{"id":9010,"date":"2025-06-06T11:24:41","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T15:24:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/?p=9010"},"modified":"2025-06-06T11:26:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T15:26:08","slug":"ncsc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/ncsc\/","title":{"rendered":"North Carolina Shipbuilding Company Fire Department"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a blog version of a Facebook posting from May 24, 2025<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Let’s go back to World War II and and the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company, which was located at the current site of the state port. It built 243 ships from 1943 to 1946. They had their own fire department and at least one fire engine. Pictured area pair of news clippings from the North Carolina Shipbuilding newspaper. <\/p>\n

Pictured Apparatus and Personnel<\/strong><\/p>\n

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From a clipping on October 1, 1943, is the fire station and 1940s commercial-chassis pumper and what looks like a Howe emblem next to the pump panel. Shown are R. B. Croom, M. T. Phillips, Sgt. W. H. Ferrell, Sgt. W. J. Smith, T. Edwards, C. C. Bowel, H. LeMaster, W. R. Bean, G. S. Hodges, S. Strickland, and Fire Chief G. L. Kennell.<\/p>\n

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From a clipping on October 5, 1943, is the chief and supervisors of the police and fire departments. The members are named in the clipping and included ranks and titles of Sergeant, Lieutenant, Roundsman, Fire Inspector, and Chief. It appears that the police and fire departments were a unified department with a single chief. <\/p>\n

Maffitt Village Fire Department<\/strong><\/p>\n

During World War II, the population of Wilmington was exploding. By 1943, the population was over 120,000, having grown from 33,407 in 1939. Many worked at the shipyard, which employed 20,000 people that year. <\/p>\n

To help with the resulting housing shortage, the city helped build and manage several federally-funded projects. One was started near the shipyard as the Captain John N. Maffitt homes.<\/p>\n

A combination of duplexes and multi-family units, they were completed in November 1943, with 4,182 units. The community also included a twelve-bed infirmary, recreation areas, and a strip mall on Vance Street, two nearby churches, and an 800-seat theater built across Carolina Beach Road. <\/p>\n

The village also had a volunteer fire department by 1945. They had a fire truck, shown, and a garage for storing the apparatus. <\/p>\n

In September 1951, the truck sold to the county, with the provision that the county continue operating and maintaining the truck. The recently formed New Hanover County Fire Department was relocated from the airport to the village. <\/p>\n

And that history continues here: https:\/\/legeros.com\/history\/new-hanover\/south-wilmington.html<\/a><\/p>\n

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Maffitt Village fire truck in 1945. Courtesy North Carolina State Archives. N_53_16_2092. Photo by Albert Barden. From the Albert Barden Collection.<\/p>\n

Bully Fires and Watchmen<\/strong><\/p>\n

Searching other issues of the newspaper finds a few mentions of subjects related to fires at the shipyard. \u201cBully fires\u201d (or rubbish fires for heat?) for example, were addressed in the January 1, 1945, issue. It noted that bully fires were permitted at certain times and in specific locations. The fires should be started about 6:30 a.m. and should be extinguished \u201con relatively mild days as soon as the sun is up and the weather starts to moderate.\u201d They should again be used during the lunch hour on mild days, and built up again for the second shift lunch hour when the weather is cold. <\/p>\n

On February 1, 1946, the newspaper profiled \u201cfire watchman\u201d Goodie Ward. He had kept close watch on 109 \u201chot ship bottoms\u201d with only one minor blaze over 325 days on \u201chot shipways.\u201d He found a second of hose burning and extinguished it before any damage was done. His job was to watch for fires from the burning and welding operations on vessels, from when the keel of one was laid until the keel of another \u201cgoes onto the [ship]ways.\u201d There was consideration danger during that period of construction, as the entire wooden foundation of the shipway [supporting structure during shipbuilding] was exposed. <\/p>\n

General History<\/strong><\/p>\n

The shipyard was created in the early days of World War II as part of the government\u2019s Emergency Shipbuilding Program.
\nVirginia\u2019s Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Company opened the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company, AKA the Wilmington Shipyard, on February 3, 1941, as a satellite facility. <\/p>\n

By the numbers: construction cost: $20.3 million on 162 acres of swampland. Nine shipways, three piers, 1,000 feet of mooring bulkheads, 67 cranes, five miles of paved roadway, 19 miles of railroad track.<\/p>\n

From 1941 to 1946, the shipyard built 243 ships including the Liberty cargo vessels. The shipyard closed on October 9, 1946.<\/p>\n

Source: https:\/\/www.starnewsonline.com\/story\/news\/2021\/06\/06\/wilmington-shipyard-impacts-world-war-ii-local-community\/7465716002\/<\/a><\/p>\n

More about the company, https:\/\/www.dncr.nc.gov\/blog\/2023\/12\/11\/north-carolina-shipbuilding-co-d-96<\/a><\/p>\n

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Aerial view of the shipyard on December 29, 1941, 23 days following the launch of the first vessel. Courtesy of New Hanover County Public Library.<\/p>\n

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Shipyard site in 1949 via USDA aerial photo, plus 2024 aerial photo. Both via New Hanover County GIS.<\/p>\n