The Daily Tar Heel

Serving the students and the University community since 1893

Thursday March 30th

Chapel Hill Fire Department

The Chapel Hill Fire Department is known for its distinct Carolina blue fire trucks. The department operates five fire stations across Chapel Hill and employs 93 people. It responds to over 4,000 incidents every year and has an operation budget of about $7 million.



The Chapel Hill Fire Department has five stations, one of which is on Hamilton Road.

Stop, drop and roll out of dorm rooms for fire drills

Students living on campus have all experienced the dreaded fire alarm in the middle of the night. Instead of exiting their buildings, some people have started waiting out fire alarms in their rooms. Experts want everyone to know that this is not the right thing to do — always evacuate.

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Officer Pete McEwen works night shifts at the Chapel Hill Police Department. 

Midnight lunches and Chapel Hill's third shift

When Jessica Toney texts her boyfriend during her "lunch break," he's often going to sleep.  Toney, a UNC senior who works midnight shifts in a lab at the UNC Medical Center every other weekend, has her routine down to a science. After a full day of classes, she eats a large bowl of pasta and takes a nap for five hours before heading into work.   “I'm suddenly left alone in the world,” she said. “Everyone's asleep or getting back from their parties and I'm still going strong at work — sometimes I just post to my Snapchat story just to feel like I'm not alone, even though I know none of them will see it until the morning.”

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