Upcoming Events – September & October

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Here are some of the upcoming fire department and public safety events in our area:

Sep 10 – Brassfield FD – Annual Chicken & Pork Fundraiser
1680 NC-96, Franklinton
11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Sep 10 – Durham Highway FD Public Safety Day
Leesville Road High School, Raleigh
10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Sep 10 – Raleigh Fire Museum monthly opening
105 Keeter Center Drive, Raleigh
10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Sep 11 – Morrisville FD – 9/11 Remembrance 5K Run/Walk
Station 1 – 200 Town Hall Drive
7:00 a.m. registration starts – 8:46 a.m. 5K starts
Information

Sep 11 – 9/11 Stair Climb, Allscripts
8529 Six Forks Road, Raleigh
7:30 a.m. registration starts – 9:15 a.m. climb starts
Information

Sep 24 – Cary FD – Fire in the Hole, Chili Cook Off
Fortnight Beer Company, 1006 SW Maynard Rd, Cary
12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Raising money for sunscreen dispensers in CFD stations
Information

Sep 26 – Stony Hill FD – Open House
Station 1 – 7045 Stony Hill Road, Wake Forest
2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Oct 1 – Garner FD – Fireman’s Day
Station 1 – 503 W. Main Street, Garner
11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., parade at 2:00 p.m.
Information

Oct 2 – Bay Leaf FD – Open House
Station 1 – 11713 Six Forks Road, Raleigh
1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

[Cancelled] Oct 8 – 50-210 FD – Fireman’s Day
[Cancelled] Station 1 – 50 Greenleaf Road, Angier

Oct 8 – Creedmoor FD – Fireman’s Day
Parade at 2:30 p.m., followed by stew dinner
Information

Oct 8 – Knightdale FD – Public Safety Day
Station 1 – 930 Steeple Square Court

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Vintage Photos of Fire Department Step Vans

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From the files of reader/contributor David Raynor, here are some fire department step vans of years and decades past. Click to enlarge:

Left to right, top to bottom:

  • Knightdale (Wake County) – 1995
    1990s? Chevy, rescue/equipment truck – #8
  • Goldsboro – May 1996
    Command post – Old Truck 15, a staffed manpower/equipment company.
  • Nashville (Nash) – 1995
    1980s? Ford van – #2
  • High Point – February 1993
    1980s? Chevy van – Mobile command post
  • Angier-Black River (Harnett) – April 1995
    1980s? Chevy van – #981
  • Bethlehem (Alexander) – October 1996
    1980s? Chevy van – #318
  • Swan Quarter (Hyde) – 1995
    1950s? 1960s? Grumman-Olson “kurbside” van
  • EVFD (??) – September 1993
    1950s? Ford? International? with Boyerton body van – #2169

Readers perhaps can help with make/model/year and purpose/function.

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Sniper Attacks North Hills Mall – Memorial Day, 1972

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Last month, our attentions were commanded by a reported shooting and resulting major incident at Crabtree Valley Mall. No gunshot victims were found, but numerous medical emergencies presented during and after the evacuation. The resulting multi-patient incident brought dozens of EMS and fire units to the scene. But did you know that another Raleigh mall experienced a mass shooting over forty years ago?

On Memorial Day in 1972, on May 29, a sniper killed three people and wounded eight others in front of North Hills Mall. (A fourth victim died at the hospital, days later.) The noon-hour shooting lasted just a few minutes. The victims were sitting on benches outside the main entrance, standing at or walking toward the entrance, or driving past the entrance in a car. There was also a US Senator in the line of fire, though the attack was unrelated to his visit.

At about 12:05 p.m., from a spot between two parked cars about fifty feet from the front entrance, a tall man dressed in a suit began shooting in that direction.* He had a .22 caliber rifle and fired in bursts. The gunman was Harvey G. McLeod, a 23-year old Raleigh resident who worked as a high-school janitor. He purchased the rifle that morning.

The twelve victims ranged from three to 77 years of age. They were transported to Rex and Wake Memorial hospitals. Three were dead on arrival. A fourth victim died five days later. The others had injuries ranging from minor to serious.

Though we blogged about this in 2008, let’s take a longer look…

Read the detailed narrative as web page.

Read the detailed narrative as PDF file (2.2MB).

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Vintage Photos of Tankers from Johnston County

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From the files of reader/contributor David Raynor, here’s a quartet of vintage tankers from Johnston and Wake counties. Left to right, top to bottom:

  • West Johnston FD – Tanker 166 – 1960s (?) Dodge – January 1996
  • Clayton FD – Tanker 6 – 1960s (?) IHC – June 1999
  • Wilson Mills FD – Tanker 2 – 1980s (?) Ford – September 1997
  • 50-210 FD – 1970s (?) Chevy C30 – January 1996

Readers can you help? Click to enlarge:

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Raleigh Fire Department Newsletter – Summer 2016

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Here’s the summer issue of the Raleigh Fire Department Newsletter. Tenth year of publication and as posted to www.raleighfirenews.org.

Contents include raising awareness about firefighter suicide, the flooding in July, fire station facility updates, the recruit class graduation, the Class 1 fire protection rating, promotions and appointments, and remembering the Mangel’s fire.

The Raleigh Fire Department Newsletter is a thrice-yearly publication for personnel, retirees, and citizens. The editor is Mike Legeros. Thanks for this issue to all content contributors. Read the new issue (PDF).

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Greensboro Bomb Squad Trucks – Then & Now

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Let’s look at some law enforcement special units. Greensboro Police Department and their bomb squad trucks, past ‘n’ present. Reader/contributor David Raynor shares the vintage pictures.

Top picture at the city garage in 1987, with containment equipment mounted on an ex-military 6×6. Bottom picture at the training center in 1991, with containment equipment mounted on a Ford dump truck chassis.

Below those are shots of GPD’s present hazardous devices unit by Yours Truly. Ford F-550 prime mover and a specialty trailer built by ? Photographed in June 2016, at the Guilford County Public Safety Day. See more pictures. Or see Mike’s Flickr album of special police vehicles.

Click to enlarge:

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David Raynor photos

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Mike Legeros photos

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Vintage Photos of Wilmington Squad, Ambulance

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From the files of reader/contributor David Raynor, here are vintage photos of two Wilmington Fire Department rigs. Top is a 1979 Chevy/1990 Sturdy Equipment manpower unit. Called Service 1, it operated as a “flying squad” with an Engineer, Relief Driver, and two firefighters. It was originally a 1979 E-One/Chevy midi-pumper, and converted in 1990 to the current unit. Photographed in September 1997. Bottom is 1980s Ford Econoline ambulance, photographed in June 1985. Thanks to Chris Nelson for the apparatus information. Click to enlarge:

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Vintage Photos from Shelby – Green Aerial Ladder & Red Water Tower

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From the files of reader/contributor David Raynor, here are vintage photos of two unusual rigs from Shelby, NC. That’s Cleveland County, to the west.

Top is Water Tower 30 (also called Ladder 30 at some point), a 1983 Ford F800 with local bodywork and a 35-foot articulating “water tower.” A former electric company bucket truck, it was later sold to Grover Rural FD. 

Bottom is a green (!) 1974 Seagrave aerial ladder, formerly Mill Creek, DE. Had a 1500 GPM pump, no tank, and 100-foot ladder. After serving in Shelby, it was repainted white over red, and served at nearby Cherryville. They later retired the truck, cut off the front of the cab, and used the same as a teaching podium at their fire station.

Both were photographed in December 1996. Thanks to Micah Bodford for the extensive apparatus details. Click to enlarge:


David Raynor photos

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Vintage Mystery Rigs – Pumper, Tractor-Drawn Tanker

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From the files of reader/contributor David Raynor, here are a pair of rigs photographed in 1995, somewhere in North Carolina. He didn’t record the location. Readers, can you identify?


David Raynor photos

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Forty Years (Almost) of Raleigh Fire Academies

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For your Friday enjoyment, here’s a montage of Raleigh Fire Department recruit academy class photos from 1978 to 2016. Includes Academy 41, which graduated last night in downtown Raleigh. Congratulations!

This one’s an incomplete collection, however. Some of the group didn’t have either a formal or even informal photo. See the entire collection of class photos. Photo credits include a lot of Lee Wilson pictures, a couple from Mike Legeros (Yours Truly), and a couple from our friend Jeff Harkey.

For more information on Raleigh FD academy histories, see this summary page and this research document (PDF). Click once or twice to enlarge:

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Recruit Academy Numbering

Reprinted from the Winter 2013 edition of the Raleigh Fire Department Newsletter:

When was the first recruit academy? And how did the numbering start? Let’s answer the second question first. In 2006, Historian Mike Legeros conducted research on earlier fire academies. Through a combination of records and oral histories, he compiled the details and rosters of academies going back to 1978.

That was, we thought, the first year that recruits were required to become certified as EMTs, notes Legeros. So that seemed a good starting point for numbering the academies.

Asst. Chief of Training Tommie Ann Styons reviewed the research, and agreed with the numbering convention that Legeros proposed. The first group of firefighters hired on February 1, 1978, and who graduated on April 11, were retroactively named Recruit Academy 1.

Since the time of that research, I’ve learned a few more things. The eight recruits hired on April 4, 1977, also had EMT training. It was a last-minute addition to their training, he adds.

And there were prior groups of new firefighters hired in large enough numbers that they also warrant being labeled a class. Eight members hired in November 1976, for example. And twenty-four firefighters hired in June 1974.

How will recruit classes before 1978 be retroactively numbered? Legeros has an idea. At some time in the future, we’ll resume the research. And maybe we’ll work backwards, using letters. The 1977 class might be Recruit Academy A. The one before that might be Academy B. To answer the original question, when was the very first recruit academy? To be determined.

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