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Fire Department fonds
https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/link/archivedescription47
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1920-2019
- Collection/Fonds
- Fire Department fonds
- Description Level
- Fonds
- Physical Description
- 1 m of textual records, graphic material, and cartographic material
- Scope and Content
- Fonds consists of news clippings; notes correspondence; and layout and research materials used in the development and creation of the Burnaby Fire Department history entitled “Follow that Fire.” Also consists of administrative records created by the Fire Department related to its management, direct…
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1920-2019
- Collection/Fonds
- Fire Department fonds
- Physical Description
- 1 m of textual records, graphic material, and cartographic material
- Description Level
- Fonds
- Access Restriction
- Subject to FOIPPA
- Reproduction Restriction
- Reproductions subject to FOIPPA
- Scope and Content
- Fonds consists of news clippings; notes correspondence; and layout and research materials used in the development and creation of the Burnaby Fire Department history entitled “Follow that Fire.” Also consists of administrative records created by the Fire Department related to its management, direction, coordination, training services, and planning, including daily record books, emergency preparedness pamphlets, a departmental practice manual, procedural directives, scrapbooks, and an orthophoto map (in 63 pieces) of the City of Burnaby.
- History
- Serving the City since 1911, the Burnaby Fire Department is committed to providing timely, professional, and effective fire-related emergency services to save lives, property and the environment. Their dedicated staff serves the City via seven fire stations located strategically across Burnaby. Each of our stations is equipped with up-to-date vehicles and equipment. Their highly skilled and trained team of men and women provide many services, including fire suppression and prevention, investigation, inspection, training, medical, vehicle extrication, technical and other speciality rescues, hazardous materials response and public education services. The following information pertains to the publication "Follow That Fire": Communities have always lived with the threat of fire. Early Burnaby residents banded together to extinguish out-of-control brush fires. In the 1920s, the Municipal Police were responsible for fire-related matters, earning three dollars for attending a fire. Donations to the Vancouver and New Westminster Fire Departments' Benevolent Funds brought the first fire engines to Burnaby's rescue. As the population increased, by-laws were enacted to develop a full-time fire service. Several members saw the value in jotting down recollections of their experiences as Burnaby firemen, which sparked an interest in completing the History of the Burnaby Fire Department. While researching this project, the author was fortunate in being able to draw from the resources of retired chiefs Fred Blake and Lewis Auvache, who were original members of the Department. The Department's progression includes heated and sometimes humorous debates regarding who should be responsible for fire protection, deciding if there was a need for a fire services, and how taxes would be levied to support the service. Photographs throughout the text represent stages of development which include a pictorial record of Burnaby fire trucks from 1923 to the present platform ladder trucks. From its humble beginning as two separate fire departments operating from a converted police horse stable and a water pumping station, the Burnaby Fire Department has developed into a professional organization serving its citizens from six fire stations.
- Media Type
- Textual Record
- Photograph
- Cartographic Material
- Creator
- City of Burnaby
- Notes
- Title based on contents of fonds.
Fred Blake subseries
https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/link/archivedescription65815
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1942- [1997]
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Historical Society fonds
- Description Level
- Subseries
- Physical Description
- Textual records
- Scope and Content
- Subseries consists of an essay written by Fred Blake entitled "Growing Up in North Burnaby," a hand-drawn map of Gilmore School, an RCAF pamphlet, an Emergency Rescue Training Pocket Manual and a Handbook for Auxiliary Firemen.
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1942- [1997]
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Historical Society fonds
- Subseries
- Fred Blake subseries
- Physical Description
- Textual records
- Description Level
- Subseries
- Accession Number
- BHS2003-15
- BHS2005-01
- Scope and Content
- Subseries consists of an essay written by Fred Blake entitled "Growing Up in North Burnaby," a hand-drawn map of Gilmore School, an RCAF pamphlet, an Emergency Rescue Training Pocket Manual and a Handbook for Auxiliary Firemen.
- History
- Thomas Blake and his wife Gertrude came to Burnaby in 1921 with their three children: Thomas "Tom", Susie and Frederick "Fred" (b. 1912). They lived at 4456 Pandora street, owning that lot and the adjoining 66 foot lot on the west. The Municipality cleared a trail, later putting down a one-plank sidewalk and bringing in a half-inch water line for the family. The Blake family lived in two wall tents for a few years while they cleared their land and built their house. In 1921 at the age of nine, Fred Blake attended Gilmore School where he learned about different woods and how to use hand tools. In 1927, he attended North Burnaby High School in a commercial course were he learned typing, shorthand, book-keeping a commercial law. Throughout his teenage years, Fred worked at Armour Photo Finishing, developing rolls of film and collecting and delivering the films and finished prints. Thomas Blake worked part-time for the Burnaby Advertiser and part-time for the Vancouver Sun to pay his way through university and become a Burnaby school teacher. In 1927, at the age of sixteen, Fred began his firefighting career as a volunteer, with the first major fire of his career taking place December 31, 1927 at the 4600 block of Albert Street. He continued as a volunteer until 1934 when he went to the logging camps as a steam fireman in the Queen Charlotte Islands and on the coast. In the early 1930s, Fred was a member of the Army of the Common Good, and with the falling crew cut second growth timber on Capitol Hill for firewood to be shared with other members. The Army also produced over 125 tons of vegetables from its own gardens to feed children and youth who were near starvation from lack of adequate relief funds from the municipality. The Army was in operations for ten years and during that time the members organised the Credit Union movement of British Columbia and drew up the Credit Union act thorough the Vancouver Co-operative Council. They also started Co-Op stores and the Co-Op Wholesale Society. During this time, while on Relief (now welfare) Fred also worked for the municipality on the two projects of the clearing of Confederation Park and the clearing of Lougheed Highway. Fred re-joined the Burnaby fire department on April 1, 1939, as a paid member at No. 1 Hall. He came up through the ranks to become Training Officer for the department in 1949 and full time training officer with the rank of District Chief in 1952. Fred was promoted to Assistant Chief in 1966. He retired from service March 1, 1972.
- Media Type
- Textual Record
- Creator
- Blake, Fredrick "Fred"
- Notes
- MSS150
- Title based on contents and creator of subseries