Saturday’s Water Rescues in Raleigh/Wake County

Posted by Mike Legeros on 16 July 2016, 11:51 am

Here's take one of a list of the water rescues in Raleigh and Wake County, from Saturday morning through early Sunday morning. Awaiting data from Cary. Another post coming about the two rescues of rescuers, on Old Stage Road and Rose Lane.

Address	Units	Time	Notes
Southgate & Proctor	E3, L4, R1, M2, B5, B2	11:38 a.m.	Reported as car stuck in water, with occupants inside. M2 cancelled en route.
Atlantic & Hodges	Sq 7, Mini 2, L2	12:26 p.m.	Car in very low water. L2 walked occupant out.
2960 Claremont Rd	M2	3:02 p.m.	Car in water, up to mid-door. Crews walked out to vehicle, and found no occupant.
1001 Wake Town Drive	Sq14, L2, R1, B5, M3(add)	3:21 p.m.	Car in flooded parking lot. Police advised victim was out. Sq14 continued to scene, all other units cleared.
Lake Woodard & Timberlake	E12, Sq14, L5, B2, M2(add)	3:50 p.m.	Dispatched as three people in a tree. Found three people who self-rescued.
Poole & Sunnybrook	E12, L8, M2, B1	4:09 p.m.	Reported car drove past/through barricades, entered water, and was stranded in water up to roof. M2 cancelled en route.
Anderson & Oxford	M3	4:10 p.m.	Car parked in flooded lot, no occupant. M2 cancelled en route.
Atlantic & Hodges	Sq7, L4, M2(add)	4:14 p.m.	Reported as vehicle in water. M2 cancelled en route.
Lumley & Brier Creek	E24, L6, R1, B4, M3(add)	4:32 p.m.	Reported as several vehicles stuck in high water. M3 cancelled en route.
Glenwood & Creedmoor	E16, L1	4:34 p.m.	Reported as subject trapped in sinking vehicle. E16 found impassible flooding on Creedmoor Road between Glenwood and Crabtree Valley Avenue. Several vehicles in water. Victim had self-evacuated, and was not in distress. L1 cancelled.
Gorman & Avent Ferry	E20, L7, M3	4:57 p.m.	Reported as police car in flood water. M3 cancelled en route.
708 Hawes Court	E6, L2, M2(add)	5:30 p.m.	Several people trapped in first and second story apartment building(s). Crews floated out nine people, three cats, and two dogs. M2 was there about an hour. Water was chest high at times.
Lake Wheeler & I-40	E20, E2, L4, M2, M3(add)	5:46 p.m.	Reported by passing motorist as two vehicles in water, up to windows. M2 cancelled en route.
1988 S. State Street	E10, L8, M3	6:02 p.m.	Reported as State Street and I-40. M3 cancelled en route.
Sunnybrook & Middle Branch	E12, L8, M3	6:06 p.m.	Water rescue. E12 and police determined it was a repeat call, for a vehicle found earlier in day. L3 on scene, M3 cancelled en route.
2351 S. Saunders	M3	6:11 p.m.	Reported as vehicle floating in water.
4200 Blue Ridge	Sq7, L3, M2, M3(add)	6:19 p.m.	M3 cancelled M2, and were in turn cancelled en route.
Wilmington St. & City Farm	E1, L4, M3(add)	6:19 p.m.	E1 had cleared when M3 arrived. Stalled car in the curve of Keeter Center Drive, just south of the intersection. Two people walked out of water that was mid-door height.
Rose Lane & Maplewood	E12, L8, + more	6:58 p.m. RFD 8:23 p.m. RDU ~9:15 p.m. CHFD 10:48 p.m. AFD	Multi-hour major incident, one person in a tree, then two rescuers stranded, after boat capsized. Mutual aid from RDU (!), Chapel Hill FD, South Orange RS, and Apex FD. See narrative below. Also dispatched for later RFD units as 759 Rose Lane.
508 Bailey Drive	E2, L4	7:04 p.m.	Reported as vehicle stuck in water with person inside.
2505 Atlantic Avenue	E9, L2, B5	7:24 p.m.	Vehicle stuck in water. Occupant self-evacuated.
Wake Forest & McNeil	E9, L4	7:38 p.m.	Reported as vehicle submerged in water, with occupant partially out of vehicle.
Edwards Mill and Creedmoor	E16, L3	7:57 p.m.	Reported as van stranded in water, after complainant tried driving through flooded area. Dispatched again at 8:33 p.m. for E16, L1.
1100 Sunnybrook Rd.		8:00 p.m.	Reported as police on scene for water rescue on Walnut Creek Trail.
Peterson Street (off Garner Road)	E1, L4, B5	8:38 p.m.	Cancelled en route. Reported as vehicle in water.
1823 Garner Road	E2, L4, B5	9:15 p.m.	Reported as car stranded in water, with occupant inside. Reportedly drove into water, after warning signs had blown away.
Wade Avenue & Edwards Mill	Sq14, L7, R1, M3, B3, WWFD P196	9:19 p.m.	Location was westbound I-40 onto Wade Avenue. Car off of roadway and victim was out of vehicle. Western Wake handled, and Raleigh units were cancelled.
Wake Forest & Hodges	E11, L2, M2(add)	10:22 p.m.	Reported as vehicle floating in water. M2 cancelled en route.
1608 Riverview	E26, EWFD P4	10:52 p.m.	Upon arrival, subject out of vehicle with no complaints. Vehicle fully submerged in roadway.
New Bern & Poole	E1, L4, B5, M2(add)	11:32 p.m.	Reported vehicle in water, unable to locate. Right after units cleared, dispatcher asked them to check Sunnybrook & Middle Branch. Found two males sitting on roof of submerged car in still water. Crews hand-carried raft into water.
3241 Calumet	E12, E21, M2(add)	11:11 p.m.	Flooded apartment, occupants escorted out.
2414 Wake Forest Road	E11, L2, M2(add)	12:14 a.m., Sunday	Male subject stranded by surrounding water. He attempted to cross flooded road, was pulled down stream, ended up next to paint store, broke inside, entered, and called 911. Crews paddled from McNeil to rescue.
Barwell Rd. & Shirley St.		1:07 a.m.	See EWFD below.
Mutual aid to Zebulon	Sq7, M2	6:56 a.m., Sunday	See ZFD below.
Atlantic Ave.	E11, L2, R1, M3, B5	7:02 a.m., Sunday	Reported as vehicle stuck in water.

Wake County

District	Address	Units	Time	Notes
CFD	100 Macalyson Ct.		11:39 a.m.
EWFD	Barwell Rd. & Shirley St.	P4, P2, C1, Boat 1, RFD E26	9:42 p.m.	Single vehicle drove through and flooded out, no rescue or people issues.
EWFD	Barwell Rd. & Shirley St.	P4, P2, C1, Boat 1, RFD E26, B2, M2(add).	1:07 a.m., Sunday	Vehicle drove past barricade, spun entirely around, and was washed downstream, reported Wake SO. Female subject stuck in a tree. Battalion 2 requested Squad 7 and Mini 2 with boat trailer. Due to location access from Station 26 side, RFD arrived ahead of EWFD, and rescue was made. M2 pulled up to water's edge, attached rope to front of mini-pumper, attached to raft, and retrieved woman. Subject refused medical treatment.
FFD	6700 Fayetteville Road	???		Cars in water, Garner FD requested for assistance.
FFD	Holly Springs & Penny	E1, R1, C2	4:19 p.m.
FFD	Johnson Pond & Bells Lake	???	7:27 p.m.
FVFD	9701 Lake Wheeler Road	???		Cars in flood water, several on top of their vehicles, after driving into water.
FVFD	NC 42 and Mt. Pleasant Roads	???	7:25 p.m.	Car in flood water. Cary Rescue 2 to scene, for swift water assistance.
FVFD	Old Stage Rd & Eric St.	GFD RFD	6:10 p.m. GFD 6:11 p.m. RFD 7:57 p.m. AFD	Also RFD Squad 7 and Mini 2, and which became a major incident involving three trapped FFs. Apex FD also responded. See narrative.
FVFD	Old Stage & Panther Lake	AFD R2	9:16 p.m.
GFD	7218 Gentle Valley	E3, B1	9:53 p.m.
GFD	NC 42 & Barber Bridge	E2, R2	3:27 p.m.
GFD	NC 42 & Sauls Road	???	4:38 p.m.
GFD	Old Stage & Vandora Springs	???		Car in water.
GFD	Old Stage & Banks	E2, B1, +CHFD/OCRS team	2:36 p.m.	Car disappeared, two victims in water.
HFD	4089 Country Club Road, also as Dukes Lake & Country Club	R9, Boat 22, WFD R110	4:22 p.m.
HSFD	Cass Holt & Rex	Sq 1, B1	3:48 p.m.
HSFD	Green Oaks & New Hill	AFD Boat 1 + ???	4:58 p.m., 5:15 p.m. for AFD	Car stranded in water, two people rescued. Apex FD swift water with mutual aid. Also cited as Old Holly Springs Road.
SCFD	Lake Wheeler and Penny Road	R1, FFD E3, C1		Cars stuck in flood waters.
WFD	NC 97 at Little River	WFD, ZFD, RFD M2(add)	6:56 a.m., Sunday	Used raft attached to bumper of mini-pumper. Used ferry angle.
WFFD	Harris Road & West Oak Avenue		6:21 p.m.
ZFD	US 64 & Arendell Avenue	P91, R9, C1	3:35 p.m.	Cars stuck in high flood water.
ZFD	US 64 & US 264	P92, C2	5:01 p.m.
ZFD	W. Gannon & Water Plant Rd.	P91, R9, C1	~12:09 a.m., Sunday

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Yesterday’s Apparatus Collision in Wayne County

Posted by Mike Legeros on 15 July 2016, 7:31 pm

The New Hope Fire Department in Wayne County has posted these pictures of their Engine 1, which was rear-ended yesterday while responding to a call. It was struck by a tractor-drawn gasoline tanker on Highway 70 Bypass near mile marker 336, at the emergency turnaround.

There were no injuries, nor was there any leak from the tanker. The driver/operator was not at fault. The Pierce engine is their first-out engine, and will be out of service for an extended period of time. See this Facebook posting of theirs, for more information.

New Hope Fire Department photos

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Revealed – Mystery Vehicles!

Posted by Mike Legeros on 10 July 2016, 10:30 am

July 10
Answers are…

Charlotte Decon 1, GMC step van – October 1996
Durham rescue, red car, and small truck – March 1986
Greensboro white car, 1979 Chevy Malibu – July 1985
Fort Bragg Engine 11 – June 1988
Guilford College Chemical 39 – October 1987
Raleigh Engine 3, 1986 EEI/Pemfab – 1987

Click to enlarge:

July 2
Can you identify these mystery vehicles, as photographed by reader David Raynor? Timeframe is 1980s and 1990s. And they’re from around North Carolina. Click to enlarge:

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Kinston Public Safety Splits Into Fire, Police Departments

Posted by Mike Legeros on 10 July 2016, 10:16 am

Belated news from Lenoir County. On July 1, the Kinston Department of Public Safety was split into separate fire and police departments. Local news–Kinston Free Press, WITN–have been covering same. The departments merged in 2004, when a special response unit was created of fourteen cross-trained police officers and firefighters.

The split originated after the retirement of Public Safety Director Bill Johnson on January 1. Since he left, the studied whether a joint department was the best continued direction for the city. Assistant Chief Don Crawford is the new Fire Chief, and Interim Public Safety Director Greg Thompson is new Interim Police Chief.

They’ve created a new administrative staff, which the fire department didn’t really have. (And which is required by state law for certain positions.) The staff is led by a new fire administrative captain, William Barrs, a former city firefighter and most recently a police crime lab detective. The position is now in charge of Fire Administration, which includes ISO ratings, city emergency planning, department safety, public education, and more.

Other staff members include Administrative Commander Earnest Davis and Training Safety Captain Michael Scrufari–both veteran fire department members–and Program Support Assistant Stephanie Harper, transferring from police. The news stories below provide more information about them.

Other details in the stories: The city has ordered a Pierce PUC pumper that’s due in the spring. The $600,000 truck will have a smaller wheel base, but the same amount of space for equipment storage. Readers may have other news.

In the last budget year, the city had these public safety division positions:

Administrative – 12
Law enforcement – 76
Fire and rescue – 47
Code enforcement – 4

The fire department has three fire stations with three engines and one ladder company. They’re also a new(er) facilities, erected within the last few years. Call volume? From April 18, 2014 to April 17, 2015, the fire department responded to 1,238 incidents. Mutual aid? Bordering and nearby are Hugo, Kinston Regional Jetport (cross-staffed by maintenance staff, if memory serves), North Lenoir, Southwood, and Wyse Fork.

What other public safety departments still operate around North Carolina? Butner, Havelock, and Morganton come to mind. Earlier ones were Chapel Hill (1971-1993), Durham (1970-1985), Knightdale (2002-2015), Washington (1996-1998), Winston-Salem (1973-1987). Readers, are there others?

Sources:

City of Kinston – [Manager’s Recommend Budget [for] Fiscal Year 2015-2016] (PDF)
FD Maps – Lenoir County
Kinston Free Press – July 8, 2016 – Kinston Fire Department assembles staff after Public Safety split
Kinston Free Press – June 29, 2016 – Public Safety split begins Friday
Kinston Free Press – March 13, 2016 – Behind the split: KDPS division of police, fire aims to fight crime
WITN – March 7, 2016 – Kinston officials discuss planned split of Department of Public Safety

Blog posting, February 25, 2016 – Kinston’s Former Firehouses
Legeros presentation slides, April 2016 – North Carolina Fire Service History (PDF)

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Vintage Photo of Henderson Ford/Howe Engine by Tony Kelly

Posted by Mike Legeros on 3 July 2016, 9:16 am

Found for sale on eBay is this postcard view of Henderson Engine 5, a 1970s (?) Ford/Howe pumper-tanker. The back reads “North Carolina Fire Apparatus post cards, from the collection of Tony D. Kelly. Collection consists of approximately 200 cards such as this one for trade.” And with his address of “Kinston, NC, 28501.”

The late Tony Kelly was a Kinston firefighter and later Fire Chief (need dates), and a prolific fire apparatus photographer who traded pictures far and wide. Here’s a blog archives posting with a forestry plane picture of his, for example, from the mid 1970s.

Hopefully readers can share information on both (a.) Kelly and his background and (b.) this rig and it’s history. Click to enlarge:

Tony Kelly photo

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Guest Post – My Antique Fire Trucks by George Mills

Posted by Mike Legeros on 3 July 2016, 8:45 am

By George Mills, a former Chief of Bay Leaf VFD

Last year Mike asked to me write a posting about antique fire trucks. Here’s that article from August 2015, where I wrote about several restored and decaying American LaFrance rigs in North Carolina. This time I’m write about my antiques. Beginning with my first, a toy!

My interest in fire trucks started when I was about two-years old, and my parents gave me a working metal, tractor-drawn, Mack aerial ladder made by Smith Miller for Christmas. I still have it.

Above is a picture of my grandson, Dylan, and me laddering the coffee table. With stabilizers out, we’re at the corner of the building and a safe distance from the collapse zone. (Dylan is the son of a career firefighter in Hickory, NC. My boy started as a Bay Leaf volunteer and is currently assigned to HFD Station 7. His ride is a Rosenbauer engine.)

My interest was fanned further while growing up in Albany, NY, in the 1950s. There were many large fires in the old city and I tried to see each first-hand. Now, after forty-four years in the volunteer fire service, I am proud to say I have a second antique and full-sized fire engine of my own.

It’s is my 1920 American LaFrance Type 75 triple combination, #3281, originally served Painesville, OH. It originally cost $12,000 including the pneumatic tire option of $300, and was retired in 1954. I bought it from the estate of a collector in Pana, IL, in August, 2013. Here’s what I saw, when I first arrived:

I had been looking for a truck of my own when a fellow Bay Leaf firefighter found this on Craigslist, of all places. (There are three of us Bay Leaf volunteers that own antique fire trucks.) I bought it and have been enjoying it ever since.

Below are the six Bay Leaf members who came over to help me get the engine “in station” for the first time. The truck is hidden behind them! (Sorry about the blur. Don’t look too closely Mike Legeros!)

This truck has become a labor of love. It has to be! Ownership is expensive. I have spent nearly as much on the truck as it cost to purchase. Money that will never likely be reflected in its value.

Tires $4,000, hand crank siren $500, bell $1,000, ten gallons transmission grease $200, six gallon oil changes; the list is too long to repeat for fear my wife learns too much. She does enjoy riding on it to Goodberry’s for ice cream with friends, however.

After rebuilding the transmission (above left), brake work (above right), and freeing up the fire pump during the winter of 2013-2014, I took it to Station 1 and fed the waterway on Ladder 25.

That’s 740 GPM from a hydrant. It performed flawlessly pumping water for the first time in at least 31 years and maybe as many as 60 years.

Last summer it drafted 700 GPM at an Old Dominion Historical Fire Society muster at Claytor Lake, VA.

In April, we took it to the firefighter’ parade in Winchester, Virginia, for the 89th Annual Apple Blossom Festival (shown above) and came home with a “Best in Show 1920 to 1939” plaque. In the last two years, I have also paraded my truck in the Christmas parades in Rolesville (2014) and Wake Forest (2015).

Last month, I took the truck to the second annual Fire Truck Day at the North Carolina Transportation Museum. You were there, and took a bunch of pictures, as well as a video. Here’s the parade up Main Street, at the end of the event:

View on YouTube

The truck is always an attraction for kids that love to climb aboard to ring the bell and crank the siren. I enjoy this as well, unlike many antique fire truck owners that post “Do Not Touch” signs all over their rigs and have heart attacks when someone does. They are fire trucks! What can hurt them? (See below, also from Legeros.) I also enjoy demonstrating how easy it is to start by hand with the crank. It helps me stay in touch with the condition of the engine.

One of the benefits of ownership has been meeting new friends and exchanging information about the hobby with them. I am a member of two SPAAMFAA (Society for the Preservation and Appreciation of Antique Motor Fire Apparatus in America) chapters: Old Dominion Historical Fire Society of Virginia, and the Rekindle Society, which covers the Carolinas. Both are great places to make new friends.

As time moves on, I expect to continue to improve the appearance of the truck, reinstalling a reel, adding stripping, adding hand lanterns. It will be endless, unless I buy another one, which may happen sooner than I think!

I invite anyone to contact me if they want to discuss anything about what I have mentioned. g.c.mills.iii@earthlink.net

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How to Easily Monitor Raleigh City Council Minutes & Agendas… And News Releases

Posted by Mike Legeros on 26 June 2016, 8:30 am

Here’s an easy means of monitoring Raleigh City Council minutes and agendas, and/or news releases for mention of your favorite topics. Say, the fire department:

Sign up for the MyRaleigh Subscriptions service.
Select such options as City Council, News Releases, and NewsCor.
City Council minutes will arrive as email messages with links to Word documents. Click the links to open the documents, and use the FIND feature in Word to search for such words as “fire”.
City Council agendas will be announced via email. You’ll have to navigate to the linked page, and then browse for the necessary link, typically labeled “First Tues Regular and Evening Sessions” or such. (These emails don’t contain direct document links. Mildly user unfriendly.)
New releases will be linked in a weekly (Friday) compilation titled City of Raleigh Newsletter.

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Raleigh Receives Federal Grant for Fire Sprinkler Systems for Fire Stations 2 and 15

Posted by Mike Legeros on 26 June 2016, 8:01 am

The city has received a $151,155 grant from the federal government, to install fire sprinkler systems at Station 2 and Station 15.

Both of the facilities are part of a multi-year, multi-million dollar project to update fourteen older (legacy) fire stations. See page 14 of last year’s five-year strategic planning document (PDF) for more details. (Really need a dedicated blog posting on that project, for ease of linking. Will work on that!)

From the minutes (DOC) of the Raleigh City Council meeting of June 7, 2016.

FIREFIGHTERS GRANT FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY MANAGER AUTHORIZED TO EXECUTE GRANT; BUDGET AMENDED

The City has been awarded an Assistance to Firefighters Grant for the design and installation of fire sprinkler systems for Fire Stations 2 and 15. These facilities, which are part of a multi-year project to renovate legacy fire stations, were built in compliance with 1968 State Building Codes, neither of which contained a mandate for fire sprinkler systems. Current codes mandate that occupancies classified as residential providing accommodations for overnight stay shall have an automatic sprinkler system installed.

This grant opportunity contributes to the City’s commitment to provide essential services, which include life safety of occupants and firefighters, confinement and extinguishment of the fire, property conservation, and reduction of adverse environmental impacts. A budget amendment in the amount of $151,555 is necessary to appropriate the grant funding; the required 10 percent local matching funds will be transferred administratively. Accounting detail is included with the agenda packet. The grant application was administratively approved by the grants committee on January 7, 2016.

Recommendation: Authorize the City Manager to execute all required grant documentation and authorize a budget amendment in the amount of $151,555. Upheld on Consent Agenda Baldwin/Branch 8 ayes.

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Garner’s New Engine 1

Posted by Mike Legeros on 23 June 2016, 6:48 am

The Garner Fire Department yesterday received their new Engine 1, a 2016 Pierce Impel pumper-tanker 1250/1000. It will replace a 2012 Pierce Saber pumper-tanker. By my count, this is their sixteenth Pierce fire engine, since the delivery of a 1984 Pierce Dash pumper 1000/700.

The new engine is the fourth of four Pierce Impel pumper tankers recently purchased by Wake County, as part of apparatus and vehicle replacements for this fiscal year (which ends on June 30). The other three were delivered in November to Stony Hill, Wake New Hope, and Wendell. See Blog Archives posting.

Photographer Lee Wilson has been following the progress of Garner’s engine, beginning with its arrival at Atlantic Emergency Services’ Pierce service center in Fayetteville last week. See his photos.