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Fred the Stuffed Firehorse Back in the days when fire engines were run by steam and pulled by horses, Fred was one of New Bern's most dependable firehorses. The town had two volunteer fire companies: Atlantic, organized in 1845, and Button, organized twenty years later. Fred became a firehorse in 1908 and pulled a hose wagon for Atlantic Company. Fred always knew just what to do when the alarm sounded, always responded quickly, backing into the wagon stall so the harness could be dropped over his head. He always ran hard and seemed to take pride in getting his hose to fire scenes as quickly as possible. He must have sensed that his working days were numbered, though, after the town got its first motorized fire wagon in 1914. Another followed a year later. But that didn't stop Fred from giving his all. He strove to beat the chugging trucks at every opportunity. Fred helped fight the biggest fire that New Bern has ever seen, a holocaust that struck in December 1922 and nearly burned down the town. It destroyed churches, stores, warehouses, a shipyard, and more than 1,000 houses. A hundred buildings were dynamited to try to stop its spread. More than 3,200 people were left homeless. Maybe it was memories of that awful fire, or maybe it was just the ever-growing threat from the newfangled fire engines that caused Fred to strain ever harder at the sound of the alarm. Whatever it was, the strain proved too great. In 1925, while racing to an alarm from box 57 at New Banks and North Streets, Fred fell dead in his harness. The alarm proved false. Because of Fred's noble efforts, the men of Atlantic Company decided to have his head stuffed. They kept it at the fire station until 1957, when the town opened its Firemen's Museum in an old garage behind the fire station. The museum, one of a few of its kind in the world, contains New Bern's old fire engines and wagons and a great assortment of other firefighting paraphernalia and memorabilia, but Fred's stuffed head has always been its featured attraction. The museum is now in a building on Hancock Street, just around the corner from the fire station.
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