here have been
many changes to
the Wrightsville
Beach Fire
Department since it
was formed in the
early part of the last
century. It’s evolved
from an on-call volunteer group that
employeed carts, bucket brigades and existing
water pipes (no fire hydrants) to battle
the Great Fire of 1934, into a combination
professional and volunteer force that can
respond in minutes with three fire trucks
capable of pumping 4,000 gallons of water
onto a fire in one minute. Technology,
like thermal imaging cameras, has significantly
improved the department’s ability
to extinguish a fire, while protective gear
and use of self-contained breathing apparatus,
as an example, have improved the
department’s ability to protect the men and
women putting that fire out.
The changes, though, are not all about
the equipment or even the new state-ofthe
art public safety facility on Bob Sawyer
38
WBM september 2011
Drive, which has just been occupied since
September 2010. It is also about the force
itself, and the men and women wielding
that equipment in almost daily attempts
to keep the residents of Wrightsville Beach
safe from a variety of natural and manmade
disasters.
Captain Sterling Powell, who’s been with
the department since 1982, says one of the
more significant changes has involved the
allison Potter
WBM file photo
Courtesy of the WBFD
Left: Captain Sterling Powell. Below: Chief
Everett Ward in charge of operations at a
structure fire on Palmetto Drive in 1981.
Bottom: Wrightsville Beach firemen use a
home on West Oxford Street for training on
Jan. 30, 2008.