Vancouver: A city consumed by flames

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Today, we begin a week-long series marking the anniversary of the Great Vancouver Fire. It was Sunday June 13th, 1886 — about two months after the city was established — when, in less than an hour, most of it had burned to the ground.

At least eight people died, but some say it was as many as 21. Dozens of others were injured. About 1,000 buildings, made out of wood, were destroyed.

The heat was so intense, the bell at St. James Church, which was used to warn people about the blaze, melted into a big lump of metal.

The blaze began as a small controlled brush fire near what is present-day Hamilton and Granville Streets, but a strong gust of wind caused chaos.

Vancouver Fire Captain Gabe Roder says the tragedy prompted the city to create a fire department and they’d now like to show you some of the equipment from that time period.

There’s a firefighters museum in nearly every major city in North America. There are plans to open one in Vancouver, but the obstacle is money.

“Some of this, what we would call ‘priceless’ artifacts, particularly the 1912 LeFrance, they’ll be out there for everyone to see,” says Roder. “We have hope that as new fire halls are built, there will be space within these fire halls to be able to put them and exhibit them.”

“This is our history. A 1912 antique, it’s over 100 years old now and I don’t know of a lot of things in our city that are over 100 years old. People need to see it. They need to embrace it and they need to understand where we came from.”

Roder says crews have every intention to restore some of the older trucks and equipment. “Even the 1912 [fire truck], which is in really, really nice shape.”

“It needs a little bit of fiddling with. But that’s going to take a lot of time, effort and, of course, money. Right now, I know the time and effort we’ll be able to find but it’s the money that will be a little more difficult. But I’m sure once people see that there are ambitious folks that are involved — then the money will start rolling in.”

He adds they’d like to have a museum open by 2018 and have it be free to the public.

Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at a unique ladder used to fight fires back in the day.

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