Outer Banks, North Carolina - Department profiles

[mnsand]

Duck station photo - note the chain's in front of each bay. Duck gets quite a few visitors and uses this to get folks to go through the station office rather than directly into the bays.





Mike Sanders

Ashburn, VA

[mnsand]

Some updates for Corolla, located in Currituck County - Station 6.



They just placed into service a brand new Engine 640



2007 Pierce Contender

1500/1250

job number 18563TR



This is kept at the main station. The 1998 Pierce is now running from the Corolla substation.





Mike Sanders

Ashburn, VA

[mnsand]

Interesting situation happening in Currituck County. EMS operations are being transferred to the county. From what I understand, most (if not all) of the stations are turning over ambulance operations to career staff in Currituck county. Corolla had just transferred the title's of three ambulances over to the county and other Currituck stations I visited were in the process or had transferred over the titles of their ambulances to the county.



I am not sure what will happen with newer ambulances, such as this one from Corolla. The Corolla fire department had transferred over the titles of three ambulances recently but not this one. Anyone have additional information on what is happening with EMS in Currituck?





Ambulance 688

2005 Ford E450/Wheeled Coach





Mike Sanders

Ashburn, VA

[mnsand]

An update on one of my favorite OBX trucks.



Corolla's Engine 636 is still going strong and will respond on the beach when needed. There have been some conversations about replaceing this engine and a 1982 Ford F800/Grumman 250/1250 with an engine tanker.



Engine 636

1987 GMC 7000/E-One

750/500

s/n 6016





Mike Sanders

Ashburn, VA

[mnsand]

The officer side of Engine 636.



The FD added some additional ladders to the truck.





Mike Sanders

Ashburn, VA

[mnsand]

I learned that originally Corolla's 2002 Dodge Ram 2500 was a department utility. When Duck, NC added a new skid unit to their brush truck, they sold the old skid unit to Corolla, who made their Utility into a Brush unit.





Corolla, NC

Brush 641

2002 Dodge Ram 2500/old Duck skid unit

300 gwt





Mike Sanders

Ashburn, VA

[mnsand]

Corolla recently made some cosmetic changes to the station (siding, etc.) and it is really looking nice.



Platform 637 in front of the side bays.





1990 Duplex/Grumman 1500/250 102' serial number 18292





Mike Sanders

Ashburn, VA

[mnsand]

Speaking of the Corolla station, here is the front side.





Mike Sanders

Ashburn, VA

[mnsand]

...and the side bays.



The closed bay doors on the left hand side house several ambulances.





Mike Sanders

Ashburn, VA

[mnsand]

Last from Corolla is their primary beach rescue unit.



2003 Ford F250 Pick Up





Mike Sanders

Ashburn, VA

[mnsand]

The Chief at Carova went all out to make my visit to Carova Beach an enjoyable one. This was one of the highlights of my vacation.



Carova Beach is about 10 miles from Corolla, where I was staying. As some of you know, to get to Carova Beach, you must have 4 wheel drive because Highway 12 goes from hard surface to beach when leaving Corolla to get to Carova Beach. Yep, no 4WD for this guy, so I had to think about other travel arrangements to get to Carova Beach. When I was speaking to the Chief about my visit, he realized I did not have 4WD and offered to pick me up since he would be in the Corolla area one afternoon during my vacation week.



Here was my ride to Carova Beach



Utility 746

2007 Nissan Titan





Mike Sanders

Ashburn, VA

[mnsand]

There are no street signs in Carova Beach. There are several access roads to the Carova Beach community from the beach Highway 12. When I asked the Chief which is the one closest to the fire station, he pointed it out.



Just after we came off of the town access road (no hard surfaces/roads in Carova Beach - all sand roads), we had to dodge some horse droppings and I was able to see some of the communities wild horses on a side street.





Mike Sanders

Ashburn, VA

[mnsand]

Carova Beach has made a variety of revisions to existing apparatus as well as some new additions.



Brush 743 has been modified into a Marine Rescue unit. In addition to its functions as a brush truck, it also carries additional equipment for water rescue and has the capability to tow the departments boat (as do other Carova Beach units).



Marine Rescue 743

1990 Ford F250

300gwt

modified in 2006 by FD





Mike Sanders

Ashburn, VA

[mnsand]

Brush 744 had additional compartments added in 2006





1995 Ford F350/FD

250/300/5





Mike Sanders

Ashburn, VA

[mnsand]

The main reason for my visit was to see this recent addition to the Carova Beach fleet.



Tanker 740

2007 International Paystar 5000/Garsite-Progress/Water Master

650gpm

4000 gwt

4000 gwt folding tank

2 crosslays

Vacuum Tanker





What a treat it was to ride this piece from the station down onto the beach - Highway 12. It handled the heavy sand and hills very well.

This tanker will get a bit more dressed up in the near future with the addition of aluminum wheels and some additional decals.



When speaking to the Chief prior to my arrival, I did not expect any lettering on the tanker. I was very surprised to find the tanker with lettering and already in service.



Quite a few people on the beach stopped what they were doing to watch Tanker 740 drive by.





Mike Sanders

Ashburn, VA

[mnsand]

The rear of Tanker 740.





Mike Sanders

Ashburn, VA

[mnsand]

Another new addition to the Carova Beach fleet is this newer brush truck.



On some previous posts on this Outer Banks thread, the comments were made about a new Ford F cab sitting at the Corolla fire station and we were wondering what kind of truck Corolla was going to place into service. Well....it was not for Corolla. The Ford F was kept for a time at the Corolla station but was built for Carova Beach.





Carova Beach, NC

Brush 745

2005 Ford F350/2007 CET

300 gwt





Mike Sanders

Ashburn, VA

[mnsand]

I re-photograhed the entire fleet at Carova Beach while I made my visit. The majority of the trucks were taken at the station, except for the tanker and brush which were driven down to the ocean front for photos.





Mike Sanders

Ashburn, VA

[Guest]

AWESOME!!

The beach makes for excellent shots. Great work Mike!

[mnsand]

Carova Beach has added one additional bay to their station since I last visited several years ago. The bay on the far right houses a Ford F ambulance, which has been signed over to Currituck County and will now be owned by the county.



After our visit, the Chief took us on a tour of the Carova Beach community, and we visited areas away from the ocean where the residents live. No paved roads whatsoever, just plenty of sand. We saw the large fence at the Virginia/North Carolina border at the end of Highway 12 which was constructed to keep the wild horses within the Carova Beach community and prevent them from going into Virginia. Even with the fence, the horses have succesfully made it into Virginia on occassions by going around the fence during low tide situations.



We had an enjoyable trip back down Highway 12 on the beach and returned to Corolla. My thanks to the Carova Beach members that made one great memory.



Life at Carova Beach - very interesting to say the least.



That will end the updates for this evening. I have more interesting apparatus to post from this last trip and hope to complete those postings within the next several days.





Mike Sanders

Ashburn, VA