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We Salute 125 Years of the Chapel Hill Fire Department

*Glen Lennox’s Fire Station 2 Then and Now*

March 2, 2022 commemorates the Chapel Hill Fire Department’s (CHFD) 125th year of service. Since its founding, the brave men and women of the CHFD have saved numerous lives, prevented countless instances of property damage and been an integral part of the community. What makes our town’s fire department special is how it was born of the community and has remained ingrained in all aspects of it.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) opened in 1795 and the Town of Chapel Hill was founded 24 years later. For nearly a century, the town lacked an organized fire company. When a fire was sparked, any available volunteer citizens and students would assemble to try to extinguish the flames, but as the town and University grew, this proved to be a disorganized and insufficient response. After fires destroyed UNC’s Person Hall, the UNC president’s house, and a local barn, citizens petitioned for Chapel Hill’s first official Fire Company. The town approved the petition, and on March 2, 1896, the Chapel Hill Fire Department was established. There was just one snag though … the town did not approve any funding.

For the next five years, due to a lack of formal funding, Chapel Hill’s fire response essentially operated as it had been, with volunteers organizing in emergency situations. It was not until 1901 that there was official funding and support from the town when they bought the CHFD a hook-and-ladder outfit plus two reels of hose.

In 1903, the chief firefighter’s salary was established at $5 per month. With the Department’s meager funding, the CHFD had to be self-sufficient and creative to continue to operate. For example, they competed in the annual state firemen’s tournament for cash prizes to get more properly resourced. Rumor has it the fund-desperate department sent the college track team to compete on their behalf to win!

*1910 NC Firefighter Competition in New Bern, NC*

After four straight years of victories in these competitions (legitimate or otherwise), the CHFD gained enough funding to purchase one of the first motorized fire trucks in North Carolina – a 1914 Model T which still runs today!

As time went on, funding became less of an issue as the town directed more money and resources to the CHFD, which allowed for more trucks, salaried firefighters and additional stations.

*CHFD’s Second Firetruck and Second Fire Station, at the intersection of Rosemary and Columbia*

What became more of an issue was reach, which especially affected Glen Lennox. When Glen Lennox was established in 1950, it was outside of Chapel Hill’s corporate limits. Because of liability and statutory limitations, CHFD considered fires in the Glen Lennox community a low priority, if they responded at all. Glen Lennox residents petitioned the town to expand fire coverage, but with minimal success. The town ruled the fire department could only respond to fires in Glen Lennox if UNC, state or federal property was at risk. This inspired a group of Glen Lennox neighbors to establish their own volunteer fire company, which operated out of a service station that is now the Family Fare.

*Glen Lennox’s Volunteer Fire Company, 1950-1956, with their Firetruck at their Fire Station*

The volunteer company operated dutifully for the next six years until Chapel Hill annexed Glen Lennox, and extended town fire protection to the community. In 1959, Glen Lennox’s own Station 2 was built.

A string of fraternity house fires in the 1990s, including the Phi Gamma Delta Fire on graduation day in 1996 that tragically killed five UNC students, led to the CHFD lobbying the town and University to install sprinkler systems in every UNC building, including off-campus buildings and fraternity houses.

In the mid 1990s, UNC Health Care was kind enough to make a donation matching the Town of Chapel Hill’s funding for multiple brand-new fire trucks on one condition – they’d be painted Carolina Blue! The CHFD of course agreed, and the trucks were so popular that since then every new fire truck the CHFD purchases is decked out in those beautiful UNC colors.

*The Evolution of Chapel Hill Firetrucks*

Today, the Chapel Hill Fire Department continues to operate as diligent and courageous servants in our community. Its service also extends beyond putting out fires and responding to emergency calls. They respond as mutual aid to assist other Orange and Durham County fire departments. They’re also partners with the Raleigh and Durham fire departments, as a member of Task Force 8, a regional disaster response team. The CHFD regularly makes school trips and puts on fire safety education shows for local children. Every year the CHFD holds the Firefighter’s Bash, a large outdoor event that raises money for cancer research.

Thank you to the Chapel Hill Fire Department for 125 years of lifesaving and community protection! To learn more about the CHFD, visit their history museum, The Fire Place in Meadowmont. Special thanks to fire service historian Mike Legeros, who has a stellar history website, and CHFD historian Jeff Stevens, who asks in light of recent upticks in pedestrian, bicycle, and car accidents that you please be careful behind the wheel and as a pedestrian.