Longest Serving Members

This week, the Raleigh Fire Department honored Assistant Chief of Logistics Danny Poole for his 45 years of service. He was also recognized as the longest-serving member in department history. See this Instagram posting for photos from his celebration or read this city news story.

Below is a quick montage[1] of the top twenty-one longest-serving members. It includes two active members, Chief Poole and Battalion Chief Keith Wilder.

The earliest of them, Firefighter Moses E. Perry, was hired in 1913. He had four periods of employment before retiring in 1957. A few started in the 1920s and 1930s. How many total years are there between them all? They collectively have a whopping 790 years of service.

[1] Photo are a mix and match from our archives. Some were taken while members were still serving, others are from years after they retired. There are also a couple newspaper photos in the mix, including one when Chief Matthews was still decades away from his retirement. We’ll also keep looking for a picture of Chief Burnette.