Lee Wilson photo

AP/Pima County Sheriff photo

Good morning Raleigh. Got nothing to comment upon. Enjoy these news stories...

• For Holly Springs rescue [engine], 'price is not an object' - FireNews.net posting of a Cary News story about the town's purchase of a customer-built rescue pumper. The $475,000 apparatus, built by Spartan ERV, utilized a cooperative bidding process and chose its vendor through a government cooperative based in Texas.
    
• Garner Fire [Department] captain almost through national program - Garner-Cleveland Record story about Capt. Shawn Godwin, who has finished three of four years of the Executive Fire Officer Program at the National Fire Academy.
   
• Draft budgt for town of Apex - This PDF document includes fire department items including: rehab of Station 2, design of Station 5 on Apex-BBQ Road, and a Captain position for training. 
   
• Proposed budget for town of Cary -  The web page includes Capital Projects information for the coming budget year, which includes a reserve rescue truck (maybe also used a reserve service ladder truck?), a rear entrance driveway for Station 5, and a new pumper for Station 8.
   
• Proposed budget for city of Raleigh - The newly published documents note such fire department highlights as two Deputy Fire Marshal positions added, replacement of all SCBAs, recruit approximately 30 firefighters in FY14, begin multi-year plan to recondition three fire stations per year, plus CIP programs to replace Station 12 in FY14, replace Station 14 in FY14 and FY15, and expand Station 11 in FY14.

Command was located in the parking lot, on the left-rear corner of the building. Staging was along Calumet Drive. Hydrants were also caught on Calumet, with Engine 7 boosting to Engine 3, which boosted to Ladder 2 (was that right?), and Engine 11 boosting to Ladder 4. Rehab and medical monitoring was also on Calumet Drive, at Wake County EMS Truck 1. Dispatched at 3:31 p.m., the fire was controlled at 4:22 p.m. Seventy-five percent of the building was damaged. The cause was determined as natural, by lightning strike. First alarm: E11, E3, E21, E9, L2, L4, R1, SQ15, B2, B5, C420; Working fire: A1, C20, C401; Second alarm: E12, E13, E26, E10, L8, L1, B1; Self-dispatch (?) by E7; Also Car 3, Car 4, Car 5, Car 14 (Safety); Medical; EMS 3, EMS 5, EMS 36, EMS 63; D1, D9, M92, MD2, MD20, T1. See preliminary photos by Legeros. More later, plus also from Lee Wilson!
 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leewilson/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/legeros/

From the fire department's web site, the station houses Engine 2 (2006 Sutphen 70-foot quint), Rescue 2 (2012 Ford ambulance?), and Engine 10 (1982 Ford pumper/tanker). The department's fleet notably added a mobile ambulance bus in 2011, housed at Station 1. See prior posting on same.

The town has four fire department facilities: three fire stations and a "Station 4" training station used by the Crystal Coast Fire Academy. We'll pay a visit before long, and photograph the thing up and down. Either me or Lee Wilson, who usually takes a beach trip this time of year. 
 

The five clips have been made available as a DVD, and can also be viewed online. (Copies were distrubted at year's Fire Expo in Baltimore, where Mr. Blogger grabbed his copy.) Among the participants is the Charlotte Fire Department, and you'll see their PIO Captain Rob Brisley, among others. The program was created in New Jersey, and with parterships from organizations there. And here's an Instructor's Guide (PDF), produced by Everybody Goes Home.
 

 
Watch the videos, which are linked from this landing page, are available in both English and Spanish, and which include a pre-test:

• Fire is... Black (23 min.)
• Fire is... Hot (15 min.)
• Fire is... Fast (11 min.)
• Fire is... Smoke and Gas (18 min.)
• Fire is... an Emergency (18 min.)

Reported the next day's News & Observer, "the bullet struck him just above the bridge of the nose, almost exactly between his eyebrows." The shot penetrated his skull. Lt. Hicks was transported to Duke Hospital in Durham, where he was pronounced dead at 12:10 p.m. His death certificate lists the cause as "cerebral anoxia" and "cerebral laceration," from the gunshot wound.

Lt. Hicks was buried at Sunset Gardens in Henderson on November 9, 1970. His obituary lists that he was survived by his wife Mary C. Hicks, and his son Jimmy Hicks.

Civil Unrest

Regarding the weapon he was carrying, this was a period of civil unrest in the Vance County town. Tempers had been rising and protests becoming more heated over integration of the town's schools, the dismissal of a black teacher in late September, and the arrests of blacks involved in school walkouts. Also in the mix were reactions from a shooting death in Oxford in May, when a black man was shot by a white man.

On Friday, November 7, the violence started after police used tear gas on people protesting the school controversy. Later, a tobacco warehouse "in the black section" burned and the firefighters were met with sniper fire. The blaze was blamed on arson, which spread and destroyed several nearby frame home.

The National Guard was dispatched by the Governor, with some 300 troops arriving on Saturday afternoon. Calm conditions were reported that night, and the town manager continued a curfew which had been first ordered on Friday.

Hicks and other firefighters had also armed themselves on Friday, after being fired upon while answering fire calls. After Hicks was shot, the others stopped carrying their weapons on the advice of the police chief. After the guard members arrived, they turned their weapons in.

(The threat of violent affected nearby fire departments as well. Recalled an old-timer with the Bear Pond FD, during my recent visit to town, they carried a rifle on their original pumper, stored in the hard suction!)

Calm was reported again on Sunday, November 9, though both guard members and state troopers continued patrolling the town. As the story goes, however, riot shot guns were carried on the engines during this time, and for many years later. 

Thanks again, Randy. We'll forward this information to both the state and national fallen firefighter foundations.

Sources

• News & Observer, November 7-9, 1970
• Joseph Morris Hicks death certificate.
• Oral histories.

Which fire department was the first one organized in Wake County? Both municipal and county?

Answer:

Those milestones include...

1819 - First fire company, volunteer, Raleigh. It's municipal-affiliated, but is it "municipal" ? Let's instead cite...

1852 - Raleigh reorganizes fire companies, and forms what I would call the first real FD organization. So, that's a good year for first municipal fire department in Wake County. They were volunteers.

But what about non-Raleigh municipalities?

1908-1912 (?) - Wendell

1910s - Zebulon

Those dates are based on my research of some years ago. Maybe someone knows more accurate start years? Those were also volunteer.

What was the first career fire department in Wake County?

1912 - Full-paid fire department formed in Raleigh.

What was the first rural-era volunteer department? When Civil Defense funding was available, starting in the 1950s?

1952 - Garner Fire Department organized.

But what about the first rural, non-municipal affiliated department?

1956 - Six Forks Road Fire Department organized.

Clear as mud?

Multi-Fatality Fires

Three times in the state's history have four firefighters died in the line of duty at the same incident. On May 25, 1979, four members of the Shelby Fire Department were killed when a building exploded during an apparently routine fire in a clothing store. On September 7, 1982, four members of the National Spinning Company textile plant fire brigade in Washington were overcome by smoke and died in an early  morning fire. On July 1, 2012, four members of the North Carolina Air National Guard 145th Airlift Wing from Charlotte were killed when tanker crashed in South Dakota on the White Draw fire near Edgemont.

Winston-Salem's Fire Chiefs

Three Chiefs of Department and one Assistant Chief in Winston-Salem have died in the line of duty. Fire Chief Harry Nissen in 1932, in an automobile accident; Fire Chief William Hobson in 1938, of a heart attack; Fire Chief Arnold Bullard in 1980, of a heart attack; Asst. Chief John Goforth in 1956, of a heart attack.

Father and Son

North Carolina Division of Forest Resources pilot Marshall Newman and mechanic Larry Moody died after a midair collision near Kinston on November 19, 1973. Twenty-seven years later, his son also died in an aircraft accident involving the Forest Service. On September 7, 2000, forestry pilot Tim Newman and crew chief Mike Fossett were killed when their Huey UH-1H helicopter crashed near the Blue Ridge Parkway, near Waynesville in Haywood County.

Fire Alarm Systems

Three fatalities have involved personnel working with electric-telegraph fire alarm systems, which utilized low-voltage electrical wires typically strung from telephone and other poles: W. Graham Cathey in Charlotte in 1928; Oscar Hayworth in High Point in 1936; William Capps in Fayetteville in 1956.

Unusual Circumstances

In 1929, Luther Horne of Fayetteville was killed by a collapse at the ancestral home of legendary Fire Chief James McNeill. In 1931, Edgar Elliott of New Bern fell into the Neuse River and drowned while battling a riverfront fire. In 1934, Pruitt Black of Charlotte died when he tripped on his bunker pants and fell down the pole hole. In 1976, McDaniel Narron of Antioch died after suffering a heart attack while operating the pump at a fire at his own home. In 1989, Roy Bailey died when he was shot and killed while directing traffic.

Read more about these incidents in this essay from 2006.
 

Statistics

By county, 74 of North Carolina's 100 counties have lost firefighters in the line of duty. The highest counts are:

• Mecklenburg - 17
• Forsyth - 13
• Cumberland - 10
• Wake - 10

By agency, 163 fire departments and fire protection agencies have lost firefighters in the line of duty. The highest counts are:

• Charlotte Fire Department - 12
• North Carolina Department of Forest Resources - 11
• Winston-Salem Fire Department - 8
• Wilmington Fire Department - 7

Note: Five agencies have lost four members, twelve agencies have lost three members, and eighteen agencies have lost two members.

By status, where known for 239 people, volunteer firefighter fatalities (57.7%) outnumber volunteer firefighter fatalities (42.3%).

By age, where known, the youngest firefighter died at 18 and the oldest firefighter died at 76. The average age is 42.8 years. The average age of career firefighter fatalities is 42.7. The average age of volunteer firefighter fatalities is  42.9.

By cause, where known, the highest counts are:

• heart attack/heart condition/cardiac/collapsed - 98 (40%)
• vehicle accidents on road - 55 (22%)
• burns or asphyxiation - 22 (9%)
• aircraft accidents - 13 (5%)
• struck by objects or vehicles - 13 (5%)
• structural collapse - 13 (5%)

For ages 35 and under, the highest counts for cause are:

• vehicle accidents on road - 28 (36%)
• burns or asphyxiation - 11 (14%)
• heart attack/heart condition/cardiac/collapsed - 8 (10%)
• structural collapse - 7 (9%)
• struck by objects or vehicles - 6 (8%)

For ages 50 and above, the highest counts for cause are:

• heart attack/heart condition/cardiac/collapsed - 60 (71%)
• vehicle accidents on roads - 9 (11%)
• struck by objects or vehicles - 5 (6%)

Note: Those labels for causes were created and assigned by myself, based on the records or interpretations therein. 

By day, the deadliest days of the year were:

• July 1 - 6
• September 7 - 6
• November 6 - 5
• January 1 - 4
• March 21 - 4
• May 25 - 4
• August 21 - 4
• November 30 - 4

By year, the deadliest single years were:

• 2006- 11 deaths
• 2008 - 11
• 2012 - 10
• 2007 - 9
• 2003 - 8

By decade, the deadliest decades have been:

• 2000s - 68 deaths
• 1970s - 44
• 1980s - 39
• 1990s - 20
• 2010s - 19

We've covered quite a bit of ground in these eight and a half years. Local stuff a-plenty, from numbering schemes to incident discussions to local governance. Lots of rumors, at least in the early days. (We're more fact-based presently.) History and photography in equal parts, as well.

We've been heated at times, and then re-heated for some of the more popular dead horses. It's been a couple years, however, since we've had super-long discussions. Those were in the days before reader comments required approval. Here are those with the highest comment counts, and all are from the pre-moderation period:
 

 
What's next for this blog? Would like to upgrade the platform, to add Facebook commenting and maybe user-controlled user profiles. Might commence cleaning out the oldest postings, and removing expired event notices and fluffier stuff. The historical pieces--both local and statewide--are gold, and will be preserved somehow. Maybe re-posted on other pages. Maybe moved to another site, some day. Beyond that, it'll be same old same old. I'll keep talking until there's nothing else to say, or no one left reading. Thanks for participating.

¹ Sounds like an impressive number, but it ain't. Here's the math: 6000 divided by 8.5 years divided by 365 days equals just about two postings per day. Any fool with a lot of free time and a wardrobe of tropical shirts can pull that off.

The fire department started responding to all medical emergencies in November 1999. (Was that the year they started their first responder program? Didn't they take a stab at one the decade before?) Their annual EMS call volume is 18,500, of which an estimated 70 percent are not true medical emergencies. Read the stories, which include a few reader comments (so far) on the Journal site.

Reader perspectives are requested. First is a contextual question, what's the norm for first responder call types, locally, regionally, or nationally? Second, a specific question. Will WSFD respond to life-threatening events at medical facilities? Or are those omitted, period? Third, what results have readers observed about changes in EMS service levels by fire departments? (What happens when you greatly cut your call volume, for example?) Should be good fodder for discussion.

Jun 26, 2011
Updated, adding another slide also found for sale on eBay. Crash 1, a 1954 American LaFrance, one of the "O" models used by the military.

Also found for sale on eBay, yet another 35mm slide. This is a 1975 Oshkosh 1250/1500/180 operated by the New Hanover County Fire Department. We blogged about this before, noting that there once were two Air Force installations in Wilmington, and the 48th Interceptor Squadron was protected by a crash truck at the airport.

That information was dated 1971. Betcha this truck was provided by the military, but operated by the county-run fire department. Believe this was a prior incarnation of NHCFD, that solely protected the airport. The current New Hanover County Fire Department was created 1997. [ Incorrect. See comments below. ] As for the airport, they're protected by an airport-operated department, no? Anyway, great picture. Click both to enlarge:
 

• Seven Carteret County fire departments fail to meet standards - FireNews.net story from the Carteret County News-Times about the results of a state inspection in March and April. They have one year to meet the requirements of the OSFM, which defines their abilities to adequately respond and maintain the minimum equipment and personnel to operate as a "basic, rural fire department." The OSFM will work with the departments, to help them meet their requirements, which were primarily due to problems with "staffing, paperwork and having outdated equipment." Click through to the News-Times story, to read their reader comments as well. Guessing this is not uncommong state- and nation-wide, among rural department serving small or day-transient populations.
   
• Five DC firefighters discplined for Facebook posting - Fire Law story that's also been covered by Statter911. The five were placed on desk duty, after the first one posted an inflammatory comment about a DC police officer. Four others added their thoughts. See the Statter911 story for numerous reader comments, which include the expected pile-upon upon the Fire Chief. (That's been a reader trend for some time, and in the context of numerous news stories about DCFD.) But what about this story, and the social media angle therein? Well, it's still the same thing we've talked about before. Just because you're off-duty and maybe not even identified as a firefighter doesn't mean you can't be disciplined for things you say that your boss doesn't like. (That's one or two double negatives in that sentence?)
   
• Thirteen Cleveland firefighters indicted for paying co-workers to cover shifts - Statter911 story that's also been covered by Firegeezer. The practice is called "caddying" says this Cleveland Plains Dealer story. They also speculate that this is the first time anywhere in the country that firefighters have faced such charges. Correct? The charges are the result of a six-month probe by a city-hired special investigator, hired after city auditors exposed payroll abuses in fire department records from 2006 to 2010. The Plains Dealer story has 102 comments so far, and probably growing.
   
• Thirteen Boston deputy chiefs express no confidence in Fire Chief - Another Statter911 story, this one time from Beantown. The thirteen direct reports to the Fire Chief sent a letter to the Mayor, expressing their displeasure that their boss didn't take command at the Boston Marathon bombing. Their letter has also criticized other actions of the Chief. Based on the many reader comments in this Boston Herald story, a couple things appear to be factors: he's the first Fire Chief hired from outside the ranks of the department, and upon his appointment, changed a rule that required the Fire Chief to take command at incidents he arrived at. Call this the modern fire service leadership dilemma. Do you want your leaders raised through the ranks, and presumably operationally oriented? Or are the best administrators trained and practiced as administrators? Can you have both?
   
• Man almost dies trying to rescue kids who pretend to be drowning - This KIRO-TV headline caught my eye out of Renton, WA. The rescuer, a disabled man, wasn't breathing by the time he was rescued. He was revived and in intensive car. No word on what will happen to the kids. If the byline of the reporter looks familiar, that's my cousin Chris Legeros, a veteran television journalist in Seattle. (The story appeared in my inbox courtesy of Google, which, ahem, does a daily search for the keyword "Legeros." Also have a daily search for "Raleigh Fire Department." Technology is good.)

April 30
Specifically, digital scans of death certificates newly uploaded, of our state's fallen firefighters from 1911 to 1977. Eighty-seven of the things, copied from microfilm or online databases at Olivia Raney Local History Library in Raleigh. They were compiled beginning some eight years ago, to assist the North Carolina Fallen Firefighters Foundation with their historical records. The documents offer a surprising wealth of information, including vital statistics, family information, and burial location. Occupations are noted, as are causes of death. The latter vary in their levels of detail. Some are simple medical notes, others describe the accident or situation that caused the death. They've been stored in a single web folder, and are linked from my fallen firefighters history page.