Lettering, emblems, and chevrons added in recent days. Photographed outside this blogger's daily destination for breakfast. The hot bar / cold bar combo is the best.
Who (still) has fire poles around here, or around North Carolina? And who likes or doesn't like them? The potential for injury is always cited as a reason that single-story structures are now the norm. Plus there are ADA requirements, I believe, at least for new structures. But they certainly seem increasingly uncommon. The days of towering, two-story downtown Central Fire Stations seem particularly long gone.
READ MORE + 1 - 0 | § ¶Grinnin' Fool
Shuffling through some print photos finds this, Firefighter Michael J. Legeros posing with Engine 19. That's the last of the open cabs, a 1968 American LaFrance with shop-built canopy and acrylic windows attached with velcro. Observe absence of either air horns or modern siren. Crossing Capital Boulevard against traffic was a trial, with the nose siren screeching, the horn beep beeping, and the eagle-topped bumper bell ringing furiously. And if memory serves, the light bar was a new addition. Single beacon was atop just weeks earlier. The photo is dated, say, September 1989. About four months after graduation. Look Ma, I'm a fireman! Click to enlarge:
As seen on FireNews, this news site reports that the Kinston Fire Department has a new Station 1. The 16,000 square-foot station at 401 E. Vernon Avenue replaces an older facility on East King Street. That station, built in 1962, replaced a 1937 structure on West King Street, which replaced an 1895 structure on South Queen Street. Read more about Kinston firehouses. The web site of the Kinston Professional Fire Fighters Association features the nifty photo below. Click to enlarge:
Found via FireNews, the Dunn Daily Record reports that the town's fire and rescue services have successfully merged. The new organization was placed in service on June 30. They have a Fire Division and EMS Division, and are occupying facilities of the former Dunn Fire Department (East Harnett Street) and former Dunn Rescue Squad (West Cumberland Street).
News & Observer, August 14, 1932. Memorial Auditorium dedicated that day. Beneath the stage is a fire station, which saves the city cost of an additional building to replace Station 2 on South Salisbury Street. Has room for two trucks, and sleeping quarters for both officers and firefighters. The presence of the fire station also adds a 24-hour watchman service to the auditorium, which also saves the city money. Unknown how long this practice was practiced. Probably decades. One side of the (interior?) stage wing is designed for use as a drill tower, for firefighters to practice scaling the sides of tall buildings. Station 2 was pretty much the training location, until the tower was built in 1954.News & Observer, April 4, 1942.
New fire alarm switchboard installed. The switchboard is "completely automatic" unlike the manual switchboard it replaced. Meaning, I believe, some person performed the switching of incoming fire alarm box signals. All hours, all days. It's housed in a "small fireproof building near the Union Depot, and near where the new central [fire] station is to be built." The city building inspectors says the $13,900 switchboard is the only one of its kind in the state. And it should be sufficient to handle 50 or 60 years of city growth. The building, later called the alarm house, "has room to house the fire department's emergency truck and a shop to repair traffic signals."
READ MORE + 0 - 0 | § ¶Raleigh-Wake Emergency Communications Center Also HiringThe communications center is also hiring, with their next academy starting in early October. Both Call Taker and Telecommunicator positions are open. They're hiring 8 of the former and 4 of the latter. Visit the city employment site for application information, or learn about the Raleigh-Wake Emergency Communications Center.
This was released much earlier this year, but it's a pretty cool document for anyone who hasn't seen it. This annual report from the Raleigh-Wake Communications Center
features stats, milestones, an org chart, keen cover photos, and other interesting information.
FireNews has posted some great shots by DFD member Sean Boone Julian Harrison of an apartment fire on Angier Avenue on June 12. Some times the stars align for strong photography...
There appear to be exactly two simliar station closures in county history. Wake Forest Fire Department #2, a separate department formed in 1942 by black members of the town, ceased operation in 1982-83. Their station was located on Taylor Street. Their members and assets were incorporated or partially incorporated into WFFD. (That's an oral history waiting to be recorded!) And WFFD being the town department, as Wake Forest Rural Fire Department was a separate entity at the time, with separate members and equipment.
Western Boulevard Fire Department, formed in 1958, ceased operation in 1960. (On April 1 of that year, the city annexed a bunch of land in west Raleigh, and Engine 8 was placed in service at Western Boulevard and Method Road.) The WFFD station was located on Powell Drive, on the northwest corner with Western Boulevard. Some of their equipment was designated surplus, and was later transferred to the newly formed Swift Creek Fire Department. WBFD members reorganized as Fairground (singular) Fire Department in 1961. These history pages, though a bit outdated, tell more. Click to enlarge images:
Yesteday at 1900 hours, an official out-of-service message for Western Wake Fire Department Station 2 was broadcast. The message said the station was "10-7" and that Engine 293, Pumper 297, and Utility 2 were out of service, and that Rescue 295, Brush 299, and Pumper 196 were now in service at Station 1. Short and sweet. Alas, the transmission wasn't recorded on the live scanner web site.
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶Digital Photo Post-Processing
And while we're exploring the Far East, here's an English-language video introducing the fire department at Hong Kong International Airport. Though their wheeled apparatus is interesting, its the two gargantuan rescue boats that stop the show.
Here's a treat via YouTube, footage from the Tokyo Fire Department's annual New Year's Fire Review. Fire trucks, fire boats, fire helicopters. Synchronized streams, synchronized rappelling, synchronized aerials. Bet it's a blast in person. Music by Richard Wagner, "Ride of the Valkyries" without vocals.
Don't believe everything you read, or everything you remember. This nifty New York Times article is about the science of memory and its relationship to what we remember as truths versus falsehoods. The brain does not store information as a computer hard drive does, it begins, but instead keeps rewriting and reshaping the information as it is recalled. And during that process, its context is lost. They call it source amnesia. Fascinating.
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶Code 3 for a Cure Visits Raleigh on SundayThe Code 3 for a Cure tour stops in Raleigh on Sunday, June 29. The firefighters and their Sutphen pumper are expected at Station 1 on S. Dawson Street from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. They are collecting the names of personnel both active and retired who have lost their lives to cancer. The Code 3 crew started their trek in southern California on June 13, and are stopping at various departments along the way to Times Square, where they will read the names and ring the bell on their truck. Read their intinerary. They will repeat the process on the return trip, and read additional names in Los Angeles upon concluding their 8,800-mile journey. Good luck.
Morrisville passed their FY09 budget, reports NBC17. The replacement for Fire Station 1 was retained ($3 mil), but a new piece of apparatus didn't make the cut. The station structure began its life in 1960 as a two-bay building facing Morrisville-Carpenter Road. Planned widing of the road, and the impact on egress and response times, are cited as a reason for the relocation. See their budget docs.
Knightdale has approved a fire service agreement with Eastern Wake, to provide fire protection to the Poplar Creek Village, Cheswick, and Riverview Commons subdivisions. This from their eViews Weekly Update. The town had planned to build a second fire station near those areas, but that project was postponed.
Wake Forest budget information is here, including a message from the Town Manager about fire protection, funding, and the future. They appear to be adopting a "wait and see" approach with regard to the funding increase requested by the prior fire chief. Learn about Wake Forest FD.
Apex doesn't appear to post their budget information on the web, or at least this blogger can't find the documents. See what you can find. Ditto for Holly Springs, which also doesn't appear to post their budget information. This year at least. Look for yourself. In both cases it is worth noting that public records requirements does not equate to a requirement for Internet posting. The latter is simply a service provided by many municipalities.
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶Custom Chassis Ambulance
From a reader, here's something new and exciting, a Spartan/Braun custom chassis ambulance. It's their Furion chassis. Read the JEMS product preview. More about Spartan. More about Braun. Click to enlarge:
Speaking of minor amusements, there's a pretty good laugh to be had when watching The Incredible Hulk. One scene features a 6x6 military communications-type unit in downtown New York City, except the vehicle is... an Oshkosh Striker crash truck. No one else laughed that day in the theater. Go figure.
+ 0 - 0 | § ¶DalmatiansHumor from the current issue of the New Yorker. Scroll down to Dalmatians.
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶Stony Hill's Rescue
Stony Hill Rescue 26 is expected in early July, the third of three 2008 Spartan/Hackney heavy rescues. Hopkins and Wendell have already received theirs. The picture below was taken June 19.
