Edmonton's First Fire Hall

The Volunteer Fire Brigade was started in 1891 and volunteers were paid 30 cents an hour to fight fires. A year later, the town of Edmonton built Fire Hall No. 1. This 15 by 15-metre building stood where Canada Place is now, and also served as the first town hall, police station, and courthouse. It also housed the first mayor’s office.

Edmonton incorporated as a city in 1904, and Fire Hall No. 1 became too small to hold the full civic government and an expansion was added. In 1906, the City hired R. G. Davidson (1906-1911) who officially named it the Edmonton Fire Department. He promptly disbanded the Volunteer Fire Brigade and hired full-time firefighters.

To bring awareness to the dangers of fires, the next Fire Chief, Thomas Lauder, invited a reporter to ride with him for a tour of downtown back alleys in the first motorized chief's car west of Winnipeg, a 1912 KisselKar. In a newspaper article, the reporter described what he saw, “Ashes, smoking hot in many instances, are dumped at the rear of premises and in the lanes with an utter disregard of consequences that is appalling to him who sees and thinks; piles of matchwood packing cases and other flammable rubbish are heaped up where it only needs the carelessly thrown cigar end or still burning vesta to start a conflagration that might easily wipe out the entire business section of the city; and this is done in barefaced opposition to the bylaws.”

On October 19, 1912, Edmonton Mayor George Armstrong declared Fire Prevention Day, the first fire-safety day in Canada and one of the first in North America. Fire Prevention Day expanded into Fire Prevention Week in the 1920s and is still observed every October throughout North America. This year it is from October 4 -10.

Original story posted by Gary Dick to an internal Edmonton website.