built in 1977 as a public safety fire station. See below.

The facility is the first of a new fire station prototype. See the city’s project page for more details.

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Marshall Sherard photo

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Lee Wilson photo

Old Station 9

Located at 2012 E. Club Boulevard, beside the fire administration building and the fire training center, Station 9 opened during the department’s public safety period. That’s when some police officers and firefighter positions were combined. The fire station had minimal living spaces, and was designed to support just one or two full-time firefighters. The remaining firefighters arrived at the station–or at the scene–in their patrol cars.

The controversial program public safety program, that started in 1970, ended in 1985. One of the two apparatus bays was subsequently converted into additional living space, to accommodate a full crew of dedicated firefighters. 

Old Station 8 at 2725 Holloway Street was designed with a similar floor plan. Learn more about Durham’s former firehouses.

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Mike Legeros photos

Delayed Construction

The fire station project faced significant delays since construction started in February 2013. The city issued a stop work order around the end of that year, while major construction issues were reviewed and corrected as needed.

Read this city memo (pdf) from May 2015, which provides some background on the project issues.

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Mike Legeros photo

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Before Falls Lake

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This is a blog archives posting from January 2014. The page is corrupted on the old site, so we’re re-posting here.

January 2014
Last week’s North Raleigh News (and Midtown Raleigh News) featured an informative article by Colin Campbell about the “ghost roads” of Falls Lake. He writes about barricaded sections of Possum Track, Choplin, and Old Bayleaf roads as “slowly crumbling reminders of the rural farms and communities lost to the lake waters.”

The best-preserved of the old roads, the author notes, is Old N.C. 98. That section of old road is planned to become Raleigh’s Forest Ridge Park. It’s a 586-acre peninsula owned by the Army Corps of Engineers and managed by the state.

Those old roads sound like the perfect weekend (or holiday) exploration activity. Might have more to come. Read the story of the roads.

October 2011
What did the roads look like north of Raleigh before the construction of Falls Lake in the early 1980s? Here’s an annotated Google map, based on observations from the 1981 aerial map available from Wake County IMAPS.

Readers can surely add more details and remembrances. See this US Army Corps of Engineers web site for [Falls Lake Master Plan documents].

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Constitution and By-Laws of Fire Fighters Association No. 548 of Raleigh, N.C., 1938

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This is a blog archives posting from June 2011. The page is corrupted on the old site, so we’re re-posting here.

And a random artifact for your Monday enjoyment. This is the constitution and by-laws of the original incarnation (PDF) of the Raleigh Professional Fire Fighters Association (web site). Same is scanned from a photocopy of the original booklet.

The organization was chartered in 1938, as Chapter 548 of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF). The original application was dated February 4 and listed 21 charter members. The Temporary President was K. J. Smith and the Temporary Secretary was R. G. Davis.

The association was re-chartered in 1969, with an application dated June 10 of that year. The Temporary President was Ned Perry, the Temporary Vice-President was B. T. Fowler, and the Temporary Secretary and Treasurer was Maylon Frazier. The application included the names of 173 charter members.

They re-chartered a second time in 1986. The March 23 application listed Temporary President James Driver and Temporary Secretary and Treasurer Donnie Perry.

Need more more research and documentation in this area, on the history of professional organizations in the Raleigh Fire Department. Memo to self: do that. Meanwhile, click the cover to read the PDF document: 

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Vintage Wilmington Fire Apparatus Photos – 1960s, 1970s Rigs

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April 17
But wait, Batman, one of these isn’t Wilmington, NC. Top left, the Ford/Swab rescue is Wilmington, DE. Thanks to our readers on Facebook for that correction.

April 16
Found for sale on eBay are these pictures of vintage Wilmington rigs. We’ve seen some of these before, in similar postings. Scroll down for a list of those.

Left to right, top to bottom: 1977 Ford/Swab (R3) [not NC, but DE], 1960 Howe, 1962 Howe, 1967 Howe, 1975 Howe (E7), 1977 ALF (E1), 1976 ALF (E2), 1952 ALF (reserve). Search eBay to find and bid. Click to enlarge:

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Drawings of Durham Fire Station 17

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The City of Durham opened a new fire station this week, Station 9 relocated to Midland Terrace. Watch this space for that story.

Meanwhile, let’s look at drawings of Station 17, planned for 5503 Leesville Road. That’ll add a third fire station to Leesville Road, after Durham County Station 84 at 7305 Leesville Road, and Raleigh Station 29 at 12117 Leesville Road.

Here’s the project page about Station 17. Projected completion is April 2018. Project is presently in design. 

Looks like a monster of a facility. Will be one of the first LEED certified facilities for the city. And will be co-shared with Durham County EMS. Click to enlarge:

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New Rescue, New Colors for Bay Leaf Fire Department

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The Bay Leaf Fire Department is receiving a new rescue truck, a 2017 Pierce Velocity with walk-around body, job #30005. Here’s newly posted factory photo (see larger sizes), as well as some final production photos (see more). Should be delivered any day now.

Note the new color scheme, grey over red. And the new name, which isn’t a new name just yet. Bay Leaf and Stony Hill fire departments are consolidating and creating the new Northern Wake Fire Department. 

That’s coming this summer. More on that later!

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The Evolution of the Raleigh Fire Helmet – 1920s to 1980s

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This is a blog archives posting from October 23, 2009. The page is corrupted on the old site, so we’re re-posting here and with some updates.

For your Friday enjoyment, let’s look at early fire helmets in the Capitol City.

During the volunteer era, a few firemen had helmets. Such as this Carnes High Eagle currently owned and photographed by a collector in Wake Forest. It dates to perhaps the 1900s. We blogged about these before.

They appear in photos as late as the 1920s, as the odd helmet sitting on a truck. Haven’t found any photos of them worn in action or in poses. Click to enlarge:

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Cary Fire Department Adds Rescue Truck – June 1996

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On June 30, 1996, at 20:10 hours, the Cary Fire Department placed its first rescue company in service. Though they operated a volunteer-staffed Civil Defense rescue truck in the mid- to late-1950s, this was their first “modern-era” rescue company.

The new company and the added role of rescue provider resulted from an agreement with the Cary Area Rescue Squad, which transferred rescue duties to the fire department effective July 1. They also donated their rescue truck and its equipment to the town. More on that in a moment.

Rescue 2 was activated with a 1975 GMC/Alexander service ladder truck, fleet #922. The apparatus had originally served as Truck 1 at Station 1, until replaced with a 1988 Pierce Arrow aerial platform. From there, we’re told, it also operated as Truck 2 and Truck 3. Specifics on timeframes, staffing levels, etc., TBD.

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Lee Wilson photo

New Rescue 2… From Cary Rescue

Two months later, it was replaced with a new(er) unit, a 1983 International/Swab medium-duty rescue, with a 12-foot walk-in body, Swab build #4288. (Factory records also say 1982 model year, all other sources say 1983 model year.) The truck was designated with fleet #1293.

It was placed in service on August 26, 1996, at 17:30 hours. Firefighters Jones and Wilson on “A” shift were working. The first fire call answered with the new truck was a structure fire on Bruce Drive at 18:19 hours.

Over the next days, the crews worked on equipment placement, mounted sets of SCBA, visited other fire stations to familiarize their crews with the new unit, and started training with such new equipment as a rescue boom that could be mounted in the back.

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Lee Wilson photo

The truck was originally operated by the Cary Area Rescue Squad, and originally painted white with an orange stripe. The squad donated the truck to the town, after making changes to their rescue program. They had operated a “crash truck” since the early 1970s, and were the first rescue squad in Wake County to obtain a hydraulic Hurst rescue tool.

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