Early after the conquest “Fire Club No. 1” was formed by a body of fifteen merchants apparently for mutual self protection. Fires were still constant, some of them threatening the very existence of the city.
On the 6th of June, 1803, a destructive fire took place in Montreal. It broke out in the house of a man named Chevalier in St. Lawrence Main Street on the northeast side towards the upper end. As the wind was high and variable, the outhouses on both sides of the street soon took fire. At a quarter to four the roof of the jail was burning, soon followed by the English church on the northeast and the Roman Catholic chapel on the southwest side. These, to use the words of the reports by the magistrate were “instantaneously consumed.” It was with difficulty the courthouse was saved. Besides the jail and two church buildings the old church of the Jesuits, the Roman Catholic College (St. Raphael) and eleven houses were burnt in the lower part of the town. About 10 o’clock at night the fire was under control at the house adjoining that occupied by Mr. Justice Ogden. In the suburbs, where it originated, the fire was extinguished by sunset, after destroying thirteen houses besides outhouses, stables, etc.
Other fires followed during the summer of so alarming a character that it seemed evident they did not arise from accident, but from design, and a reward of £500 was offered for the apprehension of the offenders. With the exception of the first, which took place in June, these fires broke out during the first week in August and the magistrates offered a reward of £250, making with that offered by the governor £750 for the detection of the criminal. The succession of fires is thus reported. On Monday, August 1st, a little after 1 o’clock in the morning, fire broke out and consumed two houses; on Tuesday morning, at 6 o’clock, a stable was discovered to be on fire but was pulled down and the fire extinguished; on Wednesday several houses were burnt, one man killed and a number more or less seriously wounded; on Friday other fires broke out entirely destroying a number of houses, and it was with difficulty the lower part of the town was saved from a serious conflagration. Patrols were established and precautions taken to guard against the repetition of the fires.[1]
In 1824 a volunteer fire association of 100 was formed under M. Antoine Lepage, assisted by Doctor Berthelet, with its station near Notre Dame Church. In 1825 the Property Protection Fire Company was organized by Captain John Lukin. On the 7th of September, 1825, a fire broke out in an outhouse belonging to a cooper of the name of Dumaine, situated in the rear of a house forming the corner of St. Mary and Campeau streets. Over eighty dwellings and outhouses were consumed. Had it not been that there was no wind during the time and that the services of the Seventieth Regiment were at hand the fire might have been extremely disastrous to the town.
The new municipal fathers took early steps by a regulation of the 3d of June, 1841, to create a fire department. It was to consist of an inspector, superintendent, a chief engineer, a captain and a lieutenant for each company of firemen. When the Oregon boundary dispute with the slogan of its agitators “Fifty-four forty or fight,” was creating anti-British feeling in 1846, the Montreal fire brigade was formed into a battalion of militia under the command of the mayor, the Honourable James Ferrier, Mr. John Fletcher, afterwards Lieutenant-Colonel Fletcher, being appointed adjutant. The battalion drilled, but without arms, in the market hall for several years, even after the excitement of the Oregon incident had died away. On the breaking out of the Crimean war, Captain Fletcher offered authoritatively the services of 100 men of the Montreal fire brigade as volunteers for the war and received the thanks of the secretary of war for their patriotism.
The voluntary system of firemen continued to the 30th of April, 1863, when the last companies, then ten, received their last payment. On the 1st of May, 1863, the system of the telegraph alarm was introduced as well as No. 1 fire station at the corner of Chenneville and Craig streets. The new firemen, to the number of thirty, with salaries varying from the equivalent of two hundred and forty dollars to three hundred and sixty-five dollars a year, were supplemented by a certain number of volunteers with an honorarium of about twenty dollars annually until 1867. Until 1868 the duties included the watering of the streets. Hand pumps were then in vogue, the steam pump not being used until 1871.
In 1863, therefore, the fire department was more fully organized and has developed to its present efficiency.
Under a by-law passed May 10, 1865, the fire department was reorganized in two sections; the “City Fire Police,” consisting of a chief engineer, an assistant engineer, a hosewasher and cleaner, eight guardians, eight assistant guardians, and eight drivers, with eight stations; and the “City Fire Company,” composed of such members of the former fire department as chose to offer their services, not to exceed thirty-six in number, with the right to enroll eighteen supernumerary members to supply the places of absentees. They were to be under the immediate command of a captain and two lieutenants. The fire department had to operate the fire engines, hose, hooks and ladders, axes, etc., and the city fire company was for the purpose of operating fire engines, working hose, placing ladders and any other duty required of them in aid to the fire police. The members enjoyed all the privileges and immunities of firemen; the thirty-six men had salaries of $20.00 a year, subject to draw-back for nonattendance and the Supernumerary members were entitled to pay only when supplying the place of absentee members. The captain was paid $50.00 a year and the lieutenants got $40.00 each. The members of the city fire police got salaries ranging from $800.00 a year for the chief engineer, down to $240.00 a year for the drivers.
The day’s work for the fire police was divided into four watches of six hours each and it was provided that “when not on watch or engaged in street-watering as is hereafter provided, the guardians and drivers may be absent for meals, and if married, for the purpose of attending to their families; but with the exception of the first, leave of absence shall first be obtained.”
In 1910 the fire brigade consisted of 1 chief, 1 deputy chief, 6 district chiefs, 29 captains, 38 lieutenants, 19 engineers, 100 first class firemen at $800 a year, 103 second class firemen at $725, 26 third class firemen at $675, and 100 fourth class firemen at $625, and 27 other members with various duties.