Engine 1 responding to a medical emergency on a Thursday night.
Fire Station 1, or Central Fire Station, is located across from Nash Square on South Dawson Street. It’s within view of Carl Regutti’s Fallen Firefighters Statue. As you may have guessed from the name, it was Raleigh’s first Fire Department - although the current building is only about 55 years old.
Seen above are Daryl, Chaz, and Roy sitting on Engine 13, which has a 500 gallon capacity tank.
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There was a large array of police officers and firefighters battling a house fire 2700 2514 Clark Avenue at around midnight Friday. I do not know the specifics, but I believe it is some sort of halfway or rehabilitation house. I’ve seen a couple of the residents asking for money along Hillsborough Street before. I talked to a few of them, and they said that it was caused by someone that lived there. The person alleged to have started it was hauled off by police, unharmed. . He appears to have been smoking in bed.The folks I spoke with said that they don’t see how it will be habitable again, as there was a lot of smoke damage, melted walls, etc.
UPDATE: An anonymous person emailed me with the following information:
Allen was taken to The Burn Unit in Chapel Hill with 3/4ths of his body covered with 2nd and 3rd degree burns and if he lives through it it will be at least two months he is in The Burn Unit at UNC Hospital.
I’m going to guess Allen was the person who was smoking in bed and caught the place on fire. We certainly hope that he has a full recovery. There is no doubt he has a long journey ahead of him.
John, Donald, and Aaron are pictured above at RFD Station Five. A local historian, Mike Legeros (who also publishes my favorite online Raleigh read - Hidden Raleigh) has the following information on RFD Station Five:
Fire Station 5 opened on November 18, 1926 at the corner of Oberlin Road and Park Drive. The two-story, single-bay station was addressed 1914 Park Drive. By the late 1950s and due to the need of an aerial ladder at the station, planning for a replacement facility was underway. On July 24, 1961, Engine 5 relocated to Station 6 as construction of a new Station 5 was nearly complete on the same lot. On September 26, 1961, Station 5 opened at 300 Oberlin Road. Demolition of the old station was performed by firefighters and the bricks were saved and later used to build a smokehouse next to the training tower.
Be sure to check out his site as it has many photos of Raleigh you won’t find anywhere else.
Raleigh Fire Department ladder truck heading down East Martin Street. This was taken from the same vantage point as the CAT bus in motion post.
Pictured above is the North Carolina Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Nash Square, made by artist Carl Regutti.
I like it. It honors the men and women who risk their lives to save ours and preserve the structures we built and the valuable things within them.
There was some controversy over the location. It’s across the street from the first Fire Department in Raleigh, so I think the location makes sense.
