Cooksville Volunteer Fire Department

08/16/2026

Friday Night Lights.

The emergency lights of Cooksville, Propst, Mountain View and Long View Fire Departments, Catawba County EMS, Sheriff and Fire Marshal, and Maiden Rescue West pierced the hot humid night at 9 PM Friday evening.

A reported structure fire in the area of Young Rd was located around the corner and fully involved in fire by the first arriving units. A coordinated two prong attack coordinating interior and exterior operations brought the fire under control.

CVFD responded Engines 141 and 142, Tender 143, Brush 144, Car 146, Truck 147, and QRV-148 to the scene. Mutual aid agencies brought engines, tenders and a ladder truck.

Over 14,000 gallons of water were used on the call. With no hydrants in the area, agencies shuttled water for 5 hours before clearing the scene.

Assisting agencies were released as soon as practicable as CVFD continued extinguishment and overhaul into the early morning hours on Saturday.

During overhaul, stubborn hot spots required the use of a piercing nozzle and removal of portions of the outside of the structure to gain access. Due to the extensive damage, the Fire Marshal Office is conducting the investigation.

A huge thanks to our mutual aid departments- extremely hot and humid days make a difficult job even harder.

And of course the job doesn’t end after the fire is out. Some responders had spent the day Friday in the fire academy, got home had dinner and then answered the fire call. Cleanup at the station continued into Saturday morning with the last members getting home after 4 AM. For some volunteers, that was a 24 hour day between work, classes, and the fire.

08/13/2026

Yes- that is the trunk of a motorcycle with the new hose for 148.

We don’t just stand around with our hands in our pockets watching civilians work (reference a previous post), these government officials ( same post) use their personal vehicles and fuel to keep CVFD running like well oiled machine.

Cost to fix the truck was the hose that had to be manufactured. Shipping and handling, and labor- No Cost to CVFD because members fixed it in house.

At the same time 148 was being repaired, D/C P Leonard was assembling information for another grant application and cleaning up the engine bays.

08/12/2026

“Still Serving”.

That was the topic the Asst Chaplain spoke about at the American Legion Post 544 meeting last night. Still Serving.

What’s the connection to Cooksville?

CVFD Deputy Chief Phil Leonard- Air Force. Serving as Commander Post 544. He continues his service to community as Deputy Chief at CVFD, and Commander of Post 544 in Hickory serving our veterans and warriors. Phil and his wife Pat ( post 544 Auxiliary) are Blue Star parents and were recognized by the auxiliary last night as their son continues to serve. Still serving.

New to Post 544 is CVFD FF Danny Craft-Army. Danny just graduated from Cleveland County Fire Academy and is a Firefighter at CVFD. He and his wife Kacie were hosted at the Legion last night he joins in service to fellow veterans. Still Serving.

Not pictured is CVFD Chief Pete Weinrich -Army. Pete and wife Marguerite are Blue Star parents , son serving Army NG Infantry, and grandson soon to be U.S. Marine upon graduation next month at Paris Island. Pete is Sgt at Arms at legion Post 544. Still Serving.

It may be fighting fires, helping a neighbor, or assisting and supporting fellow veterans, our volunteers continue to serve the Nation, State and Community long after official retirement.

CVFD members
Still Serving.

08/11/2026

CVFD unpaid volunteers “Government Officials” ( explanation shortly), spent two days removing broken water hose for repairs, completing truck checks, adding recently donated items to QRV-148, and saving hose couplings for future use.

Media reporter Dave Fahrety posted one of our recent calls with a tree down. A Hickory resident commented civilians working and “government officials” standing around. The “Civilian” was a local resident that offered to help with heavy equipment and the “ government officials” ( all volunteers) moved out of the way so they didn’t get run over. It’s interesting to see comments when someone doesn’t know the whole story. But- we like the government officials title- adds an air of dignity 😀

So- an official spent a few hours using their tools and equipment at home to repair the WRV line yesterday.

Updated and complete inventory on two trucks were done today. Additional work on our computers by vendors and members got us back on line. And we’ve now got all our hose couplings salvaged for future use.

Your local Government hard at work.

08/09/2026

Please be careful out there. Trees are coming down without warning. We are hearing calls of trees and power wire down across the county.

CVFD responded to Mull Rd for a very large tree across the roadway. Due to the size- assistance was requested from North Brook FD. A local resident also showed up with a front end loader to assist.

Thanks to NBFD and our residents for helping to clear the roadway quickly.

08/08/2026

Yesterday- CVFD got our Car 146 returned with new striping and lettering. The vehicle was a former sheriffs patrol and the silver paint was fading. Our DC P Leonard worked extremely hard to prep, paint and get the lettering done. Thank you for all that hard work it looks great.

Within hours of getting car 146 back in service, 6 members of CVFD staff were headed to Cleveland County to attend FF D Crafts fire academy graduation when they came upon a crash that had just occurred on Hwy 18 and 27 intersection in the North Brook FD district. A tractor trailer was off the road and a car off the road on the other side badly damaged.

CVFD staff immediately took action, notifying the proper authorities, checking on injuries and controlling traffic and the scene until relieved by the AHJ ( Authority Having Jurisdiction). CVFD then proceeded to the graduation. Two hours later on the way home, the truck was still being removed and AHJ was still directing traffic.

08/08/2026

FF D Zcraft graduation

08/08/2026

CVFD is proud to announce the graduation of FF Danny Craft from Cleveland County Fire Academy. After 10 grueling weeks of extensive practical and written exams, testing, physical training and a 24 hour simulated duty scenario, FF Craft return to CVFD a NC credentialed firefighter.

FF Craft received his graduation badge during this afternoon’s ceremony. He was pinned by his wife, with family members and CVFD members in attendance.

CVFD attending members included Chief P Weinrich, Deputy Chief P Leonard, Captain J Richardson, Safety Office K Richardson, HRO/FF M Weinrich and Senior FF D Rhoney.

After the ceremony he was additionally honored with a superhero sign and Paw Paw poster.

Welcome aboard Firefighter Craft! 🚒

08/02/2026

CVFD wishes our members, A Hayes, R Blakely, and H Schubring all the best as they make up 1/4th of this next class.

The classroom is ready for our twelve new Cadets. CVCC Fire Academy Class 26-2 starts their journey tomorrow morning at 8:00.

07/24/2026

The senior staff of CVFD has been working hard the last few days.

The chief worked to get all our donated hose uploaded into our asset management system, the make storage platforms and get the hose stored for future use.

Deputy Chief Phil Leonard and FF Darryl Rhoney spent hours assembling and installing our new gear storage system.

Deputy Chief Robert Blakely and Engineer Michael Lewis have been busy placing similar equipment at the same general locations on our apparatus. The effort is to simplify finding equipment in an emergency. All EMS bags, or Rope, or saws would be on the same side or compartment of each truck.