John Ralph Allred was born in Forsyth County in 1893. His father, John Wesley Allred, was a member of Volunteer Engine Company No. 1, and worked there until the volunteer company was disbanded about 1915.
As a young boy, John Ralph Allred accompanied his father on fire calls from their home in West Salem. Before 1915, the fire engines and hose wagons were pulled by horses. He recalled that horses were so well trained that they would back into their harness when they were let out of the station stalls to answer an alarm. Then, they were ready to go when the station door opened.
John worked as a volunteer fireman for three years before he became a full-time fireman on his birthday in 1915, just three months after Engine Company No. 1 was reorganized as a paid company. He remained at Engine Company No. 1 (except for a brief period of service at Engine Company No. 2) until 1919.
He was promoted from fireman to lieutenant, and transferred to Engine Company No. 3 on North Liberty Street. Then he was promoted to Captain in 1926 and was given command of a new Engine Company No. 6 (Ardmore), where he remained until his retirement in 1956. In all, he worked for the Winston-Salem Fire Department for 46 years.
When he was a young volunteer fireman in 1914, he was helping to combat a fire at a burning tobacco storage building at Sixth and Marshall Streets. He was feeling unduly warm quite suddenly, and a woman walking nearby shouted that his coat was on fire. He thanked the woman, and they became acquainted. Her name was Lolene Smitherman, from East Bend, and she later became his wife.
Captain Allred passed away in 1964.
