Q5. Where is Toronto’s only "art deco" style fre station? (P19)
Q7. Why did traditional fire halls have towers? (P22)?
History of Fire Stations in the Beaches & Fire Fighting in Toronto
By Beth Parker
Toronto has many historic fire stations, built from the late 1800’s to the 1950’s. They vary in style, according to the architecture of the
day, but many of their early features such as their towers or "wagon" bays are still part of the working stations.
The Beaches is proud to have three fire stations, still in operation today, that are historic sites. It is worth walking by and noting the
various features noted in the stories that follow.

Station 226
87 Main Street * Built 1910 * 11,800 sq. ft.
Station 226 was originally known as Toronto Fire
Department "Station 22". It was red brick with its date
clearly visible over the front window. Although its
main two-storey structure is an Amsterdam style with
a steep gable roof, the additional two-storey structure
is Victorian, with Victorian-style high bay windows.
Prior to building Fire Station 22, there was the original
fire hall, Old Fire Hall No. 2 (see photo). This fire hall
was a wooden, two-storey structure with a cupola on
top that held a bell. In 1888,
the town council of the
village of East Toronto
was looking for a better
place to hold its council
meetings and moved into
Old Fire Hall No. 2 from
1888 to 1909.
The first floor had large
doors for fire wagons and
a window on the south
side. As was the practice
of the day, horses were
stabled at the back
until they heard
the fire bell then
quickly moved out
front, ready to be
harnessed.
Station 227
1904 Queen Street East * Built 1905 * 10,800 sq. ft.
Station 227 was originally known at Toronto Fire
Department "Station 17" and is commonly referred
as the Kew Beach Fire Hall. The main structure
is a three-storey building also in an Amsterdam
architectural style complete with a stepped roof
and an 80-foot tower. The clock was added to the
tower many years later.
Towers were common in old fire halls because they
were used to hang the heavy hoses, which were
often made of leather; later on, they were made of
thick cotton.
Station 227 originally had a single vehicle bay. Later
on, an additional bay was built to the west of the
original building.
Station 324
840 Gerard Street East * Built 1934 * 13,150 sq. ft.
Station 324 was originally known as Toronto Fire Department
"Station 12". Built during the depression, it is the only fire station
in Toronto designed in Art Deco style. It is well worth a visit.
Although Toronto was very conservative in the 1920s, there are
a few examples of Art Deco in the city – and this is one of them.
Station 12 was designed by city architect, J.J. Woolnough (who
also designed the Horse Palace at the CNE grounds and Police
Station No. 12 at 2398 Yonge Street).
The design is symmetrical, with three bays. A carved stone
detail above the central bay shows a fire and lightning bolt. In
accordance with Art Deco style, the building also incorporates
design elements that use geometry and classic Art Deco traits,
such as rounded corners, that produce an understated elegance.
Toronto Fire Services (TFS)
Many of Toronto’s fire stations have two numbers on their
buildings – their original number under the City of Toronto and
the new number they received following city amalgamation.
In 1998, as part of overall city amalgamation, the six fire
departments (Etobicoke, East York, North York, Scarborough,
Toronto and York) came together. In April 2005, the
departments and commissioners of the Toronto Fire
Department were replaced by divisions under the City
Manager (and Deputy Managers), and renamed Toronto Fire
Services Division. Today, Toronto Fire Services operations
consist of 81 stations and divided into four geographical
command units.
Fire Fighting Bucket by Bucket
Before confederation and even after
Toronto was first founded, fire fighting
was something fought by volunteers
who left their homes to fight fires.
There were no fire
stations or "official"
fighting equipment.
Imagine a fire in the
1800s when most
buildings were made
of wood, heated by
fireplaces and lit by
candle or oil lamp.
First, someone had to
ring a fire alarm, often
a church bell. A runner, carrying some
kind of noise-maker, would race up and
down the streets hollering for help.
Fires literally were fought "by the
bucket". Home and building owners
were encouraged to keep at least two
fire buckets available in case of fire.
Once they heard the bell they would fill
their buckets at the nearest pond, well
or cistern and bring water to the site.
There they formed a bucket brigade.
Men would carry the full buckets, and
usually the women and children passed
the empty buckets back to the water
source. As you can imagine, the system
was very inefficient. Large amounts of
water were lost as the heavy buckets
passed from hand to hand.
Fire Fighting in Old Toronto
As towns and villages grew in the 1800s
across North America, town councils
and residents soon saw the need to
organize more formal volunteer fire
brigades (that is, people who were "on
call" to manage the buckets). In fact,
by the later 1880s, most municipalities
even passed bylaws to create such
volunteer fire brigades. Toronto was
no exception. Although still operated
by volunteers, in 1874 fire services
officially began in
Toronto.
By this time, bucket
brigades had been replaced
by hand-pumping
engines Although
hand pumpers improved
water delivery,
they were awkward
to use and depended
purely on human
muscle to operate. At
the scene, a team of
fire fighters working a
pumper would need to
be replaced every few minutes because
of the sheer energy
involved. Also,
these early machines
still had to
be filled by bucket
brigades.
Once hand pumpers
were replaced
with steampowered
pumpers,
firefighters
were able to access
much larger
amounts of water
under pressure.
Because the apparatus was much
heavier, horses were used to move the
machines to the scene. Horses typically
were stabled at the rear of the fire
hall and trained to move in front of
the pumper wagons (or ladder wagons)
when they heard the fire bell. Special
harnesses were suspended from the
ceiling so that they could be quickly
lowered and put on the horses. Once
these horse-drawn wagons arrived at
the fire, the horses were unhitched and
moved away so they were not panicked
by the smoke and flames.
As cities and towns expanded, firefighting
and firefighting equipment
began to undergo even more technological
advances. The development of
the fire hose alone could fill a chapter
in a history book. Fire hoses first started
as hand-sewn pieces of leather then
advanced to woven cotton and eventually
large diameter hoses able to withstand
great pressure. The heavy hoses
were hung to dry in fire stations, thus
giving the need for the popular towers
built in many stations. Cities like Toronto
also now use aerial ladder wagons.
Built in two sections, the ladders
were elevated to the side of a building
by a hand-crank, some able to reach as
high as 85 feet.
But fire fighting around 1900 remained
a dangerous task. Firefighters, for
example, did not wear proper fireretardant
clothing. According to the
Canadian Fire Fighters Museum, "it
was rumored that firemen would soak
their beards in water before entering
a blaze, and even stuff their beards in
their mouths to protect themselves
from heat and flames."
Toronto’s Great Fire
In 1904, on the night of April 19,
Toronto’s downtown core suffered a
major disaster. A fire started out at E&S
Currie Neckwear, a necktie factory,
located along Wellington Avenue East.
Fire Alarm Box 12 was sounded at the
corner of Bay and King Streets and
firefighters from Toronto and other
surrounding fire departments as far
away as Buffalo raced to the scene
with their various horse drawn ladder
and pump wagons. After nine hours,
the over 250 firefighters brought the
fire under control. It was said that the
ruins smoldered for weeks. Over 100
buildings were destroyed that night
with damages over 10 million. It was
a huge loss to the commercial heart of
the city.
Today there is a plaque on Wellington
commemorating the fire, erected in
2004 jointly by the City of Toronto,
Toronto Fire Services and the Toronto-
Dominion Centre.
Miraculously, no one was killed but a
few were seriously injured including
the fire chief, Fire Chief William
A. Stewart. Another, Fire Chief
Thompson, broke his leg while jumping
out of a building.
The results of the great
fire were immense – but
out of the ashes there
came some good. Only a
week before, one of the
fire chiefs had asked for
more funding to improve
Toronto’s fire fighting
services. After the fire,
the city brought about
many improvements to
fire safety procedures
and building materials.
Another legacy of this
fire was Call Box 12,
which was used to sound
the alarm. Today, the
volunteer canteen truck
supporting Toronto Fire
Services bears its name.
Fire fighting by truck
The introduction of
motorized vehicles and
apparatus dramatically
changed the way fires were fought.
The basic fire truck chassis were
built by companies such as General
Motors, Ford and Reo, Gotfredson
then customized for specific uses.
Now the equipment could get to a site
quickly, instead of being delayed by
tired horses. The gasoline also supplied
pump power, lighting power, and
lighting. This not only saved costs, but
also saved the strength and energy of
firefighters to aid in rescue operations.
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