05/24/2026
A blast from the past shared by Legeros Fire Line
From the firehouse kitchen, found this the other day. Those are Gastonia Fire Department members Buddy Cunningham (left) and Wayne Bell on "C" shift at Station 1, and pictured in the Charlotte Observer on June 12, 1983. Here's the transcription of the feature story:
Firehouse Chef’s Expertise
Mix Of Tradition, Experience
By JOHN GOYER
Observer Staff Writer
GASTONIA - The biscuits made by firefighters at the Gastonia Fire Department come in many varieties, according to Division Chief Phil Rucker.
Some are tough as turtles. Others could be used as paving stones.
But Rucker’s voice became quiet with respect when asked about Buddy Cunningham’s biscuits. They are light and fluffy, he testified.
Peggy Bryson, secretary to Department Chief Bob Murray, also will bear witness to Cunningham’s expertise at the stove.
“I think I’m a pretty good cook, but I wouldn’t put my cooking up against his,” she said.
Cunningham, the object of the praise, is a 31-year-old engineer with the department. He cooks for the 10 men of C shift at Fire Station No. 1 on Second Avenue.
Cunningham is modest about his skill. “Just add a little here and a little there — it never tastes the same. Whatever we got in the cabinet we throw in there.”
According to the men on his shift, Cunningham is a good cook because, well, the food tastes good.
Also, he generally makes plenty to eat.
Unlike the other chores around the firehouse, cooking is not required of the firefighters. Cooking is voluntary. The cook is not paid for his labors and for the most part does not get out of any of the routine maintenance work performed at the station, such as waxing floors and cleaning equipment. Those who eat do the dishes, however.
Firehouse cooking is governed by tradition and by the demands of the job, the firefighters said.
Firefighters work 24-hour shifts, with one day on and two days off. The Gastonia department has 78 employees on 24-hour shifts, according to Murray, and crews on many shifts informally work out a cooking system.
“It’s cheaper for us to cook than it is to go out a lot,” Cunningham said. The firefighters each contribute to the cost of the food cooked at the station.
Cooking at the fire station is not quite the same as cooking at home. In fact, Cunningham says he doesn’t cook at home; his wife, Debbie, does. (He is careful to put in a good word for her cooking.)
The big meal of the firefighters’ day is at noon, four hours after C shift has started, when they’ve cleaned up the station after the crew of the earlier shift.
Noon is a good time for a big meal at a fire station because it is likely to be a slow time for fires.
Of course, if a fire call does come, “we cut everything off and go,” Cunningham said.
The big meal fortifies the firefighters for possible action in the evening, the prime time for fires.
The firefighters said that eating a big meal just before responding to a fire might cause nausea when inhaling smoke.
Before a meal, the firefighters pitch in and send the newest member of the shift to the store. The “store boy” — as he is called by tradition — at shift C is 28-year-old Gary Withers, who has been with the department since December.
Cunningham, with Assistant Fire Chief Wayne Bell, begins cooking around 10 a.m.
Last Wednesday, the fare included fried bream and smallmouth bass caught by Bell and firefighter James Bost, coleslaw made from scratch, a rip-roaring hot sauce, hush puppies, french fries and iced tea.
Although Cunningham said he generally made his own hush puppies and fries, those expected at the meal — 16 — were too many to justify the effort.
Because of the number of guests that day, the firefighters set out tables in the firehouse bay behind the two pumper trucks. Boots and helmets were laid beside the tables in case of a call.
The specialties de la maison for shift C include hog jaw, macaroni and cheese, steak and gravy and chicken and rice.
The recipes are handed down from generation to generation, the firefighters said.
The new cooks learn from watching the old; “store boys” often become cooks because they work with the cook in the kitchen.
Cunningham said he learned from the late John Stepp, a firefighter from Station No. 2.
Retired firefighter J.R. Williams was a good cook in his time, the firefighters said. Also in the ranks have been Calvin Clemmer, operations chief, Bud Atkinson, training officer, and Rucker.
Current masters of the art are Jim Hullett, who is on the B shift at station No. 1, and Dan Moore, who recently was moved to Station No. 2 on North Marietta Street.
But Cunningham does not turn to one of the fire department chefs when he encounters problems in the kitchen.
In a bind, he said, he calls his mother.
