Fire Hall

74 Main Street

The Fire Hall was located in the second building west of Centre Street on the north side of Main Street.  The building was originally built as a fire station in 1949.   The residents of Mount Albert were canvassed to raise money for building materials and volunteer labour was used to construct the building.  According to The Communicator September 19, 1979, “There is no record on the township books of paying any expenses for building the fire hall.”

In the early days of the village a bucket brigade was used to take water from the closest source of water to the building on fire.  The men would 

form two lines, back to back, from the water to the fire and pass full buckets of water down one line to the fire and empty buckets back down the second side.  This process was continued, using as many buckets as possible, until the fire was put out.

Later, as more homes were built that were not near the creek, this method became unpractical and a water truck was built.  The first water truck was a pushcart with a water tank attached to it.  Water from the creek was used to refill the tank.  Luckily there weren’t many fires because this method was not always helpful in putting out the fire.

In 1912, a bylaw was passed that made it mandatory for every household to have two buckets handy in case of fire.   The bylaw also made it mandatory to have a ladder on the roof of the house close to the chimney and another ladder reaching from the ground to the roof.  Homeowners could be fined $2.00 for failure to comply with the bylaw.  Wood stoves heated most buildings and most fires resulted from chimney fires. 

A small fire engine was purchased at some point and stored in the basement of the IOOF building on Centre Street.  This antiquated engine proved to be of little value. 

This all changed in 1949.  The ERA Banner of October 20, 1949 reported that a meeting was held in the Mount Albert Community Hall on Friday, October 7 to discuss the possibility of forming a local fire department.  This would considerably improve local fire protection, and would also benefit communities and rural areas surrounding Mount Albert.

The village trustees arranged the meeting.  Members of the township council, and the Chamber of Commerce were invited.  Edgar F. Bevis, Chief, Fire Services Division, was the guest speaker.  Ken Ross, township Reeve, was acting chairman.

Chief Bevis gave a most interesting talk on the new fire department act of 1949, with special references to subsidies obtainable under this act.

It was suggested that the township be divided into fire areas, with a central fire department for each area.  Mr. Bevis agreed that Mount Albert would be suitably situated to act as a central fire department.   He advocated that the village trustees meet with the township council and discuss with them the idea of forming a fire department in Mount Albert to protect this area.

At a meeting of the township council on Thursday, Oct 13, Council approved the plan.

Several things were done to establish the local fire department:

A lot was purchased from the Mount Albert Telephone Company to be used as the new fire station.

A new, modern fire truck was ordered.  It arrived on April 12, 1950.

The first volunteer fire department was organized.

Vivian Creek was dammed near Centre Street to provide water.  This dam did not provide adequate water for fires that were not close to the creek.  As a result, a water tanker was built, again with

volunteer labour and materials.  The first tanker was a 500-gallon water tank welded to a Ford Chassis.  This truck was replaced in 1960 at a small cost for materials.

In 1975 a large new fire station was built on the north side of Princess Street just east of the railroad tracks and the old fire hall was closed.  The new fire station continues to be manned by a volunteer group of fire fighters.

In April of 1975, the Library was moved into the old fire hall.  In 1998 the Library moved to the Ross Family Complex and this building became available to rent.  In 1999, the building was modified to accommodate a shop.  In 2001, it was modified again to accommodate 2 small shops.  

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