From the US National Weather Service Raleigh NC on Facebook:
The smoke plume from the fire at Pinnacle Apartments at Crabtree in North Raleigh Saturday afternoon was evident in radar imagery from both the National Weather Service Weather Surveillance Radar in Clayton (KRAX) and the FAA Terminal Doppler Weather Radar near RDU (TRDU). The radar loop shown here is from TRDU.
Here’s a screen capture:
On Monday night, April 4, 2016, on the eve of a certain championship basketball game, the Chapel Hill Fire Department faced a formidable challenge.
How to prepare for tens of thousands of people possibly swarming onto Franklin Street, and potentially starting fires or needing medical assistance? And while providing fire protection to the rest of the town during the same period?
They answered the challenge with a detailed incident action plan (IAP), and extensive mutual aid from neighboring city and county fire departments. And with a certain fire photographer in tow!
Their IAP divided the town into two operational divisions:
See more photos by Mike Legeros
Downtown
The downtown event area was defined as eight blocks of Franklin Street commercial and mixed-use residential district, with numerous restaurants and bars plus four blocks of Columbia Street, which add college buildings to the mix. Those were further divided into five sectors.
Each sector was assigned:
Foot teams were equipped with harness-mounted water extinguishers (left), and simple medical equipment.
Here’s your Monday morning treat. Vintage photos of public safety vehicles at North Carolina State University. They were taken by David Raynor in the 1980s. He’s a blog reader, fire buff, and former law officer who lived in Raleigh and Greensboro in his day.
We’ve shared some of his vintage pictures before, and will have more to come, thanks to some recent print scans of his. Thanks David! Click to enlarge:
David Raynor photos
Acknowledgements: Thanks to a bunch of folks, who helped me gather information as this incident was unfolding yesterday. It takes the proverbial village.
Two alarms were struck and many additional units were dispatched at an apartment fire early Saturday evening, located behind Crabtree Valley Mall. And alarming quite a few folks who saw the column of smoke rising from the area of the mall. Most of the state was under a “red flag” fire warning. In Raleigh on Saturday, the high was 52 degrees, with 10 mph winds during the day. Max wind speed was 25 mph, with 43 mph gusts. Dry conditions all around, with 0.35 inches of rainfall since April 1. Source.
Kirstyn Tedford / WRAL photo
Reported multi-residential structure fire at 5034 Edwards Mill Road. While units were en route, first-due Engine 16 reported seeing a smoke plume from Lead Mine Road, and then thick, black, pushing smoke, as they crossed Glenwood Avenue. Headquarters, meanwhile, dispatched a working fire assignment as well, due to multiple callers.
Engine 16 arrived at a two-story (on stilts), wood-frame, garden-style apartment building with twelve-units and 12,024 square-feet. Built in 1980 and “L shaped.” Was cited as “two buildings” in radio traffic. Entire building was “heavily involved in fire.”
Engine 16 connected to a hydrant upon arrival, and “laid in wet.” They deployed their portable monitor to the rear of the building, for a brief period of offensive operations. Within minutes, the first collapse of the building was observed on the “D” side. (They also observed fires on the ground advancing toward an adjacent building. Police officers assisted, bring a number of dry chemical extinguishers they located on premise, and helping to halt the spread on that side.)
The second alarm was requested within minutes, with a total of seven engines, two ladders, a rescue, and three battalion chiefs soon on scene. Command was located about halfway into the complex on the main road. Battalion 3, then Car 20, then Car 2 assumed command.
Ladder streams, ground monitors, and hand lines (including using a manifold valve) were deployed, and additional water supply sources were established. As well as alternate sources, as some of the hydrants were inadequate for pressure. Defensive operations were soon initiated, with crews protecting exposures from the fast-moving, wind-driven flames.
Sections of the building continued to quickly collapse. The entire structure was “on the ground” within an hour. Two passenger cars were also consumed, and a couple others were damaged by heat. Additionally, a tractor-trailer in the parking lot was also damaged.
See more photos from Mike Legeros
Press release. Beginning April 13, the City of Raleigh Fire Department will temporarily close Fire Station 5 for renovations. It is anticipated the work will be completed in six months.
Fire Station Five, located at 300 Oberlin Road, was opened in 1961. While the work is being done, Engine 5 will be housed at Station 6, located at 2601 Fairview Road.
The work includes complete renovation of approximately 4,700 square feet within the existing fire station. The project includes demolition and renovation of interior spaces, casework and finishes, interior and exterior door replacement, exterior paint, exterior wall tuck-point, patch and penetration repair, new fire sprinkler, new fire alarm system, update to electrical and telecom systems, new mechanical systems, domestic water and sanitary sewer replacement, lighting replacement, and new security camera systems.
The Concord Fire Department will display a restored hand-drawn ladder wagon this weekend, at the Pennzoil Charlotte AutoFair at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. As this Independent Tribute story (thanks Josh!) by Erin Kidd reports, the 129-year-old wagon was used by the Concord Hook and Ladder Company in 1887.
That was a company of black firefighters who organized that year, and the first formal fire company in the city. The wagon carried wooden ladders, pike poles, and axes. The department acquired the wagon from a local family, and Concord Fire Captain Allen Smith has been restoring the thing for the last two years.
Here’s a nice history of CFD, from their official web site.
James Nix / Independent Tribune photo
James Nix / Independent Tribune photo
James Nix / Independent Tribune photo
In December, we blogged about construction starting on Apex Public Safety 5, along with a few other AFD project plans.
Located at 2050 Kelly Road, the 16,500 square-foot facility will house twelve firefighters, two paramedics, and the Community Services division of the police department.
It’s planned for completion in late summer. Here’s a drawing of the building, from project plans posted to town’s Public Facilities Projects page [link expired]. Looks sharp!
Some of the features of the facility:
Factory photo of Chapel Hill’s new Engine 31, 2016 Pierce Arrow XT pumper, 1500/500. See larger versions via Pierce on Flickr. This only the second Pierce for the college town, after a 2012 Pierce Arrow XT, 1500/500, which is Engine 33.
Who has built the rest of their fire apparatus over the years and decades. From my historical fleet listings, here are some stats:
Pierce Photo
As photographed by Lee Wilson, the Fuquay-Varina Fire Department received their new rescue on Tuesday. Their new Rescue 1 is a 2016 Spartan MetroStar. It replaces a 1995 Freightliner/S&S, which will be sold. See more photos from Lee.
How many custom-cab rescues does that make in Wake County, these days? Here’s the list: Apex, Cary x4, Durham Highway, Fairview, Fuquay-Varina, Hopkins, Morrisville, New Hope, Raleigh x2, Stony Hill, Swift Creek, Wendell, and Western Wake.
Lee Wilson photo
Have lately been researching local air crashes, and become increasingly curious about military aircraft incidents. (Have found a couple, including a B-17 crash in Garner in 1944.) Let’s get more exhaustive via this database of Air Force Accident Reports from the Aviation Archaeological Investigation & Research.
They’ve indexed USAAF and USAF reports from 1918 to 1955, though with gaps in 1948-49, and 1952-55. Their database contains (by my count) 1,725 records where State = North Carolina. From those, fifty-one took place in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area. (That’s by eyeballing the results.)
They also sell copies of the reports, which can be ordered from their site. Might have look into that! (They’re also looking for volunteers, to read microfilm and enter data.) See the table below.
Notes: