{"id":5485,"date":"2020-06-20T22:31:04","date_gmt":"2020-06-21T02:31:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/?p=5485"},"modified":"2026-04-12T12:06:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T16:06:00","slug":"knightdale-first-fires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/knightdale-first-fires\/","title":{"rendered":"Knightdale Fire Calls – 1956 to 1959"},"content":{"rendered":"

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During their first three months of 1956, the Knightdale Volunteer Fire Department responded to over 100 fire calls. They were in their third year of operation. The calls are listed below, transcribed from the original log book.\u00a0<\/p>\n

03\/11\/56 \u2013 Two farm storage barns
\n03\/14\/56 \u2013 Car burning in yard
\n03\/15\/56 \u2013 Seven-room dwelling (out on arrival)
\n03\/19\/56 \u2013 Mutual aid with Wake Forest, structure fire, Scandia Village, Highway 1 six miles north of Raleigh, provided water supply from pond
\n03\/23\/56 \u2013 Mattress fire in farm dwelling
\n03\/30\/56 \u2013 Tobacco barn
\n05\/30\/56 \u2013 Woods fire (used \u201cback pumps\u201d)
\n06\/11\/56 \u2013 Mutual aid to Millbrook, false alarm
\n06\/22\/56 \u2013 Tenant house
\n06\/26\/56 \u2013 Tenant house
\n08\/10\/56 \u2013 Tobacco barn
\n08\/19\/56 \u2013 Tobacco barn
\n08\/19\/56 \u2013 Tobacco barn
\n08\/27\/56 \u2013 Frying pan and grease on fire
\n08\/28\/56 \u2013 Tobacco barn
\n08\/31\/56 \u2013 Allen\u2019s Store, general store building, started by electrical fuse box (half-hour on scene)
\n09\/04\/56 \u2013 Tobacco barn and shelter
\n09\/05\/56 \u2013 Tobacco barn (four miles NW of town)
\n09\/08\/56 \u2013 Tobacco barn (Wilder\u2019s Grove)
\n09\/10\/56 \u2013 Tobacco barn (Wilder\u2019s Grove)
\n09\/11\/56 \u2013 Tobacco barn (Poole Road)
\n09\/16\/56 \u2013 Woods fire
\n09\/27\/56 \u2013 Dwelling house (seven miles S of town, started by electric motor)
\n11\/25\/56 \u2013 Tenant house (seven miles S of town)
\n11\/27\/56 \u2013 Car fire
\n11\/27\/56 \u2013 Woods fire
\n12\/03\/56 \u2013 Grass fire near houses
\n01\/24\/57 \u2013 Grass fire near house
\n04\/29\/57 \u2013 Electric hot water heater (out on arrival)
\n05\/09\/57 \u2013 Woods fire
\n05\/24\/57 \u2013 Structure fire, saw mill (\u201cout of control and almost to destroy sawmill\u201d, 400 gallons of water on GMC used, and about half of the 1,200 gallons on the International)
\n07\/14\/57 \u2013 Tobacco barn (six miles W of town at Lee\u2019s Store[?], fire resulted from explosion of \u201coil covers\u201d, flames coming out of roof on arrival, 500 sticks [??] of tobacco lost)
\n07\/14\/57 \u2013 Wheat field
\n07\/21\/57 \u2013 Tobacco barn (Auburn Road)
\n07\/??\/57 \u2013 Tobacco barn (Poole Road)
\n08\/??\/57 \u2013 Tobacco barn (six miles NW of town by Allen\u2019s Store)
\n08\/??\/57 \u2013 Tobacco barn (seven miles NW of town)
\n09\/11\/57 \u2013 Tobacco barn (seven miles SW of town)
\n10\/21\/57 \u2013 Tobacco barn (six miles NE of town)
\n10\/26\/57 \u2013 Tenant house
\n11\/16\/57 \u2013 House fire in Raleigh (Rose Lane) (extinguished before arrival)
\n11\/23\/57 \u2013 Truck load of cotton (Louisburg Road)
\n12\/07\/57 \u2013 Tobacco sticks at farm
\n12\/16\/57 \u2013 Tenant house (Shotwell)
\n12\/23\/57 \u2013 Farm barn
\n01\/05\/58 \u2013 Farm barn
\n01\/21\/58 \u2013 Dwelling house (seven miles S of town, Clayton Road)
\n02\/14\/58 \u2013 Dwelling
\n02\/17\/58 \u2013 Dwelling (chimney)
\n02\/20\/58 \u2013 Grass fire
\n02\/20\/58 \u2013 Barbecue stand (Strickland\u2019s Barbecue, out on arrival)
\n02\/26\/58 \u2013 Dwelling house (reported as cotton gin on fire, KVFD couldn\u2019t locate same. Later learned that operator had misunderstood caller. Was across field from cotton gin. Floor furnace had exploded and was burning under house)
\n03\/08\/58 \u2013 Trash fire (New Hope Road)
\n04\/17\/58 \u2013 Stove in house
\n07\/25\/58 \u2013 Tobacco barn (Clayton Road)
\n07\/26\/58 \u2013 Tobacco barn (Faison Road)
\n07\/28\/58 \u2013 Tobacco barn (Faison Road, same as two days earlier, out on arrival)
\n08\/02\/58 \u2013 Tobacco barn
\n08\/02\/58 \u2013 Tobacco barn (same location, rekindle)
\n08\/15\/58 \u2013 Tenant house
\n08\/16\/58 \u2013 Tobacco barn
\n08\/18\/58 \u2013 Tobacco barn
\n08\/24\/58 \u2013 Tobacco barn
\n09\/20\/58 \u2013 Tenant house, two-room (alarm received from Raleigh by \u201cradio-siren\u201d)
\n09\/24\/58 \u2013 Pack [?] barn
\n10\/31\/58 \u2013 Grass fire near house
\n11\/16\/58 \u2013 Tenant house (eight miles NE of town)
\n12\/12\/58 \u2013 Frame dwelling (eight miles SW on Poole Road)
\n12\/30\/58 \u2013 Frame dwelling (nine miles SW on Poole Road)
\n01\/04\/59 \u2013 Frame dwelling (burned)
\n01\/04\/59 \u2013 Frame dwelling (burned)
\n01\/05\/59 \u2013 Frame dwelling (saved)
\n01\/21\/59 \u2013 Frame dwelling (saved)
\n01\/21\/59 \u2013 Shavings pile (Pair Lumber Company in high wind)
\n01\/22\/59 \u2013 Garage (Knightdale Repair Service)
\n01\/25\/59 \u2013 Grass fire
\n01\/26\/59 \u2013 Grass fire
\n01\/27\/59 \u2013 Tenant house
\n01\/29\/59 \u2013 Dwelling
\n02\/15\/59 \u2013 Tenant house
\n02\/17\/59 \u2013 Woods fire
\n02\/21\/59 \u2013 Grass fire in field
\n02\/23\/59 \u2013 Car fire
\n03\/08\/59 \u2013 Structure fire, Massey\u2019s Grocery, two-story, brick
\n03\/12\/59 \u2013 Brush fire
\n03\/23\/59 \u2013 Tobacco \u201cstrip house\u201d
\n06\/01\/59 \u2013 Frame dwelling (near town limits, with two trucks from New Hope as mutual aid)
\n06\/10\/59 \u2013 Frame dwelling
\n06\/12\/59 \u2013 Stove or store (but with two hours recorded of service time, probably \u201cstore\u201d)
\n06\/15\/59 \u2013 Combine + wheat field
\n06\/23\/59 \u2013 Tenant dwelling (near Broadwell\u2019s Store)
\n07\/30\/59 \u2013 Tar bucket (Morganton Roofing Company)
\n08\/06\/59 \u2013 Tobacco barn
\n08\/06\/59 \u2013 Tobacco barn
\n08\/07\/59 \u2013 Tobacco barn (burned again on 11\/04\/59)
\n08\/15\/59 \u2013 Frame dwelling
\n10\/02\/59 \u2013 Frame dwelling
\n10\/05\/59 \u2013 Garbage can
\n[ missing one or more entries, photocopier operator error ]
\n10\/29\/59 \u2013 Tobacco \u201cstrip room\u201d
\n11\/20\/59 \u2013 Frame dwelling
\n12\/03\/59 \u2013 Brush fire
\n12\/11\/59 \u2013 Dwelling<\/p>\n