WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Retired Winston-Salem Fire Sergeant Robert Grier turns 101 years old!
Sgt. Grier was 1 of 8 African Americans to integrate the fire department in 1951. Engine 4 was North Carolina's first integrated Fire company.
On March 1. 1951, Winston-Salem hired and formed the first integrated fire company in the city and the state of North Carolina on Dunleith Avenue. The eight firefighters were Raphael Black, John Thomas, Lester Ervin, John Henry Ford, Robert Grier, John Meredith, George Penn, and Willie Carter. By 1967, the fire department was fully merged, as mentioned by the city of Winston-Salem Fire Department website.