Dunn, Albert, Fire Department History

Nanaimo Historical Society Fonds
Series 2 Sound Recordings

Tapes 21a & 21b

Presentation by Fire Chief Albert Dunn to the Nanaimo Historical Society meeting on the history of the Fire Department
September 17, 1974

Transcribed by Glenys Wall
June/July 2005

Unknown Speaker: Madam Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am very pleased to bring to you this evening our speaker, a native son of Nanaimo, who has come up through the years and married and has been throughout the history of this recent Nanaimo and his special field of civil service of the fire department. Mr. Dunn, I believe has two children and they're launched and now he and his wife only have to look after themselves besides the work he does. Peter is in Victoria and Linda in Prince George. Now a few words I'd like to mention about Mr. Dunn's contribution to Nanaimo's history in this regard. He first joined the fire department as a volunteer in 1933 and for 6 years he was a volunteer and then came on the permanent staff in 1939 and from that time on ‘til the present, 35 years, he has been with the fire department and in 1968 he became Fire Chief. There sure has been a lot of experience in Nanaimo in that regard [unintelligible] and everybody of course has to turn out to them. I think that Mr. Dunn must have been known quite well to Nanaimo in these past years. In other respects he has been pretty busy; he has been an active member of the Power Squadron, also [unintelligible] lectures with the Squadron. He has been Commodore of the Nanaimo Yacht Club and he has been Past President of the B.C. Fireman's Association and this is quite a field at which he has been occupied. One particular interest of his that we will be quite interested in is this Fire Department Museum, I understand. He is very interested in the history of the fire department and this is his topic for us for this evening. So ladies and gentlemen I am very pleased to present to you Mr. Albert Dunn.

Applause

Dunn: After such a nice introduction you feel like, you know, bowing three times to the east, you know, and thanking the gentleman. However, as a native son, as I look around, I see a lot of my friends here. I'm not as old as some people and older than others. And I think that, although age has nothing to do with it, I think that your interest in your community means a lot. And as I progress through the ranks of the fire department, I joined as a volunteer as the gentleman said in 1933. I had already been hanging around the fire hall for four years getting my fanny kicked out of the way, because you're in the

way! Malcolm McRae would say: "Get, out of the way!" Harry McRae would say: " You kids, go away from here"; and Harry Weeks would say: "Go down and help with the team, stay away from the fires, you might get hurt." And when you think back on all these gentlemen who had formed the basis of the fire department, I thought to myself that some place along the line we're losing touch. You as a group, as the Historical Society, are doing a wonderful job. But individually we're doing nothing. And because of my interest in the fire department and my work in the fire department, I started to save a few mementos. As the years went on I found out there was quite a trend to gather everything up and throw it out because there were new regulations coming in. Er, new building codes, er, it went from one thing to another, actually, new fire department. The trend was all-different. We were going from horses to mobile and to mechanical and then into the modern age of electronics and space age type of fire departments. And I thought it was a shame, when I read through some of the old books; and actually the old books, we practically stole them, because right next to the old fire hall, when we were kids, and playing around there, was the old Hilbert Block, a lot of you know it, and in the back of that block, there was a whole folk-lore of interesting things pertaining to Nanaimo. There was old census books, there was old government books, there was old books that said how many acres so-and-so had. All these things were hidden away in books. And this building had at this time, had been empty for years and years and years, and we snuck in there and read these things and from this, I guess, grew my interest in the fire department.

When I got quite active in the fire department, I found out that a lot of the old books and things had been stored upstairs, in the attic, above the old dance floor and when this dance, I see some of you nodding your heads, well when this fire hall was built in 1893, occupied in 1894, that's the one at the corner of Nicol and Victoria Road, they had a lovely dance hall there. And upstairs they had this lovely er... the ceilings were all curved in beautiful, varnished wood and one thing or another, but above that, I found all these old books that were stored and these old books pertained to the early days of the Nanaimo Fire Department. I had a little a bit of opposition from people in the Fire Service at the time, and one thing or another, so I very quietly snuck these things and stuck them in my locker. And I put these in my locker at the fire hall so they couldn't say I stole them because they were still on City property and they stayed there, quite frankly, until I became Chief, and when I became Chief I had a legal right to pull these things out and start assessing what I had got. And what I had got was a wealth of information regarding the old fire department. And it is interesting, exciting and a wonderful chapter in Nanaimo's history.

Because of this, I felt that someone along the line should be doing something to preserve these and so I have started, and in the fire hall I have a number of things now that I've had to fight, beg, borrow, steal, swear and find these things and bring them back. And I might say that because of my interest, people on the outside are now bringing me things and some of the things I have got are really priceless and out of this world. I'll be showing a few of them to you. However, I'll give you a short resume of the Fire Department so to bring you up to date.

The Fire Department dates back to May 4th 1878 on which date a public meeting was held in the Institute Hall and the First Nanaimo Fire Company was organized with the following officers: (and here again we go back into the old names we all know and love) Foreman Walter Wilson; First Assistant Foreman William Gillian; Secretary J.H. Place; Treasurer George Norris. That's the first. After electing officers, the meeting decided to procure a hand fire engine and accessories as soon as possible. Now this was a big step! I mean, here we are in the middle of nowhere and all of a sudden we're going to form a fire department! And what have we got? We've got nothing except a bunch of interested men who said we want a firehouse. At a meeting held on August 15th of the same year, after the return of Mr. Place from Portland, Oregon (which would be a long trip in those days), the Company decided to purchase a Burton & Blake engine from the Portland Fire Department at a cost of $700 and to buy 500 feet of hose at a cost of $250, which I might say now wouldn't buy us two lens (?). The new prices I got this year just shook me. A committee was appointed to canvass the town for subscriptions to raise the amount required. On November 28th, the offer of J. Hirst and J.W. Stirtan to donate a site for the fire hall at the corner of Wharf and Commercial Streets was accepted and the meeting decided at once to erect a one and one-half storey engine house. On March 12, 1879, the first practice with the new equipment was held at Hirst Wharf, the machine throwing two very fine streams by this time the new fire hall was built and the equipment was stored in the new building. During the years from 1888 to 1909, Nanaimo firemen were very active in hose reel competitions and were competing with Victoria, Vancouver, Seattle and Tacoma and in 1890 they won the Pacific Coast Championship, which was run off in Victoria and the personnel of the team were: C. Williams, Captain H. Peck, R. Wallace, M. Fitzpatrick, H. Pettigrew, W. Wardill, J. Suggett (?), W. Shutts, H.L. Horne, H. Pettigrew, H. Leclair, J. Mackay and A. Hart, all old names which we know and love, as I was saying. On July 2nd 1892 the company sent a team of 13 men to compete in the Vancouver hose reel contest, they being successful in pulling off 1st Honours. The personnel: R.E. van Houten, Captain C. Van Houten, R. Pettigrew, H. Finlay, H.Peck, H.Horne, Bill Edmonds, Taffy, we all knew him; John Parkin, J.Wallace, W.Cheney, W. Taylor, A. Castle and W. Prestige. Up to this date the equipment consisted of one hand-pump engine, nicknamed the "Able Willie" and two hose carts and as there was much need for a ladder in the year 1893, the ladies of the city got together and by proceeds of [unintelligible] raised enough money to purchase an aerial ladder. Now this is very, very interesting, because believe it or not, I have the original presentation. You're not getting it! (laughter). It's mine!

"Presentation, Aerial Truck, Nanaimo Fire Department. The ladies of Nanaimo. The city park, July 26th 1893. To the Officers and Members of the Black Diamond Engine Company and branches. The steady advance in the progress of our fair city for the past few years had caused many three- and four-storey brick and frame blocks to be erected. It was painfully apparent that you were not sufficiently equipped with apparatus to protect the lives and limbs of the inmates of such high buildings in case of a serious conflagration. In the cause of humanity, the ladies of Nanaimo, therefore decided to provide the necessary funds to furnish suitable life-saving apparatus a committee was formed, and their efforts, aided in the most praiseworthy and liberal manner by the citizenry proved eminently successful. As a practical result the ladies' committee now formerly present and hand over to you, the trustees, the handsome and efficient truck, which the committee has most appropriately named Rescue Number 1, Nanaimo, B.C. And while it is hoped that no disaster may occur, in the case of any such untoward event, the citizens of Nanaimo will confidently feel that in every untoward event, emergency, that the truck will be manned by brave and intrepid firemen who will not for a moment hesitate to make every possible effort to save life and limb even at the imminent risk of their own. Wishing the fire department, individually and collectively, every success, not only in combating the terrible fire fiend, but in their private pursuits, and that the truck will fully all requirements. Mrs. Mark Bate Sr., Mrs. Raines, Mrs. W. McGregor, Mrs. J. Fraser, Mrs. A. Cowie, Mrs. A. Summerhays, Mrs. P. Taylor, Mrs. John Hilbert, Mrs. George Gibbs, Mrs. W.E. Webb, Mrs. Tom O'Connell, Mrs. A. Raper, Mrs. McArthur, Mrs. John Pawson, Mrs. James Pargeter, Mrs. John Parkin, Mrs. R. Gowdy, Mrs. A. Exley (?), Mrs. Cunningham, Mrs. A.T. Norris, President."

And there it is, Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the original. When I thought of these things lying around and nobody looking after them, it just caused an ache in my heart, because all boys what to be a fireman, and I did, I wanted to be a fireman. And because of this feeling I started saving these things. Unfortunately tonight I forgot a very piece of equipment, which we'll come to later. However, as I said, these things, I have them, and they're going to be in our fire department museum. After we got this from the ladies, very nicely, the motto of the company being " We strive to save" and they actually formed a fire company and it is very interesting to me to find out, and this was very unusual, the second session of the third parliament of British Columbia for 1879, the Lieutenant Governor, the Honourable Albert Morton Richards, Chapter 7, April 29th 1879, an Act for the Protection of the Nanaimo Fire Brigade, to be known as the Black Diamond Engine Company, and to be known as the Nanaimo Fireman's Act of 1879 and to consist of constitution of bylaws and members and volunteers. But we actually have an act, which says we can have a fire department. Now this is unusual, but this is the way Nanaimo was in those days, they did everything right and this Black Diamond Fire Department was very, very interesting to me, but it was hard to find anything about it. And because of my interest in this, the first thing I got from some kind soul, a Black Diamond Fire Company badge. Now this is as priceless as any gem you want to get from some potentate in the east, as far as I'm concerned, because here's something relating to the history of Nanaimo; this goes back to 1879 and they actually gave themselves a badge and you can see it's tiny, it's black, I guess because of the diamonds, the coal, and it is very, very interesting to me to have this.

I have another one here that says "Nanaimo Fire Department Number 1" the first one issued, and this came from real, good friends, Mr. Peck, for which we thank very, very much, because this was a wonderful contribution to our museum. We now have something tangible. I did have, this is an aside, by the way, Nanaimo City Police, there's their badge. Now that's rare. Frank Ney and all the rest would love to have this, but they're not getting it because I have it. (laughter). And it's going to go alongside our fire

department badges in my museum. But as you can see that these things, some place along the line, have been laying in a draw or laying some place and actually they're of no use to anyone. But when you can take them out and have them displayed and shown as one of the originals from our town of which we're so proud, then it becomes very, very important that we look after them, preserve them, and put them in a place of honour. I have the pins that were given to a lot of the old firemen. These were in to respect the work they've done. Bert Horne, you know old Bert, there's his badge. It was deeded to us. I have another one here, the name unfortunately is not on it, but it is given to the ..er... same thing, in memory of the work these firemen did in the years gone by. And I think that with all these things, I have another one here from a real good friend of mine; we've been friends since ..er.. too long, I guess, it goes way back, years and years, Billy Gordon. You all know Bill from Nanaimo Sportsmen. Billy and I were kids together, grew up together. This is his Dad, Thomas J. Gordon, Black Diamond Engine Company, and this certifies that Thomas J. Gordon was an active member of the Black Diamond Engine Company and he was admitted in 1892 and John Parkin signed it as Chief and sealed by the Black Diamond and I've taken this and had it er.. and had plasticene put over er..plasticised so that it will be forever there and a day. And this is of interest to me because Billy is a friend of mine and I remember in the old days when we were kids, his Dad had the red shirt and the big galoshes over it, and his big hat and the gumboots and when that fire bell went, he just took off, you see, and I've tried and we are still trying, some place along the line some of Bill's nephews or his nieces have got hold of the braces and the red shirt. He knows they're around. He's going to try and get them for me, which would be a wonderful addition to our museum. But these are the things that I'm saving and these are the things that I'm hoping will be on display at the fire hall. I have the full support of the City, by the way, and I think it's just a matter of myself setting it up and getting it the way we want it. I don't anticipate any problems or any argument.

Now who can tell me who this man is? I don't know. He's either the first or second Fire Chief of the City of Nanaimo and we don't know him, unfortunately. Now this was in pieces, as you can see, and I took it and I mounted it, got it together and I had it on a stiff back and I keep hoping someone can tell me who this gentleman is.

(discussion from the audience, unintelligible)

Female audience member: Were the volunteer firemen paid any kind of honorarium by the City?

Dunn: Yes, they were paid, at the time they were paid, if I'll continue on here.

Female audience member: I just wondered if in that there could be any clues.

Dunn: No the only clues we have is that there were a certain number of chiefs in the organization, you see, and er..here it is here (shuffling of papers). On September 28th 1894 the Fire Hall on Wharf Street was destroyed by fire when the Royal Hotel caught fire and it was necessary to find a new place to store their apparatus. Members of the

Company volunteered and in one day they erected a shed at the back of the Dick Nightingale stables on Cavan Street. On August 9th 1890, a subscription was started with the intention of securing funds to erect a brick building at the foot of Nicol Street to be used for the Fire Department headquarters. The construction of the building commenced in September 1893 and was not finished until the end of 1894 when the apparatus was moved from Cavan Street to the new hall, Number 1 Fire Hall today, which was the old brick building we all know. And up to this time there had been no remuneration for the firemen for services, the only money being received was a grant of $500. per year from the Provincial Government and what money could be raised in donations and proceeds of entertainments. The last grant from the Government they received was in 1899 and this money was spent in buying new equipment for the upkeep of the new hall etc. In 1894, the next piece of apparatus was a steam fire engine which was purchased and sent out from London, England and was made by the Merryweather Company and it was nicknamed the Merry Weather, which you are all familiar with, the old Merry Weather. Several hose carts were purchased and placed in convenient locations around the city and there were two very good wells that were often used for [unintelligible] and for practices, one being at the foot of Albert Street, right down here. In those days if a Teamster fireman happened to be near the Fire Hall when the alarm was sounded, he hauled the cart to the fire and was awarded the privilege of holding the nozzle, which was his remuneration for getting the cart there. And this was quite a thing! In the old days I used to hear Harry Weeks and Tab Manion and Marshall and different Teamsters around time, and of course they were great, big men and I was still a little kid and they used to start talking about being there first, hitching up the team and taking off for the fire. And the fellows that were driving the teams said they never saw anything like it in their life because those horses just ran until the blood ran from their noses; they would just run, they didn't know anything about stopping or quitting. They just ran until they were told to stop and a lot of you older people would remember this, I guess, the horses running out.