{"id":6842,"date":"2022-12-06T17:20:46","date_gmt":"2022-12-06T22:20:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/?p=6842"},"modified":"2022-12-06T19:46:44","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T00:46:44","slug":"longest-serving-captains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/longest-serving-captains\/","title":{"rendered":"Longest Serving Raleigh Fire Captains"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022-12-04-rfd.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6843\" src=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022-12-04-rfd.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1000\" height=\"697\" srcset=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022-12-04-rfd.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022-12-04-rfd-300x209.jpg 300w, https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022-12-04-rfd-730x509.jpg 730w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>One of the longest-serving captains in the history of the Raleigh Fire Department is retiring. Captain Rich Coats (top right) will retire on January 1, 2023, with 36.28 years of service, including 23.99 years as a captain. He&#8217;ll rank just a hair behind Captain James C. Munns (bottom), who retired in 1999 with 37.36 years of service, including 24.1 years as a captain. But both are passed by Captain Royce Lassiter (top left), who retired in 1973 with 27 years as Captain. He&#8217;s the longest-serving found so far.<\/p>\n<p>From more recent eras, here&#8217;s that data, from Legeros records:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>J.C. Munns &#8211; 24.1 years<\/li>\n<li>Rich Coats &#8211; 23.99\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Glenn Jones &#8211; 23.3\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Terry Partin &#8211; 23.3<\/li>\n<li>Titus Brown &#8211; 21.8<\/li>\n<li>Charles Mann &#8211; 20.4<\/li>\n<li>Donnie Carter &#8211; 20.0<\/li>\n<li>Wilbur Beasley &#8211; 19.9<\/li>\n<li>Jerry Melton &#8211; 19.7<\/li>\n<li>Charlie Narron &#8211; 19.6<\/li>\n<li>Robert Stanley &#8211; 19.4<\/li>\n<li>Stan Heath &#8211; 19.4<\/li>\n<li>Steve Wilson &#8211; 19.2<\/li>\n<li>Michael Franks &#8211; 19.0<\/li>\n<li>etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For captains from farther back, that&#8217;s harder to find. Been using news clippings, in particular. Found so far:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Royce Lassiter (ret. 1973) &#8211; 27 years<\/li>\n<li>W. Leonard Choplin (ret. 1949, first RFD member to retire) &#8211; 22.2 years<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>What about others, like Captain James White, retired 1968 with 42 years? Or Captain Charlie Hayes, retired 1971 with 40 years? TBD on those!<\/p>\n<p>Related reading, Raleigh Fire Department Personnel Records, 1913 to 1941. Hand-transcribed from handwritten records. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legeros.com\/...\/personnel\/personnel-log.pdf\" class=\"broken_link\">View PDF document<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div data-animation=\"no-animation\" data-icons-animation=\"no-animation\" data-overlay=\"on\" data-change-size=\"\" data-button-size=\"0.7\" style=\"font-size:0.7em!important;display:none;\" class=\"supsystic-social-sharing supsystic-social-sharing-package-flat supsystic-social-sharing-content supsystic-social-sharing-content-align-left\" data-text=\"\"><a data-networks=\"[]\" class=\"social-sharing-button sharer-flat sharer-flat-8 counter-standard without-counter facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Facebook\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Flegeros.com%2Fblog%2Flongest-serving-captains%2F\" data-main-href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u={url}\" data-nid=\"1\" data-name=\"\" data-pid=\"1\" data-post-id=\"6842\" data-url=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php\" data-description=\"Longest Serving Raleigh Fire Captains\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-mailto=\"\"><i class=\"fa-ssbs fa-ssbs-fw fa-ssbs-facebook\"><span>Share<\/span><\/i><div class=\"counter-wrap standard\"><span class=\"counter\">0<\/span><\/div><\/a><a data-networks=\"[]\" class=\"social-sharing-button sharer-flat sharer-flat-8 counter-standard without-counter twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Twitter\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Flegeros.com%2Fblog%2Flongest-serving-captains%2F&text=Longest+Serving+Raleigh+Fire+Captains\" data-main-href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url={url}&text={title}\" data-nid=\"2\" data-name=\"\" data-pid=\"1\" data-post-id=\"6842\" data-url=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php\" data-description=\"Longest Serving Raleigh Fire Captains\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-mailto=\"\"><i class=\"fa-ssbs fa-ssbs-fw fa-ssbs-twitter\"><span>Share<\/span><\/i><div class=\"counter-wrap standard\"><span class=\"counter\">0<\/span><\/div><\/a><a data-networks=\"[]\" class=\"social-sharing-button sharer-flat sharer-flat-8 counter-standard without-counter pinterest\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Pinterest\" href=\"http:\/\/pinterest.com\/pin\/create\/link\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flegeros.com%2Fblog%2Flongest-serving-captains%2F&description=Longest+Serving+Raleigh+Fire+Captains\" data-main-href=\"http:\/\/pinterest.com\/pin\/create\/link\/?url={url}&description={title}\" data-nid=\"7\" data-name=\"\" data-pid=\"1\" data-post-id=\"6842\" data-url=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php\" data-description=\"Longest Serving Raleigh Fire Captains\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-mailto=\"\"><i class=\"fa-ssbs fa-ssbs-fw fa-ssbs-pinterest\"><span>Share<\/span><\/i><div class=\"counter-wrap standard\"><span class=\"counter\">0<\/span><\/div><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the longest-serving captains in the history of the Raleigh Fire Department is retiring. Captain Rich Coats (top right) will retire on January 1, 2023, with 36.28 years of service, including 23.99 years as a captain. He&#8217;ll rank just a hair behind Captain James C. Munns (bottom), who retired in 1999 with 37.36 years &#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/longest-serving-captains\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading &lsquo;Longest Serving Raleigh Fire Captains&rsquo; &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n<div data-animation=\"no-animation\" data-icons-animation=\"no-animation\" data-overlay=\"on\" data-change-size=\"\" data-button-size=\"0.7\" style=\"font-size:0.7em!important;display:none;\" class=\"supsystic-social-sharing supsystic-social-sharing-package-flat supsystic-social-sharing-content supsystic-social-sharing-content-align-left\" data-text=\"\"><a data-networks=\"[]\" class=\"social-sharing-button sharer-flat sharer-flat-8 counter-standard without-counter facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Facebook\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Flegeros.com%2Fblog%2Flongest-serving-captains%2F\" data-main-href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u={url}\" data-nid=\"1\" data-name=\"\" data-pid=\"1\" data-post-id=\"6842\" data-url=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php\" data-description=\"Longest Serving Raleigh Fire Captains\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-mailto=\"\"><i class=\"fa-ssbs fa-ssbs-fw fa-ssbs-facebook\"><span>Share<\/span><\/i><div class=\"counter-wrap standard\"><span class=\"counter\">0<\/span><\/div><\/a><a data-networks=\"[]\" class=\"social-sharing-button sharer-flat sharer-flat-8 counter-standard without-counter twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Twitter\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Flegeros.com%2Fblog%2Flongest-serving-captains%2F&text=Longest+Serving+Raleigh+Fire+Captains\" data-main-href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url={url}&text={title}\" data-nid=\"2\" data-name=\"\" data-pid=\"1\" data-post-id=\"6842\" data-url=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php\" data-description=\"Longest Serving Raleigh Fire Captains\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-mailto=\"\"><i class=\"fa-ssbs fa-ssbs-fw fa-ssbs-twitter\"><span>Share<\/span><\/i><div class=\"counter-wrap standard\"><span class=\"counter\">0<\/span><\/div><\/a><a data-networks=\"[]\" class=\"social-sharing-button sharer-flat sharer-flat-8 counter-standard without-counter pinterest\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Pinterest\" href=\"http:\/\/pinterest.com\/pin\/create\/link\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flegeros.com%2Fblog%2Flongest-serving-captains%2F&description=Longest+Serving+Raleigh+Fire+Captains\" data-main-href=\"http:\/\/pinterest.com\/pin\/create\/link\/?url={url}&description={title}\" data-nid=\"7\" data-name=\"\" data-pid=\"1\" data-post-id=\"6842\" data-url=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php\" data-description=\"Longest Serving Raleigh Fire Captains\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-mailto=\"\"><i class=\"fa-ssbs fa-ssbs-fw fa-ssbs-pinterest\"><span>Share<\/span><\/i><div class=\"counter-wrap standard\"><span class=\"counter\">0<\/span><\/div><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6842"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6842"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6847,"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6842\/revisions\/6847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}