Clinton News-Record, 1985-4-24, Page 24Firefighting —
Building up
the brigade
By James Friel
BAYFIELD - He looks at the products of
his labor for his soon to be opened business
and fondly calls them characters.
"I'm going to try to get them good
homes," said Rob Lyons of Bayfield, one of
the Bayfield Fire Area's newest
firefighters.
As well as being one of the newest
firefighters, Rob is also one of the newest
businessmen in the area - the characters he
hopes to find good homes for are older
pieces of furniture he's refinished for sale.
After working on them, every one has
become special, each with a personality all
its own.
Rob was a forest ranger when they still
called them forest rangers and fought fires
in the Timmins area for three years.
"I fought fires more in a support role,"
said the lean man, "I didn't get directly in-
volved. The immediacy wasn't there."
He hasn't fought any fires in Bayfield yet
but has received some training.
"I'm quite impressed with the depart-
ment."
Rob is married and has an 11 -month old
boy. His wife Karen hopes to teach school
when she completes university this year.
The white home just south of Bayfield is
the first the family has owned. They have
always been in the city and the move to the
country and the responsibility incurred as a
rural homeowner played a pivotal part in
deciding to offer his services to the com-
munity.
The department he joined was one of the
last privately owned departments in
Canada. Inability to get liability insurance
and the need for a new pumper influenced
the group to turn the force's assets over to
the municipality in 1977.
The Bayfield Fire Department started as
a result of a fire "that could have wiped out
half the village if there had bee a wind that
night. Even without the wind, burning
shingles were showering a number of houses
and buildings to the north and charred
debris was found half a mile away," states a
report on the history of the department in
the Bayfield Centennial program.
The New Ritz burnt to the ground that
night of•August 30;1947 and as a direct result
a group of residents met December 1 of that
year to discuss the formation of a fire
department. Walter Westlake as elected
first chief. .
By January 1948 the group was soliciting
donations and had. collected $1,000 at the end
of the year.
With that money a' four wheel drive army
truck was purchased. A pump and motor
was presented by Bayfield Village Council,
and a 500 gallon tank was dug out of the
groundat the Bayfield Garage.
A second army truck, 150 feet of hose, a
fog nozzle, a hand extinguisher, a first aid
kit and public liability insurance completed
the first outfit.
The department needed a building to store
their equipment. An old building was pur-
chased for $100 from a village 'trustee and
fireman and interested . citizens donated'
their time to construct the fire hall. It, was
built on a piece of ground leased from the
village for 100 years, next to the Town Hall.
A Quebec heater was installed to ensure
water in the tank didn't freeze. The heater
was checked once in the morning and once
in the evening.
Finally, a fire siren was installed in 1949.
In two short years, the citizens of Bayfield
with some financial assistance from
neighboring municipalities had built a
credible department. It is an excellent ex-
ample of what can be done through desire
and hard work.
er, r edication, hard work
- --_. --.— Commitment
is the key
t'1'l ."-filrll : BRA STAND)Al-tU-'l'llW ff A' Yll LD
SECOND SECTION
\ H;1)NESI)A1', APRIL 24, 1985
It can happen at any time of day, in any type of weather. Firefighters must always be
ready when the alarm is sounded. Volunteer fire fighting brigades in Clinton, Bayfield,
Blyth and Brucefield provide protection and quality services to the area.
Suspectedarson
brought rnen together
The Blyth Fire Department has a long
history and for a reason: the village was the
site of several fires which burned down
whole blocks and raised fears of "incen-
darism" or arson. •
Demands were -made as early as 1882 for
improved fire protection. After the planing
mill was burnt down that year, "Some, of
those stiff against the fire protection are for
it now," relates a New Era report.
Still, until 1888 the bucket brigade was the
only measure of fire protection, and despite
the brigade's best efforts. buildings burned.
The frame buildings which primarily
made up the town became a target, as it was
believed, for an arsonist and in 1887 a
reward of $100 was offered for information
leading to arrest and conviction of the sup-
posed "incendiary".
No one ever collected the money, but in
July of 1888, a meeting was held and follow-
ing the lead of Reeve P. Kelly, a. call was
rna.de for a steam engine and two months
later a bylaw enacted to permit the town
council to collectfunds for firefighting
equipment. The first fire brigade was also
organized with John Ernigh as Chief.
By the end of 1888 a steam engine and two
hose reels for $2,150 were purchased and the
engine was quartered at the Queen's Hotel
until a building on Queen St. was purchased
in January of 1889. A fire bell was ensconced
and the firemen and the town were proud of
the new fire department.
Fire insurance dropped by 20 per cent in
August 1889.
Major fires still ravaged the town, three
within an 18 month period between July 1909
and December 1910.
In the 1909 fire the Presbyterian Church
and the manse were lost at a time when the
engine was working poorly.
In April 191U W. Andrew s grocery store.
D. Somef's barber shop, Code and Ernigh's
office, W. Begley's shoe shop and the
Chinese laundry were all lost. The roof was
burned off Mr. McCreight's house. All were
insured.
And the December 1910 fire started the
suspicion of a firebug in the midst of the
town's residents.
At that major fire, Mrs. W.A. Carter's fan-
cy' goods and dressmaking shop, the harness
shop belonging to R.H. Robinson, Dr. Per-
due 's livery stable were all lost. And Mr.
Begley loSt the shoe store he had just moved
into about six months previously.
Two other,big fires came in February 1946
when Bainton's suffered heavy damage and
in 1953 when the Farmer's Co-op burnt down
for a $60,000 loss.
The department was at another fire but
quickly answered the alarm. The water tank
was very low however and when the depart-
ment left to fill the tanks, it took 20 minutes
Co thread their way through the vehicles of
the rubbet-neckers.
When they returned, a courageous battle
failed to save the building.
That same year the village spent $50,000
on fire fighting equipment and the fire area
consisting of Hullett, Morris, East and West
Wawanosh and McKillop townships was also
formed in 1953.
The municipality has learned the lesson of
fire and consequently the Blyth depart-
. ment's equipment has always been up to
date.
In 1962 a new fire hall was built with a
training room for teaching fire -fighting
courses. The department was the first in the
county to have foam equipment and was one
of first to be radio equipped. A 1,400 gallon
tanker was purchased in 1977.
By James Friel
The siren goes off. It's three o'clock in the
morning. You roll out of bed, a bit stiff after
working at the store, and pull on clothes,
eyes stinging while getting adjusted,.
You race to the station, get into your gear
and try to find out what's going on from the
guys there before you.
It's a house fire in town and everybody's
out of the house, thank God, but no one has
any idea of how bad it is.
When the pumper and the equipment van
get to the scene, the Chief quickly assesses
the situation, talks to officers who've seen
the back of the building and gives you the
nod to go into the house.
You pull on an air pack and drag one of the
hoses up ' to the smoking building.
Adrenaline is coursing through your body,
and you'd notice the blood pounding in your
ears if there was time.
As soon as you get into the house visibility
is instantly nil as smoke from the fire
billows against the mask. You wonder again
if the training you've had is enough this
time. You know your partner's there but you
can't see him.
The sensatiuns from the mask and the
smoke impairing vision are similar to plac-
ing both hands over eyes, nose and mouth.
Nothing can be seen, breathing is
hampered.
Imagine dragging a hose into a building
on fire, carefully testing the floors before
completing each footstop, trying to avoid
stairs or furniture and trying to figure out
where the fire is from increasing heat or the
increased visibility that accompanies near-
ing a fire.
A couple hours later, the fire has been put
out. The equipment has 'been stored away
and the physical aftermath keeps you up,
drinking a coffee and listening to your fami-
ly making night noises and the town
awakening, until it's time to get ready for
work.
The 21 men on the Clinton Fire Depart-
ment, in fact the members of all volunteer
fire departments, the men selling .us our
clothes and gorceries or service our vehicles
and deliver fuel oil, don't know what they
will face when the siren goes off.
But it seems to be part of the reason fire
departments usually have waiting lists of
people wanting to join. There is the feeling
of responsibility for the community and the
members of it and the pride of being a part
of as prestigious an organization as the com-
munity's volunteer fire department.
Clinton Area Fire Department Chief Fred -
Lobb shared a few thoughts on the volunteer
nature. of the force. •
"Who's really the full time firefighter?."
he asked. "We.go to every fire, but the full
time firefighterr works his shift and then
goes home."
Commitment is the real key, to the
volunteer department. For businessmen
belonging to a volunteer department, a fire
call can mean the interruption of normal
business hours.
"I would be concerned if I had a
firefighter in the eight mile radius ( reached
by the pagers each fighter carries) and he
didn't answer the call," said the chief.
Consequently, businessmen in town turn
the responsibility of their livelihood over to
hopefully competent assistants for a chance
to put their lives in jeopardy.
A balance of personnel has to be struck
between men working in town and the other
department members working in neighor-
ing towns, as truckers, or whose business
periodically takes them out of town.
It was the same almost 25 years ago when
recently retired Fire Chief Clarence Neilans
first joined as a novice during the term of
Chief Grant Rath.
"I was asked to .join the department
because they tried to get people who could
get to fires, if they had the kind of job where
they could go to fires," said the former
chief.
Now new firefighters are chosen through
an election.
Anyone previously expressing an interest
in joining the department, and names of
those thought to be" likely candidates sug-
gested by the fighters are placed on a
blackboard.
"One of the things instilled in the firemen
over the years, I remember ( Chief) Hector
Kingswell saying this, is that this is not a
popularity contest.
"You want to pick someone who could be
trusted to save some life in -a panic situation
- is he someone you think would do,
everything to save your life, perhaps at the
risk of his own?" said Chief Lobb.
And through this system, "We have a real
good crew of guys, really good co-operation
among the men. I think you wouldn't find a
better crew of volunteer firemen anywhere
else."
He mentioned both New Assistant chief
Craig Cox and Captain Clayton Groves as
being invaluable assistants.
"They're a good bunch of fellows, I'm pro-
ud of every one of them," added Clarence.
"They made my job easier."
The department has asked for applica-
tions once in recent years and among those
submissions was one from a woman.
"On that occasion., she was not chosen out
of the group which applied.
"I have no objection to women expressing
an interest. That individual may be selected
by the process of choosing we have."
"It's my recommendation that anyone in-
terested in being on the department express
that interest to a fireman - it may be six or
seven years before we have an opening and
they may not be picked then, but if no in-
terest is expressed then we can't know."
Over the years the department has in-
vested in a significant amount of equipment.
Some of it is needed for fighting fires, some
more suitable for the role more recently
taken on by the Clinton Fire Area, that of
rescue operations.
"It came about from our own feelings that
our community should have the same ser-
vices that other communities enjoy," said
Chief Lobb.
The department is careful of its image as
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