10/21/12 117 W, 3 I - + 4 - 6 Cary's Civil Defense Rescue Truck
ow many other blue and white Civil Defense rescue rigs were operated around Raleigh and Wake County and surrounding counties? The volunteer Cary Fire Department operated this rescue truck beginning in the mid-1950s, which they built from a military mobile machine shop in 1955. It carried $8,000 worth of equipment including 5,000-watt portable generator, 2,500-watt generator, two-way radio, $600 resuscitator, block and tackle, ropes, a portable oxygen acetylene cutting torch, in all "196 different pieces of equipment, all new." At the time, it was purportedly the only Civil Defense rescue truck operated by a volunteer fire department in the state. Photos from the archives of the Cary Fire Department. Click to enlarge:
