London Fire Department: The First 150 Years

No. 4 Fire Hall, 807 Colborne St. 
 Built 1909 in abstract Italianate style with 
simplified Tuscan Tower. Still in use and apparently haunted. 

2023 marks the 150th anniversary of the London Fire Department. To celebrate, LFD turned its Horton Street headquarters into a museum display of historical artifacts highlighting a century and a half of firefighting.

It was on April 1, 1873 that London's first permanent, paid fire brigade was created under Chief Thomas Wastie. At first it was known as Forest City Fire Company.

Of course, fires and firefighting took place long before that. London's earliest recorded fire was in November 1832, when the Dickinson blacksmith shop was destroyed, along with all its tools. In those days, all London residents were legally required to own a bucket for use in putting out fires in homes and businesses. Not that a bucket did much good, as the Dickinsons learned. 

The earliest record of London's Volunteer Fire Company is November 16, 1841, when the town's primitive engine was used to fight a chimney blaze in Dennis O'Brien's brick block on the north side of Dundas west of Ridout. That was approximately where Museum London is today. 

In 1844 volunteers received their first hand pump fire engine. Apparently it wasn't much better than a garden sprinkler. It was certainly no match for the Great Fire of London on April 13, 1845. The disaster destroyed nearly 30 acres of property and more than 100 homes and businesses. Afterwards, the town prohibited building wooden houses in the core. While that may have helped, fire could damage brick buildings too. 

Former Fire Station No. 3, 160 Bruce St.
Built 1890-91. Used until 1975. Now apartments.

Firefighting equipment gradually improved. The first steam fire engine arrived in 1867. An aerial ladder was purchased in 1895, attached to a 75-foot horse-drawn truck requiring a tiller operator to steer the rear wheels. Once at the fire, the ladder was raised by cranks operated by six men. 

The city's first fire station was built in 1847 on the north side of what became Carling Street between Richmond and Talbot. Before that, the fire engine was stored on the property of one of the volunteers. That first station was demolished in 1880 to become the site of a new police station. In the meantime, a newer firemen's hall and engine house was built in 1853 on King Street. That was the site of the Central Fire Hall until 1957.

The Fire Department's horses were an important part of the team from 1873 on. Before that, the hand pumpers were drawn by volunteer firemen on tow ropes. Either that or a team of horses had to be commandeered from a passing farmer or merchant. The first motorized fire truck arrived in London in 1912 - but unfortunately collided with a train at the William Street crossing in 1913.  The LFD's last horse, "Doc," retired in about 1928 at age 32. 

Firefighting was always dangerous work. The earliest known firefighting fatality in London was December 17, 1855 when 22-year-old John Eskdale became trapped in the burning home of Alfred Vennor at Talbot and Horton and was burned to death. 

Another disaster was the Westman Hardware Fire of 1908. The fire engulfed the whole Cronyn block on the south side of Dundas Street between Richmond and Talbot and took the lives of Fire Chief Lawrence Clark and two others. Fire Station No. 6 at Wonderland and Oxford is named after Chief Clark. 

Today, of course, firefighters still risk their lives. But now they're more likely to die of cancer related to breathing in the chemicals that burn in our homes and businesses. Twenty-first century firemen - and women - are just as brave as ever.