The Original Brandon Fire Hall was located on the east half of the north side of the 600-block of Princess Avenue. The hall was in operation from 1884 to 1911.
Scope and Content
Photograph shows Brandon's first fire hall on Princess Avenue facing east. The hose tower and stables are visible. The three horse-drawn ladder wagon is parked is on the right. Pairs of horses are harnessed to two hose wagons. A dog sits on the street before the parked wagons.
Notes
Writing on the back of the photograph reads: 1903 or 1905, "First Fire Hall," Princess Avenue, Brandon, Man.
The vertical wheel at the front of the wagon raised the telescoping ladder.
The horizontal wheel at the rear was used for steering the wagon.
This unit, with a small motor truck tractor, remained in service until at least 1942.
One of these horses was sold to a local deliveryman. Every time a fire brigade passed, the horse went to the fire - whether [the deliveryman] did or not! (Info: BFD driver Ted Harden - "Squeek"'s uncle)
Custodial History
For custodial history see the collection level description of the Lawrence Stuckey collection.
Scope and Content
Three-Horse Ladder Wagon [in front of new Fire Station]
Notes
Additional information provided by the Fred McGuinness collection (20-2009).
For custodial history see the collection level description of the Lawrence Stuckey collection.
Scope and Content
CPR Ice House Fire with engine 701
Notes
This large ice house, located between the CPR tracks and Assiniboine Avenue at 3rd Street, was filled with blocks of ice from the Assiniboine River each winter. It had a long high platform for [loading ice blocks into] refrigerator cars, and also handled charcoal braziers for heating these same cars in winter. The new ice house structure that was built after this fire was much smaller, as it had an artificial ice plant.
With mechanically temperature-controlled cars replacing ice-cooled refrigerators, it was demolished in the 1970's.
This photograph shows how steam switch engines were used as fire engines. A hose carried in a box under the tender was fitted into a branch of the boiler feed pipe (discharge pipe). When the injector was turned on it gave a nozzle pressure of over 200 psi.