Port Coquitlam Heritage Society's new display theme, Guardian Angels, opened Wednesday at city hall, the Archives and the display centre on Mary Hill Road. Featured and honoured are the organizations in our community upon which we rely in times of need: police, fire, emergency preparedness, ambulance, search and rescue and St. John's Ambulance.
Fire Prevention Week 2011 will run from Oct. 9 to 15 with this year's theme "Protect your family from Fire" so it seems appropriate for our story to recall the early days of the Port Coquitlam Fire and Emergency Services Department.
Even before incorporation in 1913, the need for a fire department in PoCo was evident. The business district around the CP Rail station on Dewdney Trunk Road consisted of a few wooden buildings surrounded by dense forest, which became tinder-dry in the summer.
In 1912, R.J. Edwards was appointed fire chief and a volunteer brigade formed soon after to operate the new $8,000 state-of-the-art La France self-contained fire truck bought by the district. An early photo shows Matt Marshall Jr., Jim Pringle and Arthur Smith posing beside their new acquisition. When the new city hall opened way over on Shaughnessy Street in 1914, the community hall named Kelly's Hall became the new home for the fire department.
The same year saw spectacular forest fires raging uncontrolled on the north side of the city and Burke Mountain, the thick smoke blanketing the city in darkness for days on end. There were dark days ahead for the fire department as well.
On Aug. 5, 1920, most of Port Coquitlam's business district was destroyed by fire that swept through the area in less than two hours. The blaze actually started in the fire hall itself, in a faulty chimney flume, and spread so quickly the firemen were barely able to roll the fire truck out to safety before the hall was lost, along with many of the buildings on Dewdney Trunk Road. The department suffered a further blow when its La France truck had to be sold to the Vancouver Fire Department after the fire.
The fortunes of the volunteer department changed in 1940 when John Galer was appointed volunteer fire chief. The Galer family has always been instrumental in the history and development of Port Coquitlam. John's father, Roger Galer, served as mayor from 1925 to 1945 during some tough economic times, and in 1921 founded Port Coquitlam Transfer, later to become PoCo Building Supplies, the city's oldest business. The fire hall was then located right beside the family business off Shaughnessy Street and John, his wife Nettie and family lived in the fire hall for years.
In a 2007 interview for PoCo Heritage, John recalls racing out the door with most of his employees when the siren sounded, one of the many being Sam Waddell, who worked for PoCo Transfer for 35 years and was a volunteer as well. John and neighbour Albert Osborne usually drove the fire truck, an upgraded La France model that he and Harry Hammond had driven from Owen Sound, Ont. in 1949.
A group photo taken in 1951 has Chief Galer and his volunteer brigade assembled at the fire hall posing beside their truck. Some may remember Bill Battistoni, who owned Batty's Shoes, and Ian Clerihue, whose father Mel ran the government liquor store, and Jim Boileau, whose family operated Boileau's Barber Shop. PoCo's pioneer families were well-represented by Roy Routley and the Wingrove boys: Art, Bill and Maurice. Bill Wingrove became the city's first paid fire chief in 1964, and Jim Boileau and Gordon Routley would later attain that position before retiring.
Over the years, much has changed for the fire department, including its name: It's now known as Port Coquitlam Fire and Emergency Services. Its motto is to protect the lives and property of our citizens from the adverse effects of fire, sudden medical emergencies and exposure to dangerous conditions or disasters created by humans or nature.
It is an organization that we as citizens can be proud of.
Firefighters and other emergency services workers are our Guardian Angels.
Your History is a column in which, once a month, representatives of the Tri-Cities' three heritage groups writes about local history. Bryan Ness is with the Port Coquitlam Heritage Society.
