On Friday, May 20, a historic mill building burned in Hillsborough. Eight fire departments battled the late afternoon blaze. The “weaving room” was destroyed on the former site of Bellevue Manufacturing Company, an industrial property built beginning in the 1900s-1920s. It was last occupied in 2000.
The site was originally equipped with its own water supply and fire hydrants. The town didn’t have one, so the factory furnished its own. This was common at industrial as well as institutional sites (schools, hospitals, prisons) back in the day.
Crews on Friday or later visitors to the scene likely noticed such features as old hydrants, old hose cabinets, and old post-indicator valves:
Poke around the entire property and you’ll see numerous fire protection features. Photographed these in February, when Mrs. Blogger and myself had dinner at the nearby barbecue joint:
Here’s a wider view showing the hose reel in the center, and another post-indicator valve in center left:
These 1924 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map excerpts (with annotations) reveal more detailed information about the buildings and their fire systems.
Here are the notable fire and EMS items in the recently announced budgets for the City of Durham and Durham County.
Durham City
– Add two fire inspector positions
– Completion of construction of replacement Fire Station 9
– Planning for 30 firefighters in FY18, to staff new Station 17 (Leesville Road)
– Planning for 15 firefighters in FY21, to staff new Station 18 (Herndon Road and Stinhurst Drive area.]
– Add day-duty Division Chief position
– Add six firefighter positions
EMS:
– Five new full-time employees, for peak-time ambulance deployment shift
– Five Sprinter EMS ambulances, four new, one replacement
– One new bariatric ambulance
– Three large SUVs, two new, one replacement
– One new one-ton 4×4 truck.
The Town of Cary the other week announced their proposed budget for FY17. Notable items for the fire department are:
Fire Station 9 on Walnut Street
New ladder company with thirteen positions for northwest side of town (probably Station 7)
New ladder truck, for above new company
Replacement pumper.
Recall this recent Cary News story[*] about Cary’s plans for Station 9 and Station 10, which tells more about project. Also, Engine 9 is already in service, operating from old Station 2 on Maynard Road. Read prior blog posting.
[*] Link now broken, http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/community/cary-news/article70710862.html
Land for Station 10 has already been purchased at 2495 O’Kelly Chapel Road, in Chatham County. From the budget document (under Capital Improvements), funding for the project is planned for FY20 ($750K) and FY21 ($7M).
And Five More Future Locations
The budget documents also list locations for five (!) more future locations, however they’re all planned for funding between FY22 and FY27:
Station 11 – White Oak Church Road
Station 12 – West Lake/Middle Creek
Station 13 – Lewter Shop Road at Highway 751
Station 14 – Pleasant Grove Church Road at the airport
Station 15 – Ernest Jones Road and Mt. Pisgah Church Road
Side note: Funding for Station 11 land is already approved. Land acquisition is underway. Land for Station 12 is already owned by the town, it’s part of the Middle Creek school and park property off Optimist Farm Road.
These are far-future forecasts, so be careful. They’re five to ten years forward, which means many things can change. The planned locations may move, the priorities for building one ahead of the other may shift, etc. But it’s a good peek into station planning and how the Cary Fire Department is keeping ahead of expected service demand.
Side note: Planning documents are just that. Back in the day, Raleigh anticipated growth on Highway 401, south of Highway 70. But the city never grew in that direction. More recently, Raleigh’s next fire station was expected further east on Buffaloe Road. But needs have placed planned Station 30 as an infill station, instead, in north Raleigh.
Here’s a map that plots those locations along with current stations. What other municipal and county fire station changes will we see, over the next ten years? To be continued!
Meanwhile, let’s get our map[s] on. Click once or twice to enlarge:
Fire destroyed a portion of a historic mill building in Hillsborough on Friday evening. Orange Rural Fire Department, which protects the town, was dispatched along with mutual aid at 4:54 p.m. Location of 202 S. Nash Street, the former Bellevue Manufacturing Company textile mill. Arriving units found the northernmost section of four buildings showing heavy fire through the roof. Aerial streams, deck guns, portable monitors, and hand lines were deployed.
Top to bottom, left to right: FireNews.net photo (x2), WTVD photo, Town of Hillsborough photo
ORFD Ladder 1 (which is town-owned and thus lettered Hillsborough Fire Department) was deployed on Nash Street, and then relocated to a rear parking lot. Mebane Platform 38 was backed against the Nash Side of the building adjoining the burn building. (Was told it’s the first fire for the recently delivered KME mid-mount platform.) There was also a Chapel Hill ladder on scene, but it wasn’t deployed. A company of firefighters (Tower 73) responded with a reserve quint, a 2001 HME rear-mount short stick.
Portable monitors were deployed on the north side of the building, from an elevated ground position at roof-level, and from the west side of the structure, on the northwest corner. Exposure protection was also paramount, due to occupied commercial structures on the south end of the block (past the mill buildings) and residential structures (and a historic mill house) directly to the north. The inward collapse of the fire building’s roof aided this effort. The roof collapsed at about 5:25 p.m.
Mike Legeros photos
Crews also attacked the blaze from inside the adjoining structure, a three-story section of the mill building. Both it and the burn building were unoccupied. The mill buildings were last occupied by a fabric company, which closed its operations there in September 2000. The buildings were planned for development into apartments. The mill is both a local and national historic landmark. Its buildings date from turn of the 20th Century and the early 1920s.
Mike Legeros photos
The destroyed structure was a 30,000 square-foot weaving room addition that was erected in 1920. Here’s a page of history [link expired: http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~orangecountync/places/cotton_mills/bvue.html] about the mill, and includes this diagram showing the sections of the building and their ages:
Eight fire departments were on scene: ORFD, Efland, Eno, New Hope, Orange Grove, Cedar Grove, Mebane, and Chapel Hill. How many firefighters? Good question! As many as a half-dozen hydrants were utilized, and included a special call to the town water plant, to boost pressure as needed. The fire was contained at 7:20 p.m. on Friday evening. All companies but a single ORFD crew were released about 10:30 p.m.
Crews continued working on Saturday, extinguishing hot spots and a large flare-up. The latter included a collapse of the building’s north wall against an embankment. Firefighters were working nearby, on a nearby hill. They were a safe distance from the structure, and weren’t affected. See the town’s press releases for ongoing details.
Thursday – Versus apartment building – Fox Ridge Manor Road, Raleigh – WRAL story
Thursday – Versus house – Lake Grove Boulevard, Cary – No injuries – WTVD story
Thursday – Versus freight train – S. Salem Street, Apex – Minor injuries – WTVD story
Sunday – Versus passenger train – Auburn-Knightdale Road, Garner – Minor injuries – WTVD story – Legeros photo
Wonder what ones we missed, that weren’t covered by the news!?
Sunday’s story is particularly interesting, as the same driver had a collision at the same rail crossing two weeks earlier. She narrowly avoided being struck by another train, but collided with a tree, which caused the front-end damage seen in the photo below.
From their Facebook page, here’s a vintage photo of the Foscoe Fire Department in Watagua County. They were organized in 1971 and their first fire station was this one-story block ‘n’ brick building at 8599 Highway 105 South.
Twenty years later, they moved to a new fire station at 9230 Highway 105 South. In recent years, they opened a second fire station, at 120 Lance Trail in 2008. Learn more about FFD on their web site.
The original fire station building is still standing. It’s used as an antique store, and was photographed by Mr. Blogger in 2006 during a long weekend in October. There’s a larger two-bay building beside this one, and with an A-frame roof. Thinking it was probably either an expansion or replacement structure built by the fire department. Readers may know.
Budgets have been proposed for both the city and county, for Fiscal Year 2016-2017. Here are details on the fire department and fire services expenditures:
City of Raleigh
Proposed budget presented to City Council on Tuesday.
Highlights:
Replace two engines and one ladder. [ Ed. note #1: Need more! Ed. note #2: Hearing it’s actually two ladders and one engine. ]
Move Station 1 and Headquarters out of warehouse district, with new facility built over three years.
Add two full-time positions: Deputy Fire Marshal and Senior Staff Support Specialist. The latter converts a part-time funded position.
Capital Projects:
Continued fire station renovation program ($6.5M over five years).
New Fire Station 1 and Administrative Offices ($23.9M over four years).
About the New HQ:
To meet the Fire Department’s operational and administrative needs, and to facilitate economic development efforts in the downtown Warehouse district, the CIP funds a replacement for Fire Station 1 and a replacement administrative space for Fire Department management staff. Staff tentatively expects to construct a new station up to 21,000 square feet, and an administration space up to 13,000 square feet. The project budget also funds land acquisition and a parking deck. Depending on the site selected for the station, additional land and a parking deck may not be necessary. In this case, the project budget will be decreased.
For context and perspective on the fire department’s facility planning, see their 2015-2020 Strategic Plan (PDF).
Other Public Safety:
New police training center, to be built on Battlebridge Road ($22.6M over three years). Pilot program for police to test body cameras ($1.5M). Add twelve positions to Central Communications Center, ten call takers and two supervisors.
Morrisville Rescue 2 – 2000 Ford F-550 light rescue
Wake Forest Engine 4 [Former] – 1996 E-One, 1500/1000
Wake Forest Utility 5
Zebulon Car 1
Replacement of equipment ($3.5M):
800mhz radio upgrade ($1.4M)
SCBA ($1.14M)
PPE ($675,000)
etc.
Some of this information is not contained in the budget, and was obtained from Wake County Fire Commission meeting documents, and as requested from Wake County Fire Services. Apparatus makes/models/years via Google and Legeros records.
Seven new full-time positions for Wake County EMS, six to expand the Advanced Practice Paramedic (APP) program (four paramedics to staff two 12-hour units and two supervisors to provide 24-hour management), and an Administrative Assistant to support EMS and Fire Services jointly. Funding to convert one ambulance from 24-hour to two 12-hour shifts.
May 18
Chapelboro.com posted this story yesterday with a project update and a drawing. Town council will vote in June whether to approve the joint project, which will erect a fire station and four-story office building on South Hamilton Road.
February 11
News out of Chapel Hill. Town Council on Monday approved the sale of Fire Station 2 to a developer, who will replace the facility with a four-story office building that includes a fire station on the ground level. And a two-story parking deck. Here are some details as gleaned from stories in the News & Observer[*] and ChapelBoro.com.
[*] Link now broken, http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/community/chapel-hill-news/article59320608.html
Kenly Fire Department Firefighter John M. Davis Jr. was buried yesterday in his hometown in Johnston County. Hundreds of mourners gathered yesterday morning at Kenly Funeral Home & Cremations on East 2nd Street.
Burial followed at Center Ridge Presbyterian Church on Glendale Road, with a procession of 60 fire trucks and emergency vehicles escorting the body of Davis to the cemetery. He was carried on Engine 1.
Every fire department in Johnston County participated in the escort, along with departments from Wilson County. Notes the Wilson Times, firefighters (units?) were also present from Raleigh, Fort Bragg, Whiteville, and Grissettown-Longwood, which is near Ocean Isle Beach.
Fire departments from around the area assisted with coverage on Thursday and earlier days, so members of the Kenly Fire Department could grieve and prepare for and participate in the services. They included 50-210 and Elevation covered Kenly on Wednesday evening; Zebulon at Kenly on Thursday morning; and Garner and Holly Springs at Micro on Thursday morning. (Readers can add more.)
The 45-year-old volunteer firefighter died at the hospital Saturday night, after suffering a heart attack while working the scene of a motor-vehicle accident. He joined the department in 2003, and later moved to the coast. He had recently rejoined the department in March.
Davis worked full-time in manufacturing. He is survived by his wife of fourteen months and three children. Read his obituary.
He’s the eighth firefighter in Johnston County to die in the line of duty since 1976, and the first in the Kenly Fire Department’s history. Read prior posting.
WRAL photo
Brad Coville / Wilson Times photo
Jason Thompson / JOCOFIRE photo. Jason Thompson / JOCOFIRE photo.
Vintage Wilmington fire apparatus as photographed in September 1997. Wait, when did trucks from the 1980s start qualifying as vintage?!?
Courtesy of David Raynor, a blog reader, fire buff, and former law officer who lived in Raleigh and Greensboro in his day. Pictured left to right, top to bottom:
Google Street View photo
