The Fire Department was first formed as the A.R.P fire department following the bombing of Pearl Harbour with Hans Hoffmann as the first fire chief and Ted Ming his assistant. Before that it was the community who had to band together to try to put out any fires, or one had to wait until the closest fire department (Point Grey) was able to respond sometimes taking upwards of three hours to arrive! As there was no building available, the fire department operated out of Hans Hoffmann’s machine shop. Hoffmann and Ming purchased a Model A truck and repurposed it into the first fire truck (which one can see every Pitt Meadows Day in the Parade). Once the war ended, the fire department was renamed the Volunteer Fire Department in August 1946. It wasn’t until 1954 that the fire department got its first purpose-built fire hall. The new hall was located in between the lion’s den and the old post office. Around this time the Fire Department had purchased their second vehicle a converted army truck (this vehicle got the unfortunate nickname of the “double clutching nightmare”).<\/p>\r\n
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In the 1960s getting the Fire Department to respond to calls was extremely labour intensive, as the Hammond operator would call one of the men who would then relay the message to the other. Eventually, an alarm was established with an automatic phone ringing in five of the firemen’s homes. Eventually, the department moved to an automatic pager system. In November 1983 the Fire Department moved from its home on Harris Road to its current location on 122a Avenue, where they finally had a three-bay firehall! Although they were still at the time being paged to fight fires! It wasn’t until late 1989\/early 1990 that the Firehall finally got the use of the emergency phone number and 911. Pitt Meadows got its first paid Fire Chief, Len Garis, on April 1st, 1991, however, he had been volunteering since 1980 and was the volunteer fire chief in 1984. In 1998 however, he moved on to become the Assistant Fire Chief of the City of Surrey, and Deputy Fire Chief Bill Park stepped up. Park had served as a Deputy Fire Chief since 1996 and had been a volunteer for 17 years!<\/p>\r\n
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The first photograph is of the Pitt Meadows Volunteer Fire Department No. 2 Truck c. 1972, the second photograph is of the no.2 fire truck and firemen in gear outside the first fire hall c.1950s, the third image is of the fire hall (along with the lions den and post office) c.1962, the fourth image is of a fireman in full gear in an office outside the Pitt Meadows Fire Department, the fifth image is of the No. 1 fire truck in the Pitt Meadows Day parade, and the last image is of Three former fire chiefs, one of which is Hans Hoffmann, and the then current chief, Len Garris posed in front of the first fire truck at the fire hall c.1991\/92<\/p>","SEO_LINK":"pitt-meadows-fire-department","VIDEO_LINK":"","SOUNDCLOUD_LINK":"","IMG1":"1555627196_main_pitt-meadows-fire-department_1.jpg","IMG2":"1556125595_main_2pitt-meadows-fire-department.jpg","IMG3":"1556125598_main_3pitt-meadows-fire-department.jpg","IMG4":"1556125598_main_4pitt-meadows-fire-department.jpg","IMG5":"1556125598_main_5pitt-meadows-fire-department.jpg","IMG6":"1556125599_main_6pitt-meadows-fire-department.jpg","IMG7":"","IMG1_THUMB":"1555627196_thumb_pitt-meadows-fire-department_1.jpg","IMG2_THUMB":"1555627198_thumb_pitt-meadows-fire-department_2.jpg","IMG3_THUMB":"1555627199_thumb_pitt-meadows-fire-department_3.jpg","IMG4_THUMB":"1555627203_thumb_pitt-meadows-fire-department_4.jpg","IMG5_THUMB":"1555627205_thumb_pitt-meadows-fire-department_5.jpg","IMG6_THUMB":"1555627205_thumb_pitt-meadows-fire-department_6.jpg","IMG7_THUMB":""}X
Pitt Meadows Fire Department
The Fire Department was first formed as the A.R.P fire department following the bombing of Pearl Harbour with Hans Hoffmann as the first fire chief and Ted Ming his assistant. Before that it was the community who had to band together to try to put out any fires, or one had to wait until the closest fire department (Point Grey) was able to respond sometimes taking upwards of three hours to arrive! As there was no building available, the fire department operated out of Hans Hoffmann’s machine shop. Hoffmann and Ming purchased a Model A truck and repurposed it into the first fire truck (which one can see every Pitt Meadows Day in the Parade). Once the war ended, the fire department was renamed the Volunteer Fire Department in August 1946. It wasn’t until 1954 that the fire department got its first purpose-built fire hall. The new hall was located in between the lion’s den and the old post office. Around this time the Fire Department had purchased their second vehicle a converted army truck (this vehicle got the unfortunate nickname of the “double clutching nightmare”).
In the 1960s getting the Fire Department to respond to calls was extremely labour intensive, as the Hammond operator would call one of the men who would then relay the message to the other. Eventually, an alarm was established with an automatic phone ringing in five of the firemen’s homes. Eventually, the department moved to an automatic pager system. In November 1983 the Fire Department moved from its home on Harris Road to its current location on 122a Avenue, where they finally had a three-bay firehall! Although they were still at the time being paged to fight fires! It wasn’t until late 1989/early 1990 that the Firehall finally got the use of the emergency phone number and 911. Pitt Meadows got its first paid Fire Chief, Len Garis, on April 1st, 1991, however, he had been volunteering since 1980 and was the volunteer fire chief in 1984. In 1998 however, he moved on to become the Assistant Fire Chief of the City of Surrey, and Deputy Fire Chief Bill Park stepped up. Park had served as a Deputy Fire Chief since 1996 and had been a volunteer for 17 years!
The first photograph is of the Pitt Meadows Volunteer Fire Department No. 2 Truck c. 1972, the second photograph is of the no.2 fire truck and firemen in gear outside the first fire hall c.1950s, the third image is of the fire hall (along with the lions den and post office) c.1962, the fourth image is of a fireman in full gear in an office outside the Pitt Meadows Fire Department, the fifth image is of the No. 1 fire truck in the Pitt Meadows Day parade, and the last image is of Three former fire chiefs, one of which is Hans Hoffmann, and the then current chief, Len Garris posed in front of the first fire truck at the fire hall c.1991/92
Details:
Latitude: 49.2245153307240
Longitude: -122.68820456128
Direct Link: https://www.pittmeadowsmuseum.com/locations/pitt-meadows-fire-department
