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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Times Advocate, 2005-10-05, Page 5018 Exeter Times—Advocate Wednesday,October 5, 2005 0 LUCAN- FIREFIGLHERS BIDDULPH Historyof the Lucan-Biddulph Fire Department By Dave Goddard CHAIR LUCAN-BIDDULPH FIRE AREA BOARD The Lucan Fire Brigade began, as did many others in those early days, as a bucket brigade made up of any men available to pitch in whenever fire broke out in the community. Until one year after Lucan was incor- porated as a Village in 1871, this continued to be the only method of firefighting available to the village and township residents. Then in 1872 the Village Council purchased a surplus 1851 Hunneman Hand Pumper and Hose Cart from the City of London. The Volunteers then organized themselves into a brigade called the "Lucan Hook and Ladder Company", they named the hand pumper "Old Rescue" and set up quarters in a shed on the south side of William Street, just east of Frank Street beside the Orange Hall. On the front of the shed hung a steel triangle that resi- dents would ring to alert the volunteers of a fire. The early years of the Hook and Ladder Company were busy ones, as Lucan was in the midst of the Donnelly era and the many fires that seemed too fre- quent the times. At one of these fires, the Judge and Cook Wagon Works, "Old Rescue" despite everyone's best efforts, refused to pump water. It was discovered the next morning in the daylight that someone had sabotaged the pump by placing a piece of wood in the pump valve to prevent it from functioning. (Information from The Donnelly Album by Ray Fazakas.) By the 1920s times had changed and motorized fire trucks were replacing both hand and steam pumpers as the modern method of pumping water at fires. In 1928 the Village of Lucan purchased a Reo Speedwagon chassis with a Bickle-Seagrave fire engine body for $6,800. Another $1,800 was expend- ed on the construction of a new two bay fire hall in the in the middle of the village in order to house the new fire engine. Also several large underground fire cisterns were con- structed around the village to ensure that sufficient water was always avail- able. In 1948 watermains and fire hydrants were installed in the village, which further enhanced the supply of water available for firefighting. This system served the needs of the village, but out in the township fire protection left much to be desired. In May 1942 a delegation from Biddulph had approached the Lucan Council to request that the ser- vice of the village fire department be made available to township ratepayers. Lucan Council agreed and an arrangement was set up whereby township residents needing the services of the fire department had to guarantee payment for fire services before the fire department would respond. This payment, the lack of rural water supplies and the sometimes poor mainte- nance of the fire engine, all came to a head at a 1958 fire in Clandeboye which prompted several area resi- dents to again approach the Lucan council seeking improved fire protection. The area councils responded by forming the "Lucan Area Fire Board" owned and paid for by the Village of Lucan, the Township of Biddulph and the Township of McGillivray. An organized volunteer fire brigade, led by Fire Chief, J. Alex Young, was set up to provide fire protection for the Village of Lucan, the westerly half of Biddulph Township, the easterly portion of McGillivray Township and the north central portion of London Township. A new 1958 GMC truck, with an American Marsh fire engine body complete with a 500 -gallon water tank, was purchased at a cost of $24,000 and placed in service. Shortly thereafter, a 1958 Chevrolet truck was purchased and a 1000 -gallon tanker body was fabricated and installed on the truck by Wes Hickson. The combined water -carrying capacity of the two trucks greatly improved the department's ability to extinguish fires in the townships. At the same time six Fire Phones (telephones all connected to the same tele- phone number) were installed in the homes of some of the Volunteers for answering fire calls. These phones were furnished with a button used to activate the fire siren (that had been installed on top of the fire hall in 1928) to alert the remaining volunteers. In 1953, Chief Young had also been one of the origi- nal organizers of the Middlesex County Mutual Aid Association. This agreement permitted fire depart- ments within the County to respond outside their local territories and to provide back up assistance to neigh- bouring fire departments at large fires. In the early years of the Mutual Aid Association there were fewer fire stations with fewer fire trucks than today. As a result it was commonplace for the Lucan Area Fire Department to be called to help at major fires as far as 20 miles away and fight a blaze side by side with four or five other departments. By 1973, the Fire Department had outgrown the tiny 1928 fire hall (this building now houses the "Wicker Basket" Gift Shop). The Fire Board, at a cost of $60,000, built a new fire hall on the site of the old Township Hall on Main Street north. At that time, McGillivray Council, who were not in favour of the expenditure, pulled out of the Fire Area Board and engaged the Ailsa Craig Fire Department to provide fire protection in the easterly portion of McGillivray Township. The Lucan Area Fire Department was then renamed the "Lucan-Biddulph Fire Department". It was not long, however, before the residents in the east portion of McGillivray forced their council to go back to the much closer Lucan-Biddulph Fire Department and arrange for fire protection. By then the cost of buying back a one-third share of the department's assets was substantial, so a flat rate annual fee for fire protection was agreed upon. To meet the still growing service needs of area residents, in 2002 the Fire Board renovated and expand- ed the 1973 fire hall to more than double its former size by enlarging the apparatus bays and adding a training room, radio room, chief's office and antique vehicle stor- age area. In 1975, London Township established a new Fire Department in Arva and re -aligned their internal fire boundaries which eliminated the need to purchase fire protection from the Lucan-Biddulph Board. Also in 1975 Middlesex County Council engaged the London Fire Department to provide a Central Fire Dispatch system for all the Volunteer Fire Departments in the County. This system provided 24-hour emer- gency call answering, two way radio communication from anywhere in the County and personal pagers for alerting the volunteers. In 1993 Middlesex County implemented a County wide "Rescue Support System". The Lucan-Biddulph Fire Department was selected to provide specialized "Heavy Rescue" assistance to other fire departments in the north central portion of Middlesex County. With the aid of a Provincial grant, the Fire Department was able to acquire additional specialized rescue equip- ment for use at serious life threatening incidents in the area. Over the years, new development in the area, popu- lation growth and changing times have had an ongoing impact on the type of service the Lucan-Biddulph Fire Department is called on to provide. The nature of equipment, manpower and housing required is con- stantly being modified to meet these demands. The Fire Department's 2005 equipment roster is made up FIRE' PREVENTION In Appreciation for all you do, keep up the good work! PROMECHANICAL TRUCK REPAIRS INC.,II 33422 Roman Line, Lucan, Ont. NOM 2J0 Phone (519) 227-0077 Fax (519) 227-0786 Firefighters are never fully appreciated until they are needed. Hopefully we never need you, but Thank You for being there if we ever do. of a 1981 Chevrolet Triple Combination Superior fire pumper with a five man canopy cab, a 1988 GMC 1700 gallon Forman Tanker, and a 1993 GMC Rescue Unit. The fire department currently has a new Spartan/Rosenbauer Six Passenger Triple Combination pumper on order to replace the 1981 pumper. The Fire Department still owns the antique 1851 Hunneman Hand Pumper and Hose Cart along with the 1928 Reo Speedwagon fire engine, all of which are maintained in operating order and proudly displayed at parades and various other functions. The Reo Speedwagon has recently undergone a full restoration at the hands of the firefighters. Today the Department is maimed by 25 dedicated and well-trained volunteers, led by Fire Chief, John Riddell; Deputy Chief, Bill Damen; and Captain, Brian Ankers. The Firemen are dispatched via 911 emer- gency telephone service and radio activated pagers to a variety of emergencies including all types of building fires, grass fires, motor vehicle extrications, search and rescue operations, fuel spills and medical emer- gencies. From the Lucan-Biddulph Fire Department's file of unusual incidents, three stories that occurred in Biddulph Township are told below, and are a far cry from a fire department's traditional role of only answering fire calls as in years past; -One January evening in 1983, OPP Officers had been trying to corral three horses that were loose on Highway No. 4 near St. James Cemetery. At 10 p.m., after three unsuccessful hours of chasing, the Officers called for the assistance of the Fire Department. With this combined manpower, the horses were back home on the farm in less than a half an hour. -In late March 1992 the Lucan-Biddulph Fire Department was called upon to join the Granton, Bryanston and Arva Fire Departments in a massive night-time search for an aircraft with two aboard, missing and believed down somewhere north of London. The downed aircraft was located by the Lucan-Biddulph Firemen on Jack Harrigan's farm near the north end of the Roman Line with the bodies of the two occupants trapped inside the twisted wreck- age. After daybreak when the investigation was com- plete, the Firemen were left with the grim task of extri- cating the two bodies from the aircraft. - An April 1996 lightning strike set the steeple of St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church on the Roman Line ablaze. The extreme height of the steeple was beyond the reach of the department's ladders and a strong east wind was preventing the hose streams from reaching the lofty fire. Access to the fire had to be gained by scaling the inside of the steeple and attack- ing the flames from beneath. Fortunately the efforts of the firemen, the inside access and the slate roof on the church below all combined to save the church from serious damage. Over the years the Lucan Fire Department has had several Fire Chiefs who have dedicated numerous hours of their time to the betterment of fire service in the Lucan-Biddulph and surrounding area. From the available records, the following are the names of some of those past Fire Chiefs, H. E. Lankin, H. Tilbury, D. E. Chown, J. A. Young, A. W. (Bert) Thompson and W. E. (Wes) Hickson. M M U M MPC POWER WASH CANADA • Livestock Trailers • Transport Trailers • Buses Call for appointment 34694 Richmond St., Lucan, ON Toll Free: 519-227-1919 Thank You for your bravery, keep up the great work! Fog Free Window Repair CRYSTAL CLEAR WINDOW WORKS Authorized Dealer www.FogFreeWindowRepair.com (519) 227-1210 • Toll Free 1-866-778-5034