Fire Apparatus

Click these links to go to other history pages on this site.

History Main Page
Town of Apex History
Apex Volunteer Fire Department History
Chief Officers
Fire Apparatus

First Rural Pumper
First Rural Tanker
Other Apparatus

First Rural Pumper
In 1952, Apex Volunteer Fire Department members built the first fire truck to service the rural district. According to the Raleigh Times (8/7/52), the Apex Volunteer Fire Department was the first department in Wake County to provide its rural district with a formal means of fire protection. In the left-most photo, Chief Carter Schaub is testing the new truck with O. W. Yates Sr. Click the thumbnails to view a larger photo in a separate browser window.

The following excerpt is quoted from the North State News, August 14, 1952 issue.

"...the members of the Volunteer Fire Department started the Rural Fire Service project about March 1st. A used truck purchased and taken to the Apex Motor Lines Shop which is owned by Fire Chief Carter S. Schaub. Members of the department went to work, many working at night, and in that shop and the adjoining Triplett Service Shop, the truck began to materialize into a fine piece of fire fighting equipment, now valued at over $5,000.00 and which is a credit to any town.

...The truck is owned and operated by the Apex Volunteer Fire Department, Inc., Rural Service Unit, separate and apart from the Town of Apex. It will be used to service calls within a radius of seven miles of Apex, and the department has published a schedule of membership fees which it is charging to those who are interested in securing rural fire service and protection.

Farmer membership is $20 a year. That includes any number of calls during a year, with no extra charge for protection to all his real and personal property on the farm. Home-owners living outside the town limits are offered the same protection at $10 a year. For $100.00 a membership is paid up for six years.

...The truck is equipped with a high-pressure fog system and carries 500 gallons of water, which used as a fog equals to 2,000 gallons of water in a stream. Provisions are on the truck for pumping water from ponds and water can be pumped a distance of 500 feet at present, however the department is hoping to add enough hose to be able to pump water several thousand feet from a water supply. Such additional hose is where membership fees will be spent.

...Members of the department now are: Wade Baker, Charles Bennett, T.E. Brame, R.J. Hare, Bill Harris, R.J. Holt, Virgil Ayscue, Roy Cooke, Brack Jones, Guthrie Jordan, Charlie Matthews, Carter S. Schaub, Chief; Sid Seymour, R.W. Stephens, Ed Seagroves, William Stephens, Verne Tunstall, C.C. Triplett, H.E. Walker, Roy Walls, Frank J. Wachs, O.W. Yates, James Mason, Lewis Clark, Charles Baucom and Lloyd Goolsby."

Back to Top