In 1914, when Jasper was little more than a tent city, a fire hall was built in town. It was a squat structure, it cost about $1,000 and looked more like a barn than a place from which to fight fires.
That was the beginning of the fire brigade鈥檚 100-year history in Jasper. And from those humble boards and shingles, the brigade flourished into a well-trained, 34-member outfit.
For many years Glenda Cornforth鈥檚 husband was one of those volunteers. She still remembers waking him in the middle of the night when he didn鈥檛 hear his pager.
Doug joined the Jasper Fire Brigade in the 50s and like many of the volunteers, Cornforth recalled in an interview Oct. 6, her husband often slept through the alarms. The running joke was that it was the wives鈥� jobs to wake their husbands when the siren blew.
A little sleep in the eyes is nothing compared to some of the mishaps the brigade suffered in its earliest days.
A year after the first fire hall was built, Jasper鈥檚 police barracks caught fire. It was the weekend and, according to long-time Jasper resident A.B. Webb鈥檚 interview for the museum鈥檚 Community History, it was a payday for the firefighters.
鈥淲e had a great bunch of characters that were working around here, there was old Jim Campbell, old Davie Hughes, old Fog Log Hilton and there was another one, old Bill Meeley.
鈥淓very pay day one of them would have a birthday and that meant a big drunk, and one or two of them would be in the barracks the next morning,鈥� recalled Webb.
Well, one pay day, while the boys were playing cribbage with the Otto brothers, word came down that the barracks went up in flames, but by that time most everyone was too inebriated to properly respond.
M. Sparks, superintendent of the park at the time, wrote to his superior how 鈥渢he chemical engine was used, but was not as effective as might otherwise have been, owing to over-enthusiasm of some of the volunteers,鈥� who broke the pump.
Recalling the incident 40 years later, Webb remembered standing outside looking at the destroyed building with Captain Sparks.
It was 鈥渙ne of the most laughable things I have seen here,鈥� he said.
In those days it would have been the Dominion Fire Brigade, and been staffed mostly by employees of the park.
It wasn鈥檛 until Feb. 16, 1934, when the chamber of commerce sent a letter to the superintendent of the park asking him to open up the brigade to any resident of the town, that the Jasper Volunteer Fire Brigade was born.
Two years later, in 1936, a new fire hall鈥攖he one that remains on the corner of Patricia Street and Elm Avenue鈥攚as built and was used by the fire brigade until the Emergency Services Building went up in 2002.
On Oct. 3 Marv Garford stood in that new fire hall, in front of a display of the artifacts from the brigade鈥檚 past: an old hose, hats and even a wooden pipe that used to carry water.
His grandfather was chief for a spell, and Garford himself has volunteered with the brigade for 25 years.
As he chatted about the brigade鈥檚 history, Garford reflected on the old hall.
鈥淚t had a smell to it鈥攖he smoke kind of permeated the whole building,鈥� he said.
Like the history of the brigade itself, it鈥檚 the old hall鈥檚 chips and bruises that keeps it close to people鈥檚 hearts.
Garford explained how its windows leaked, and would slam shut dramatically in the wind. It creaked, had a bad roof and some even said it was haunted.
鈥淚t was tough to say goodbye to that old building,鈥� he said with a smile.
Part of it must have been that smoky smell that lingered from volunteers returning from the fire at Mountain Motors in 1944. Cornforth remembers that one sending up a huge plume of black smoke into the sky. Or maybe it was from the explosion and fire at Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge in 1952, which lit up the sky and claimed one man鈥檚 life.
Jasper has seen its fair share of monumental fires, and it feels like the fire brigade has always been there to keep the flames in check.
But of course the brigade鈥檚 members did, and still do, a lot more than just fight fires.
For a long time the fire brigade also operated the only ambulance in town. Cornforth remembers an old converted car that used to function as the emergency vehicle.
鈥淚t had these big long fins on the back,鈥� she said, laughing, adding that they used to call it 鈥渢he batmobile.鈥�
Garford explained that there was no other ambulance service in town, so when there was an emergency someone from the brigade would hop in and speed to the scene.
鈥淭hese guys, they didn鈥檛 have any medical training,鈥� he said with a grin, they were just helping any way they could.
That seems to be a theme for the fire brigade and the people who make it up. Garford himself is a prime example, especially when he gets talking about the memories that stick out the most.
He remembers responding to traffic accidents where he helped rescue severely injured people. On one of his first calls, the bridgade had to cut a young women out of her car with the Jaws of Life.
鈥淵ou cut somebody out of a car, and they鈥檙e pretty messed up,鈥� he said, as his voice trailed off. But after being a part of a rescue like that, he said, it feels amazing when he hears that the person made it.
鈥淚t makes you really proud,鈥� he said.
Jasper historian Meghan Power said the fire hall was an important element in the development of Jasper as a community, as it brought a bunch of people together with the idea of making Jasper a better place.
鈥淭hey were people who cared about the town, and making it safe for everybody,鈥� she said.
Glenda Cornforth agreed.
鈥淢y husband certainly respected the fellas he worked with,鈥� she said proudly.
Trevor Nichols
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