01History of the Arborg-Bifrost Fire Department
By Bill Aiken
The terror and destruction of fire has touched the lives of nearly every family in the Arborg District over many years. Homes were usually heated with wood fired kitchen ranges, tin heaters and cast iron furnaces in this area of mixed coniferous and deciduous forests to supply a ready source of fuel. Wood, as a fuel, was later supplemented with coal, which could be stoked to supply continuous heat through the long winter nights. Oil fired equipment became popular because it could be regulated automatically with physical handling, and was clean and convenient. Oil shortages and higher prices forced Arborg residents to install electric heating in the form of furnaces, baseboard heaters, heat pumps and ceiling mounted radiant heaters. The need for energy conservation lead to the construction of heavily insulated homes that are virtually airtight. The quest for better efficiency and lower costs have moved many toward the use of wood fired supplemental heating, by a generation of people who never knew how to use fire this way. This lack of know-how and airtight homes in a period of experimentation lead to may fire problems in the eighties. The danger of fire approached the level experienced in the early days of wood heating.
Wildfires have always been a problem in the Arborg area where the rich soils have produced a heavy ground cover of grasses and other plant growth. There have been many spring and fall periods when heavy growth combined with hot dry weather and low humidity have made the whole area very volatile. Fires have swept across the landscape consuming farm buildings, crops and machinery on many occasions.
Arborg and district has had a similar experience to other communities across Canada in developing support for fire fighting. The rural residents always expected the fire department in town to come to their aid in time of need. Rural councils resisted supporting the fire departments because by the time a brigade was summoned and arrived at the scene little, if anything could be saved. Many rural residents also felt that fire protection was a service that the town where they did business owed them.
Over the years roads were improved, communication by radio pagers was instantaneous and fire departments became better organized to the extent that trucks were at a fire at Vidir Lumber in October 1985 located 12 miles from town in as many minutes. Insurance companies recognized, with reduced premiums, areas with fire departments with modern equipment and training programs. High investments in buildings and farm equipment increased demand for fire service in the country. In 1980 Arborg and Bifrost established a fire committee to administer a joint fire department. A similar arrangement was made at Riverton and the two fire departments would then service the area divided by the boundary between wards 1 & 2 of the Evergreen School Division. The Arborg-Bifrost Department also serves the most northerly row of townships of the L.G.D. of Armstrong on a fee for service basis.
Julius Paulson, who at the time of writing, lives in St. James and instructs a Red River community college became Fire Chief in Arborg when the Village become incorporated in 1964. Julius had a fire in his International Equipment Dealership shop, where the Cheese Plant now sits. He acquired a 1961 truck chassis from a fellow dealer and through his own expense turned it into a fire truck that for many years served as a tanker truck. The truck was stored in his garage as long as he was in business with International, and then it was stored for a few years in Valdi Gudmundson’s shop on David Street.
During Chief Paulson’s time there was no reported loss of life due to fire and the worst fires included the Drug Store during renovation, a house next to the theatre and a Melnychuk house fire that could not be entered. A main frustration at that time was that, although the Village had gathered up some equipment, many calls came from farms in the municipality for which there was no fire protection support. When Fire Fighting expenses were not paid, the fire department was asked “not to go out of town” and special meetings had to be called while farm buildings and homes went up in smoke.
In 1972 Bill Aitken, a school teacher at Arborg Junior High School, was appointed fire chief, a position he occupied until June 1985. Starting with a Fire Chief’s training session held in Thompson, he attended every course he could. Training was a main part of the program and soon most volunteers were trained to a level 1 standing. The training was accompanied with new equipment. The truck was moved from a private garage to a one bay fire hall incorporated in the Railway Station Building. The first self-contained breathing apparatus was purchased in 1974 and all volunteers were issued protective turn out gear.
During the seventies, most fire fighters were also volunteers with the newly established Ambulance Service that operated from the hospital. The Hospital Auxiliary responded to a need by purchasing six pagers for the Fire Department. These pagers supplemented the telephone call-out system and thus reduced response time.
In 1979 plans were underway to purchase the first real Fire engine for Arborg. These plans were finalized before a joint fire department with Arborg and Bifrost could be established, so the apparatus was basically designed to fight fires from the hydrants found only in the villages.
The Arborg-Bifrost Fire Department was however formed before the new Pierreville truck arrived in June 1980. Within a week the new truck was put to the test when a fire broke out in the Ka Hing restaurant, a business in the former Einarson Garage on Main Street. The building was destroyed but with the aid of new equipment, fire did not spread to adjacent businesses.
Arborg-Bifrost Fire Department was one of the nine departments to form the North Interlake Mutual Aid Fire District and also was the first to use this support. Mutual Aid was called for the Busy Beaver Motel-Restaurant complex fire in April 1981. Help was again summoned in the February 1982 when the Arborg Department Store and Food Town were burned in a very dangerous fire that injured two firefighters.
The Arborg-Bifrost Fire Department was the first rural fire department to use students during the summer to carry out fire prevention inspections in public buildings and at the same time prepare detailed pre-fire planes of each building. These scale drawings, complete with much needed information, are carried in fire vehicles.
The Fire Department has been housed in many places over the years. In 1912 a two-wheeled chemical trailer was stored in a fire hall located on the riverbank. Halloween 1914 was a time when the cart was dumped onto the frozen pond near the present site of the water plant. Equipment has been stored in private garages until 1975 when the CPR station was turned around and renovated to house the Fire Department and library. When the library was expanded in 1982 the fire trucks were moved into the Arborg Public Works Building at 390, 1st Avenue West
On October 19, 1985 a new three bay fire station on River Road East was officially opened. This Station is jointly owned by the Village of Arborg and Rural Municipality of Bifrost and has a training room that is designed to be an emergency operation center for any area disaster.
On July 1, 1985 George Chyzy was appointed as fire chief with Harvey Danard as deputy fire chief. Other members at the time were John Kozera, John Blandford, Tom Bjornson, Brian English, George Howell, Gerald Kraning, Ross Olafson, Gordon Ray, Bill Sutyla, Randy Woychyshen, Fred Zayik and Bill Zylstra.
During the course of the past 90 plus years, the area has experienced many fires which have had drastic effects on the residents. There were two catastrophic events in this time.
On Feb. 11,1917 major fire destroys S.M. Sigurdson store and living quarters, Hotel, Drugstore and Telephone Office, Barbershop and Poolroom.
Following are two writings about the 1922 fire that nearly destroyed the entire town of Arborg:
The Night Arborg Burned Down
By Wallace D. Bjarnason
May 22nd, 1922, awoke with a beautiful sunrise, calm and peaceful. Soon, people began to rise and get ready for their daily routine, and children would be going to school. It was a lovely spring day, sunny and quiet. Little did anyone know that a tragic event would hit the town of Arborg later that evening.
It was around nine o’clock p.m. standard time that my mother, looking out the living room window, saw a red glow in the sky. Suspecting that this was a fire, everyone lift the house. I was fleet of foot and when arriving there saw that the Sigurdson Reykdal Ltd. Store was on fire. People were beginning to gather and help with salvaging what they could out of the store, as the flames spread quickly through the wooden structure. Then we moved on to salvaging the stock of merchandise in the Farmer’s Co-op store
The Sigurdson, Reykdal Ltd. General Store, also known as “The Corner Store” was situated on the Northwest corner of Railway Avenue (now Main Street) and River Road. It was built in an “L” shape. The main building housed the store, with living quarters above. The ell or wing housed the Drugstore, warehouse, and harness and shoe repair shop. They all had front entrances facing south on River Road. A passageway at the rear of the ell, with exit door, ran behind the drugstore to connect the main store to its warehouse. The Drugstore’s back door opened into this passageway. It was there next tot the back door that empty boxes, used by stores were kept, and also containers for sweepings and refuse. Arni Anderson was proprietor of the Drugstore, which was leased from Sigurdson, Reykdal Ltd.
By the time the fire had swept to the Farmer’s Co-op Store, volunteers had carried most of the lighter weight merchandise from the store, to safety on the C.P.R. grounds across the street. There was a large warehouse at the rear, containing flour and feed, oils, and heavy cases, also dynamite and caps. This was not salvaged in time, which will be referred to later. The Post Office was located in the rear with separate entrance. The store manager at the time was Percy Jonasson.
As the fire moved on, so did the volunteer firefighters. Next victims in the fire’s path were H. Diamond’s Store, Arborg, Trading Co., Telephone Office and Municipal Building. At this time the Town’s people and Councilors were discussing the merits of dynamiting the building in order to contain the fire. This was before the fire had reached the dynamite and caps in the Co-op warehouse.
There was a tremendous explosion, which lit up the sky, with embers and sparks flying onto roofs. This hastened the fire and within a few minutes the roof of the Municipal and Telephone building was burning. This stopped the idea of being able to contain the fire. The telephone operators at the time were Runa Hanson and Stjana (Ingjaldson) Crowe.
Next in line was R.J. (Bert) Woods Implements, building. They were able to save the equipment, having had more time. The Wood family moved to Teulon, where Bert started in business again.
Then the fire moved to the Grand Café. Volunteers helped remove all the fruit and confectionery, which they piled on the C.P.R. grounds across the road. One of the owners, a Chinese called Dempsey on account of his size, a very pleasant and polite man, told u boys to help ourselves to all the fruit we wanted, as it would only spoil anyway. He also joined us, and we had a feast. Daylight was showing in the sky. All anyone could do was to take a breather, until the fire caught up, as all goods that could be removed from the fire were now in piles on the C.P.R. grounds.
S.M. Sigurdson’s store had caught fire and Elli Sigurdson’s Poolroom was next. There was a vacant lot next to the Hotel, so every effort was made to save the Hotel by propping up poles and planks on the north wall of the Poolroom so that the wall would fall into the fire instead of the vacant lot.
The flames moved from south to north and a bucket brigade formed a line from the water pump to the empty lot. As the Poolroom was burning, waster was splashed on the side of the Hotel. The wall was very hot. Blistering the paint and a cloud of steam was raised as each pail full of water hit it. The proprietors of the Hotel were Barney Bjarnason and Siggi Torfason.
The propped up wall of the Poolroom did fall in and the fire died down and so did the danger it was now nearing daylight. The fire and excitement lasted all during the night. When the explosion occurred from the dynamite blast flying embers and smoldering wood hit the Hotel roof and windows. It was said that the Hotel would have gone also, had it not been for the watchfulness of the volunteers and the owners.
As the early morning arrived, and the danger was over, we began to assemble and relate to one another as we prepared to go home. In our group I recollect John Bjerring, Karl Johnson, Joe Senow, Stanly Boyanowsky, Franklin Sigurdson. In other groups were Grimur, Ingi, Meti, and Adlph Johannessson, along with Kjartan and Oli Johnson. As were dispersed and made our way home, there were still smoldering embers and smoke coming from the ashes.
My experience of the explosion, is, while carrying an armful of shoes from Harry Diamond’s store, and I had crossed the ditch and about 30 yards towards his pile of goods, the dynamite and caps exploded. There was a flash of light and seemed as if there was a wall of flames flying, like a huge umbrella in the sky. The shoes boxes went flying, and ion huge jump I along with several others was at the railroad tracks 50 yards away. Smoldering embers were everywhere but luckily none of the salvaged goods were damaged. Some near misses of flying burning wood were reported, but no one was hurt.
One day, many years after the fire, I was talking to Kalli Torfason who worked for H. Helgason’s Garage, across the street from the Corner Store. He related how he had spotted the fire in the refuse container behind the drugstore in the passageway, while exiting through the back door, that fateful evening. He ran to the Garage for a pail of water, but in the short meantime someone had opened up the front door and the draft fanned the small blaze beyond control. He maintained that they could have put out the fire if water had been handy, when he first noticed it.
As we were heading for home, we happened to stop by the pile of goods belonging to the Co-op, when the manager Percy Jonasson came towards us. After discussing some of the events and happenings with him he walked over to the pile and came up with a box of pearl handled pocked knives. Wishing to rewards for our help, in a small way, he gave us each a knife. Believe it or not, to this day I still carry this souvenir to remind me of the events of that night.
There were reports from as far away as Riverton that they saw the red sky over Arborg.
When trying to recall this eerie night of the fire, as it moved from building to building, I can visualize great fingers of flames going in many directions. People were running about like shadows. This was a night created for the (“Huldu Folk”) Stone people, (Grylur) witches, and (Draugar) Ghosts. The shadows danced along the ground, forming all kinds of weird shapes, nearer the flames and further away. The final curtain fell on the dancing shadows on the hotel wall as daylight broke on the scene, and they slowly faded away.
BUSINESS SECTION OF ARBORG IS WIPED OUT
FREE PRESS
MONDAY MAY 22-23, 1922
Fire Does Damage Estimated at
$100,00.00 – Many Persons
Are Homeless
Arborg, man. May 23 – The business section of the town of Arobrg was wiped out by fire Monday night. Losses were estimated at $100,00.00 this morning by Thomas Baird, chief inspector of the fire commissioners department. The government will investigate the cause of the fire, which is unknown. Starting at 10 o’clock the fire raged for several hours. Lack of fire fighting equipment mad it impossible for residents of the town to successfully combat the blaze.
Twenty persons are homeless through the disastrous fire. No one was injured.
The fire was discovered about a quarter to ten last night at the back of the Arborg Drugstore. Efforts were made to extinguish the flames, but heavy smoke made it impossible. The general store of Sigurdson and Reykdal, which is in the same block as the drugstore, took fire and the flames soon spread all through the business part of the town. Strenuous efforts were made to save the next building occupied by the Arborg Framers Co-operative association, but as the there was no fighting apparatus in the town of any use it was impossible to check it. The fire went through to the general store of H. Diamond then to the Arborg Trading company, the Municipal Hall, Manitoba Government Telephone exchange, R.J. Wood’s implement building, the Grand café, S.M. Sigurdson’s general store, and was finally checked after burning the poolroom owned by E. Sigurdson.
On account of a vacant lot between the poolroom and the Hotel the later was saved though badly scorched. Windows in many houses in the vicinity were broken.
Family has narrow escape
L. Nord and family, who lived over Sigurdson and Reykdal’s store, had a narrow escape, and were unable to save anything, not even their clothing. L. Gudmundson, harness maker, in the same building, also lost everything, being unable to save his tools or stock.
The losses so far known are estimated as follows:
Sigurdson and Reykdal, loss about $18,000.00 insurance $11,500.00; Arborg Drugstore, loss $1,800.00, insurance $600.00;Arborg Framers Co-operative, loss $17,000.00, insurance $14,000.00; H. Diamond, loss $17,000.00, insurance $12,000.00; Arborg Trading company, loss $10,000.00, insurance $7000.00; Government telephone and Municipal building loss $4000.00, insurance unknown; R.J. Wood, loss $3,500.00 insurance $1000.00; Grand café, loss $1,500.00, insurance $1000.00; S.M. Sigurdson, loss $8000.00, insurance $5000.00; E. Sigurdson’ poolroom, loss $2,500.00, insurance $2000.00; L Gudmundson, harness-maker, loss $300.00, insurance unknown; L. Nord, over Sigurdson and Reykdal, loss $1000.00, no insurance.
Other buildings menaced
There was not much wind and the fact aided greatly, aided the firefighters. Sparks were dangering the other buildings, and the Canadian Pacific railway had an engine standing at the station building to supply water to keep the roof from taking fire from the burning embers which were settling on it. The fire died down about 2 o’clock and the place looks desolate, not a store is standing, the post office was also destroyed, the mail being all saved.