Ghost Hunting with the Florida Ghost Team at the historical Ft. Lauderdale Fire Station at 1022 West Las Olas Boulevard. The claim is that fallen firefighter, Robert Knight, makes his presence known in many ways from cold breezes on the back of the neck to the sounds of a disembodied voice. Some people claim the intercom system has turned on by itself and voices would come through the speakers after everyone had fallen asleep in the fire station.
It is said that the spirit of Robert Leland Knight remains there because his sense of duty to the fire station keeps him there. There is even speculation that he might not have been accidently killed. Being an ex-boxer and Golden Gloves champ, could Robert have been pushed out of the truck?
Other spirits that supposedly remain at the station are of a young man killed in the driveway and left to die in a pool of blood after a drug deal had gone bad. An occasional spirit from a hanging tree located just across the street in which vigilantes would use for their lynchings. A fort located only a short distance away during the war of 1836 would produce an occasional Native American spirit, and the spirit of two small children which burned up in a fire just down the street from the station.
Email: TBeckel1@comcast.net
Boca Raton, Florida
FT. LAUDERDALE FIRE STATION
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History
The department was created in 1912 as a volunteer department after fire destroyed a large portion of what is now the downtown core of Fort Lauderdale. The fire which destroyed all but 3 buildings in the previously bustling downtown business district prompted the city to purchase its first fire equipment consisting of a chemical extinguisher mounted on carriage wheels, and a hand operated pump. Unique to Fort Lauderdale was that the fire department never had horse drawn apparatus. The chemical extinguisher was pulled to fires by an International Harvester truck, and the pump was pulled to the fire scene by the firefighters themselves. The pump also carried 500 feet (150 m) of fire hose, which at times was not sufficient to reach fires in the city, due to inadequate roads.
In 1926 Chief Dooley requested the department build its third fire station at 1022 W. Las Olas Blvd at a cost just over $21,000. This west side fire station, later renamed as station 8, would serve the department until 2004, when it would be closed and its crews moved to the new station 2. It currently is being renovated as the Fort Lauderdale Fire Museum. Also in 1926 as part of Chief Dooley’s improvements to the fire department was the purchase of the department’s first ladder truck, a 1926 Seagrave Fire Apparatus ladder truck with chemical equipment, at a cost of $9,500. The final improvement Chief Dooley implemented was the installation of a Gamewell fire alarm system with a central monitoring station, and 40 call boxes to be installed at locations throughout the city. By 1932, the number of fire alarm boxes had increased to over 60, and was further increased in 1937 to 71 fire alarm boxes, with 15 more added to the growing city in 1941.
On December 7, 1940, the fire department experienced its first Line of Duty Death, when Firefighter Robert Knight was killed when he stepped in a puddle contacted by an energized high-voltage wire. Firefighter Knight was killed instantly, and another firefighter was severely injured by the electrical current as well.
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