SECTION II
- journal
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1982
Fire Prevention,
A Y ear Around Job
Original Fireman Heralds
Hoke County's History
Hoke County firemen and their
guests Thursday night heard
Robert Gatlin, one of the two
surviving original members of the
first organized Raeford Fire De
partment, describe the history of
firefighting and fires, including the
blaze that destroyed half a dozen
businesses in downtown Raeford
December 30, 1925.
That, Gatlin pointed out, was
the stimulant that started the
organizing of the modern Raeford
Fire Department.
The occasion of Gatlin's speech
and the presence of the firemen and
( their guests was the Fire Prevention
Week dinner of the Hoke County
Firemen's Association.
During the dinner, Hillcrest and
North Raeford departments' fire
men were called out to put out a
blaze in the kitchen of James Gay's
house on Airport Road. Firemen
reported later they confined the
damage to the kitchen.
Gatlin and T.B. Upchurch, Jr.,
are the only survivors of the 20 men
who were the original firefighters of
the Raeford department formed
shortly atter the downtown fire.
The Raeford department also was
the first ot 10 fire departments
formed in Hoke County. Gatlin was
a high school student when he was
appointed. He served 38 years and
retired 16 years ago but is still
active in the department.
The other original members of
the Raeford department were R.B.
Lewis, fire chief. Paul Johnson,
assistant chief. Harry Greene,
captain, John Blue, secretary, and
Lonnie Teal, E.E. Fridell, and Star
McMillan, trustees. Dee Currie,
Alfred Cole. Julian Johnson,
McNair Smith. Jap Davis, C.E.
Upchurch. Lewis Upchurch,
Benton Thomas, Walter Baker,
John Walker and W.L. Poole.
Gatlin said the downtown fire
destroyed buildings on the east side
of Main Street from East Central
Avenue into Hoke Drug Co. where
it was finally stopped.
He said. "Fire departments from
Aberdeen. Pinehurst, Red Springs,
Favetteville and Ft. Bragg fought
this fire for over four hours before
bringing it under control."
"As a result of this holocaust,"
he added, "the Raeford Volunteer
Fire Department was born. Twenty
men were picked for the personnel
of this organization to serve without
remuneration. (Volunteers).
Two days after the fire, a
representative of the American
LaFrance Co., which still makes
fire engines, came to Raeford to
discuss a sale, and a then-modern
fire engine was bought, Gatlin
recalled. This engine still runs,
appearing in parades and special
displays, and can be used in
emergencies if needed.
The Raeford fire fighters who
answered the downtown alarm
December 30. 1925. were members
of an informal fire-fighting volun
teer group that had been serving for
many years, dating back to the
times when they had no fire truck
and raced on foot to a fire, hauling
a wheeled reel bearing the hose.
The 1925 volunteers did have a
truck, however. Volunteers went to
fires on their own as the occasions
arose.
The water for fighting the fire in
1925 came from hydrants; the
firemen didn't have a pumper
truck, and getting adequate pres
sure was a problem.
After getting the LaFrance truck
and organizing the department
with Lewis as chief, Gatlin con
tinued, the equipment and the men
to use it began to respond to fire
alarms and to reduce the fire losses
in the town to a minimum.
He told his audience that addi
tional trucks were bought to com
plement or replace the older ones in
1938, 1947, 1965, and 1974.
"The City of Raeford," Gatlin
added, "is second to none in
equipment, and personnel to man
that equipment, for any city com
parable in size."
He said the first truck (in 1926),
exhibited at the Raeford fire station
on East Prospect Avenue, cost
$6,250. Also shown at the station,
Gatlin said, is the most recently
purchased truck, and this one cost
$47,000. He said, "This is in
dicative of the progress made in 56
years."
Paraphrasing Abraham Lin
coln's prose style in the Gettysburg
Address. Gatlin said near the end
of his talk, "You will little note nor
long remember what we say here
tonight, but you should not forget
what those 20 men started and the
results of it today."
He closed with: It is for us. the
citizenry of the city And. county, to
be dedicated to the great task
before us. to encourage and sup
port this organization with a full
measure of devotion; the same
devotion that permeated the minds
and hearts of that original 20 men,
56 years ago."
Gatlin opened his address this
way: Two score and 16 years ago,
our Fathers brought forth to this
City, a new organization, conceived
in necessity and dedicated to the
proposition that all citizens of the
Town of Raeford deserve and
should have the best fire protection
possible. Now we are engaged in
celebrating 56 years of successful
operation of this organization."
The other volunteer fire de
partments now serving Hoke
County were organized the follow
ing this order of time with their
present fire chiefs are listed: Hill
crest - Ed McNeill; Rockfish
Frank Bundy; Puppy Creek --
Buddy Newton; North Raeford -
Johnny Baker; West Hoke --
Johnny Kershaw; Stonewall - Neil
McKenzie; Pine Hill -- Walter
Purcell; and Antioch - Joel Dial
Jr.
Robert (Buster) Jackson is chief
of the Raeford department, the
only fulltime fire chief in the
county.
The dinner was held at Gibson
Smokey Bear and friends during Saturday's activities. (Photo by Pam Frederick).
Cafeteria of Hoke County High
School and in cooperation with the
Raeford-Hoke County Chamber of
Commerce. It is an annua) event
for the county firemen's associa
tion.
The dinner was catered by Mrs.
Gara Pope, Hoke County school
food service supervisor, and her
staff.
Steve Parker, vice president of
the Chamber of Commerce, wel
comed and gave recognition to the
guests, and McNeill, president of
the association, made the response
and introduced Gatlin.
The association expressed grati
tude to the following for their
financial support of the dinner;
Farm Bureau Insurance Co..
United Carolina Bank, Avery Con
nell Insurance Agency^ W.L. Poole
Insurance Agency, Southern Na
tional Bank, and Heritage Savings
& Loan Association.
Gatlin also is a former chief of
the Raeford department.
Think
k
Thinl
Think
Thanks
A Public Service
Hgjjof This Newspaper
&. The Advertising Council
Antique truck of the Raeford VolUnteer Fire Department rolls under its own power in Saturday's parade. The
truck was bought new early in 1926 following the downtown Raeford fire of December 30, 1925. ( Photo by Pam
Frederick).
^ ?wmm KlUOMk
former Raeford l ire Chief Robert (Jullin, standing m front of the bulletin board, addresses the audience at the
annual Hoke County foremen's Association dinner. Gat tin was one of the 20 men in the modern Hue lord
i 'olunteer l ire Department when it was established in 1926. t Staff photo by Pani Frederick/.
f ireman tosses a water-filled balloon in a hire Prevention Week demonstration. (Staff photo hv Pam / rederick ,
Blindfolded fireman demonstrates his accuracy with a hose at the hire Prevention Week program at tdin
borough Shopping Center. (Photo by Pam Frederick f.