Fire was an ever-present threat in 亚洲天堂 Lake during the early years of the twentieth century. Despite being a stone鈥檚 throw from the lake, homes and businesses in village were often short of water. Wells dug by hand in what is now the downtown core went dry with frustrating regularity, and what water was available only ran when someone carried it.
1922 was a particularly dry year. Wildfires destroyed vast tracks of forest, and Robert Gerow鈥檚 hotel鈥攚hich by that time had relocated from its original location on the island鈥攂urned in spectacular fashion. In May 1924, perhaps in response to these and other events, the young municipality beefed up its firefighting capacity by purchasing a seventy-gallon chemical fire engine from the Bickle Fire Company of Woodstock, Ontario. The apparatus鈥� name was a misnomer because it was hand-drawn by four men.
The town fathers were smart enough not to place all their firefighting eggs in one basket, though. By 1925, they had also purchased six buckets and several handmade ladders.
Firefighting was a skill learned on the job, and the local fire brigade consisted of anyone within hailing distance. One volunteer who showed up at most fires was so excitable that he once chopped a hole in the roof of a burning building and then fell through it.
The new engine got its first big test on March 18, 1925, when fire broke out downtown after a St. Patrick鈥檚 Day dance. Postmaster Jim McKenna had just gone to bed when he heard a racket outside.
McKenna emerged from his home to see people running in every direction. Some were headed toward the fire, but others with cooler heads made a beeline toward the new Bickle fire engine housed in Andy Ruddy鈥檚 barn.
The fire was well-established by the time the engine and its handlers arrived. Volunteers quickly added a mixture of sulfuric acid and sodium bicarbonate to the device鈥檚 reservoir, then trained the caustic mixture on the flames. Late arrivals grabbed buckets and ran to Ruddy鈥檚 well, only to find it dry.
The flames danced and tossed black smoke into the night sky. The heat was so intense that a winter鈥檚 worth of snow melted around the burning buildings and ran in merry rivulets through the streets. People scooped it up in buckets and threw it on the flames. When the water ran out, they used snow from adjacent properties for fire retardant.
By the time the fire burned itself out a few hours later, the Royal Bank of Canada building was one of the few still standing downtown. People saved it by throwing snowballs onto the burning roof.
Though many said the first building destroyed was the hardware store, the question of where the fire originated was hotly contested. The matter sparked a heated argument between two prominent citizens that ended in a fistfight on Main Street.
