The Sanford Fire Department in Lee County is the latest local (er, area) department to place a new Rosenbauer in service. Their new Engine 204 at Station 1 is a 2016 model, 1500/500/50. Was placed in service on February 26. Lee Wilson photographed the new truck on Monday. See his pictures.
Lee Wilson photo
Meanwhile in Harnett County, Angier Black River has a new Spartan/Smeal, a 2016 pumper-tanker, 1500/100, that Lee photographed on Sunday. See those pics of Engine 944.
Lee Wilson photo
And in Johnston County, the Brogdon Fire Department has received their new Truck 2. It’s a 2016 E-One Typhoon pumper-tanker, 1500/750, that replaces an equipment truck and a front-mounted pumper-tanker. (Does that make it a rescue-pumper-tanker?) See Lee’s photos, also from Friday.
Lee Wilson photo
Who else has new trucks in the central Piedmont area?
A special-called meeting and work session of the Wake County Fire Commission has been scheduled for Thursday, March 3, at the Wake County Public Safety Center, Conference Room C-170, 330 S. Salisbury Street. Entry via the Wake County Sheriff’s Office. The meeting starts at 7:00 p.m.
Presentation on the FY 2016 Fire Services & Fire Commission Labor Market Study and Wake County Fire Services Compression Study Data
Staffing and Compensation Committee presentation of the revised Wake County Fire Compensation Administrative Guidelines
Fire Commission appointment of Citizen / Consumers for Fire Commission Budget Sub-Committee
Fire Commission Appointment of Equipment Sub-Committee Chair
Fire Commission appointment of South Region Representatives for Fire Commission Equipment and Facility Sub-Committees
Information Agenda
FY 2017 Fire Tax Budget Submission Fire Department Expansion Request
Other Business
Public Comments
Comments from the public will be received at the time appointed by the Chairman of the Fire Commission for 30 minutes maximum time allotted, with a maximum of 3 minutes per person. A signup sheet for those who wish to speak during the public comments section of the meeting is located at the entrance of the meeting room.
Recently updated my web page about Kinston former firehouses. Added information about old Station 1 on King Street, old Station 3 on Hull Road, old Station 4 on Plaza Boulevard, and the original Station 3 at Knott’s Warehouse.
This is the second in a series of blog postings about Wake County EMS, and their celebration this year of their 40th anniversary. Read the first posting.
Wake County EMS last week unveiled a special “retro ambulance,” with green over white colors and vintage graphics to commemorate their 40th anniversary. The ambulance was unveiled on Thursday morning, in a special ceremony at Station 1.
Among the speakers were original Director Russell Capps. He was also the county Director of Emergency Preparedness and the Fire Marshal in 1976, when he was told to create a new ambulance service for Raleigh. And to have the thing in service in ninety days.
“We didn’t quite make that,” Capps said on Thursday, as recounted in this News & Observer story[*] about the event, which was attended by Wake County EMS members both old and new. And photographed by Lee Wilson. See those pictures. But we’ll come back to that history. Let’s look at the new ambulance.
[*] Link now broken, http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/wake-county/article61069492.html
Lee Wilson photo
About The Ambulance
The 2016 Chevrolet/Trauma Hawk ambulance was built by American Emergency Vehicles, which is located in Ashe County. The ambulance cost about $230,000, which includes supplies, equipment, computers, and radios. It’ll be placed in service in about two months.
The truck is one of seven that’s being delivered over the next few weeks. They’re part of the county’s regular purchase cycle to replacing aging units. How many ambulances are purchased each year? An average of eight. What’s new and improved in these newest ambulances, over those in recent years? Let’s look closely…
Says Chief of Community Outreach Jeff Hammerstein, they reflect advancements in safety and efficient lighting. “Cabinets are designed to better contain equipment in the event of a crash, yet still offer easy access. The seat to the patient’s right is enlarged, with easier access for treatment actions. Lighting is all LED, which provides bright, even lighting at cooler temperatures, longer bulb life, and much less power draw on the system.”
Other improvements? “Fixtures like radio heads and switch panels are better integrated into padded consoles, which increases safety during regular use and/or in the event of a crash,” he adds. “Plus remote locking systems that allow crews to easily secure the entire vehicle.”
The commemorative design will remain for the life of the truck. They were applied at the same cost as other units, and feature the same reflective rear chevrons and side striping as required for safety. The truck will have a service life of four year, during which it will answer an expected 8,000 EMS calls.
Lee Wilson photo
About Their Colors, About The Fleet
Wake County EMS adopted their current blue over white design in 2001. Additional blue and yellow checkered Battenberg markings were added in 200_, for the new Advanced Practice Paramedic units and later for command staff vehicles. The county also has some white ambulances in their fleet, acquired from Six Forks EMS, and blue ambulances, acquired from Garner Rescue & EMS.
Wake County EMS has thirty ambulances in their fleet, plus an additional eight spares. The larger Wake County EMS system has many more, as operated by Apex EMS, Cary EMS, and Eastern Wake EMS.
The county ambulances are typically operated by two people, either two paramedics or a paramedic and an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT).
Twenty-two ambulances are twenty-four hour trucks, while eight are twelve-hour units which operated during peak load times. The spare ambulances are used as temporary replacements, during repair periods, and for special events, when additional ambulances are needed.
Wake County EMS also operates six District Chief units, five Advance Practice Paramedic (APP) units, and a Major Operations Support Unit. Special equipment and teams includes a medical ambulance bus (Evac 1), two electric carts, bike teams, venue (foot) teams, and a USAR support team.
Mike Legeros photos
Celebrating Their Anniversary
Save the date for August 4, 2016, at Fletcher Hall at the Duke Energy Center for Performing Arts. A special anniversary program is planned for that night.
Wake County EMS is also planning numerous small events and activities, from special displays to parade appearances by the retro ambulance.
Notes Chief Hammerstein, this truck is dedicated to the community it serves, the people who ran calls in its likeness in the early days, the men and women taking care of their community today, and finally the men and women that we will need to come work with us as our growth skyrockets. He adds, “federal numbers project EMS to grow by 24% in the next ten years.”
Here’s something neat. Picture of a picture of Charlotte’s three Snorkels in profile, with a wee bit of digital perspective correction. Posted to the Snorkel Aerial Fire Trucks group on Facebook, and cited as found on the Interstate Emergency Vehicles Inc. web site.
Shown left to right are:
Ladder 18 – 1986 Pierce Arrow, 1000/200/85′
Ladder 16 – 1986 Pierce Arrow, 1000/200/85′
Ladder 1 – 1984 Duplex/Grumman, 100/300/80′
Source for apparatus information is my Charlotte FD fleet listing, from www.legeros.com/history/fleets. Wonder when they were each retired?
This is the first in a series of blog postings about Wake County EMS, and their celebration this year of their 40th anniversary. More coming soon, including a new ambulance revealed this week with retro green-over-white markings!
Let’s begin with a three-minute video featuring original Wake County EMS Director Russell Capps talking about the origins of the organization.
Capps talks about the first ambulances from Swab Wagon Company, the first members, and the original EMS stations:
Placed In Service
Wake County EMS was placed in service on August 15, 1976. They responded to nineteen calls that day, with four 1976 Dodge/Swab ambulances and a Dodge station wagon Supervisor’s vehicle housed at two stations: 201 W. McDowell Street (Station 1) and the Wake County Home at 513 E. Whitaker Mill Road (Station 2).
The staff consisted of Capps, Chief Supervisor Jesse Glenn (formerly a Raleigh firefighter, who rode rescue), Secretary Pauline Wood, Billing Officer Callie Johnson, and twenty-four Emergency Medical Technicians across three shifts. They’d been hired by mid-July and field-trained for another month.
On August 13, 1976, the new personnel of Wake County EMS were sworn-in at a ceremony at the county courthouse. Two days later, they began running calls.
As today, their service was fee-based. They charged patients $35 to transport from any point in the county to any hospital. The phone number for their service (as well as fire and police) was 829-1911.
They served Raleigh and northwestern Wake County, with the remainder of the county covered by volunteer rescue squads in Apex, Cary, Fuquay-Varina, Garner, Knightdale, Wake Forest, Wendell, and Zebulon.
Later Directors, Later Career For Capps
Capps was the first Director followed by Gerald Brown (1980-2000), Joseph Zalkin (2000-2002 as interim), Barry Britt (2002-2004), Chris Colangelo (2004-2005 as interim), Skip Kirkwood (2005-2008, though he continued as EMS Chief until 2013), Brent Myers (2008-2015), Chris Colangelo again (2015 as interim), and the newly installed Jose Cabanas (2016).
He was also the county Director of Emergency Preparedness and the Fire Marshal, a position he’d held since 1971.
After leaving the county, his career continued as a Natural Hazards Planner with the state from 1987 to 1993 and as a member of the North Carolina General Assembly from 1994 to 2006.
Wait, you ask, who have served as Wake County Medical Directors? They’ve included Douglas Hammer, Jack Larson, Jeff Top, Ben Graves, Donald Vaugh, Brent Myers, Jeff Williams, and Jose Cabanas. Doctors, that is.
Short History of Local Ambulance Service
The first emergency ambulance providers in Raleigh (and Wake County) were funeral homes. In 1953, the Raleigh Fire Department formed a rescue squad, and also provided emergency ambulance service as needed. In 1962, the first county rescue squad was formed in Wendell.
By the 1960s, funeral homes were the primary providers in Raleigh. But in 1965, six of seven funeral homes in Raleigh ceased this service. Ambulance Service of Raleigh (later renamed Beacon) began operation that year.
In 1968, Beacon began receiving a county subsidy for providing emergency ambulance service in the city, and in county areas where funeral homes weren’t serving.
Ambulance service in Raleigh was also provided by Overby Funeral Home and, as needed, the Raleigh (Fire Department) Emergency Rescue Squad.
In 1976, the primary provider for Raleigh residents was Beacon. They were backed up by the fire department’s two rescue trucks. Each Beacon ambulance and Raleigh rescue unit was staffed with at least one EMT, as required by a new state law for ambulance personnel.
That year, County Commissioners discussed options for improving ambulance service, including creating a city-county ambulance service, creating a county-operated service or renewing their contract with Beacon. On April 20, 1976, they voted to create a county-financed ambulance service for Raleigh and northwestern Wake County.
The rest, as they say, history.
More History at Your Finger Tips
Learn more about Wake County EMS history on a pair of web sites developed by Chief of Community Outreach Jeff Hammerstein and local emergency services historian Mike Legeros (that’s me!):
Bought this one on eBay. Color slide of a train derailment in downtown Raleigh. Slide says April 1961. Don’t have additional details just yet. Hadn’t heard of such incident, in fact. (I’ve found notable ones in 1907, 1943, and 1979.) Will consult microfilm copies of the News & Observer and Raleigh Times at my next opportunity.
Picture was probably taken from the old Boylan Street bridge, the metal one that was closed in 1978. (See Library of Congress pictures of same.) In the upper-right corner of the picture is the old Martin Street Viaduct. That was probably demolished circa 1982, when the new Boylan Street bridge was built. (Read blog archives posting.)
The railroad is the Seaboard Air Line. The photographer is not known.
Click to enlarge the picture, plus a few closer views:
Imagine my surprise at receiving this newspaper excerpt last week, from the Asheville Citizen of all places. Issue date February 17, 1896. From a fellow fire historian.
Previously on the History Show, we cited either “spring 1896” or “January-February 1896” as the timeframe for the opening of Raleigh’s original Headquarters Fire Station.
Located at 112 W. Morgan Street, the two-story, three-bay engine house served both the volunteer and career fire departments. It operated until 1941, when the property was sold to the state, for a planned addition to the adjacent Revenue Building. Read the full history.
You’ve probably seen this one before. Heck, maybe you have one! First time for me, on a firefighter’s helmet in Hillsborough, at a training exercise on Saturday. #EasilyAmused
Wake County EMS is unveiling a “retro ambulance” this week, in a press conference at Station 1 downtown:
Thursday, February 18 10:00 a.m. EMS Station 1 120 W. Davie St., Raleigh
The new ambulance has “old school” colors and graphics, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Wake County EMS. The event will include remarks from county officials, and any number of current and former members. (Please help spread the word. And wear green if you’ve got it!)
Also, mark your calendar for Thursday, October August 4 [date correction!], at 7:00 p.m., at Fletcher Opera Theater downtown. That’s the date for a full program celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Wake County EMS.
We’ll have pictures of the new rig, details about the truck and anniversary, and some historical perspectives, all after the reveal on Thursday. Watch this space!
