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Historic fire bell comes out of storage


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#1 amor de cosmos

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Posted 12 May 2008 - 04:23 PM

Heppell said he asked city council back in the 1980s if the bell could be erected in Centennial Square but that proposal stalled, pending an idea that Centennial Square would be renovated.

"The project languished but now has come forward because this is the 150th anniversary of fire protection in the city," said Heppell, now the chairman of the celebrations and active in the Victoria Fire Department Historical Society.

Earlier this month, city council agreed the bell could be installed in a blank archway on the Pandora Street side of city hall, a position that is "just a stone's throw from where it actually served," said Heppell.

http://www.canada.co...2b-8fad63a41044

Does this mean that Centennial Square won't be renovated?!

#2 Baro

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Posted 12 May 2008 - 05:09 PM

" Does this mean that Centennial Square won't be renovated?!"

Didn't you read? It's getting a BELL! This will revitalize the square and get people flocking!

#3 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 12 May 2008 - 06:06 PM

http://www.canada.co...2b-8fad63a41044

Does this mean that Centennial Square won't be renovated?!



I'm just happy that it has only taken 28 years for this to get done.

#4 aastra

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Posted 12 May 2008 - 06:11 PM

You can't rush something like that.

#5 Ms. B. Havin

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Posted 12 May 2008 - 06:37 PM

Reading about the same old issues over and over again does make the city look like such a loser, doesn't it?

...that proposal stalled, pending an idea that Centennial Square would be renovated.

It's almost as if "ideas" stall things around here, vs. making them move forward.
When you buy a game, you buy the rules. Play happens in the space between the rules.

#6 aastra

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Posted 12 May 2008 - 06:58 PM

So you spend a bit of money setting up the bell and then a few years later along comes a $100 million reworking of the square. Would anybody really have cared about the cost of the bell's first installation? It's not like something major would have happened overnight. Worst case scenario, the bell would have been there for 5 years before you had to move it out again.

#7 victorian fan

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Posted 13 May 2008 - 03:17 PM



#8 Zimquats

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Posted 13 May 2008 - 03:42 PM

Retired Victoria fire chief Mike Heppell has spent years trying to find a new permanent home for the bell, cast in 1873 and first installed in the Tiger's Fire Company House.


Bells were used to call firefighters to work until the introduction of an emergency street-alarm system


If the fire department is celebrating their 150 year anniversary, and they didn't get their bell until 1873, what did they use for the first 15 years?

#9 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 13 May 2008 - 04:48 PM

If the fire department is celebrating their 150 year anniversary, and they didn't get their bell until 1873, what did they use for the first 15 years?



#10 victorian fan

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Posted 13 May 2008 - 05:16 PM

DELUGE FIRE HALL #1, VICTORIA, YATES AND BROAD STREET[ca. 1870]



#11 victorian fan

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Posted 13 May 2008 - 05:22 PM



#12 Holden West

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Posted 13 May 2008 - 07:16 PM

I wonder things were like that scene in "Gangs of New York" where the fire companies were fighting each other instead of the fire.
"Beaver, ahoy!""The bridge is like a magnet, attracting both pedestrians and over 30,000 vehicles daily who enjoy the views of Victoria's harbour. The skyline may change, but "Big Blue" as some call it, will always be there."
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#13 G-Man

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Posted 13 May 2008 - 07:38 PM

I believe there was quite a bit of competition. I think there was something in one of Danda Humphries books.

#14 Rob Randall

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Posted 25 July 2008 - 01:56 PM

Fire Bells and Fanfare

The Victoria Fire Department, in collaboration with the Victoria Fire Department Historical Society, is celebrating 150 years of service next weekend by hosting Fire Bells and Fanfare, a two-day, family event downtown.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Memorial Bell Dedication
Victoria City Hall, Pandora Avenue Entrance
11:30 a.m. - Noon


Fire Bells and Fanfare will begin with a memorial bell dedication on Saturday outside the Pandora Avenue entrance of City Hall. The focal point of the memorial is a 1,500 lb. bronze fire bell that was cast in 1873 by William Blews and Sons Founders of Birmingham, England, for $750 and was shipped to Victoria where it served to call fire fighters to duty until the early 1900s. The memorial will include an engraved granite tablet that honours fire fighters of all generations, noting the names of four Victoria fire fighters who have died in the line of duty. Family members of three of the four fire fighters will attend the ceremony and will assist with the unveiling of the bell. The bell will be installed just below where it used to serve a fire house, located on the southwest corner of City Hall.

Parade
Noon - 12:30 p.m.


South on Government Street from Pandora Avenue to Legislature Driveway
Immediately following the memorial bell dedication will be a parade that will demonstrate the 150-year evolution of fire fighting. Over 75 vintage to modern day fire apparatus will be featured, including Percheron horses that will be brought up from Custer, Washington to pull the Department's vintage steamer, coal and hose wagons. These horses are faster and lighter than Clydesdales, which is why they were used. Parade entries will include apparatus from Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Alberta and BC. The parade will cue up on Broad Street, starting at Government Street at Pandora Avenue and ending at the Legislative Driveway.

Static Fire Apparatus Display
12:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Legislature Driveway


Vintage fire fighting apparatus from the 1800s and early 1900s will be on public display on the Legislature’s front driveway, providing a rare opportunity for the public to have a close look at the fire reels and wagons of the past.

Ceremony of Flags
7:30 p.m. - 9 p.m.
Legislature Lawns


Three hundred Royal Canadian Sea Cadets from across Canada who train at HMCS Quadra in Comox, BC, will parade along Douglas and Government Streets to the Legislature Building, where they will perform their annual Ceremony of Flags at sunset, with a special tribute to the 150th Anniversary of the establishment of Fire and Police services at Fort Victoria in 1858. The ceremony will include the playing of theLast Post, followed by the traditional “tap-in” of the fire bell with four gongs sounded by a 1925 fire bell. Reveille will be played and the National flag will be lowered by a joint fire and police flag party.

Sunday, August 3, 2008
Working Fire Apparatus Display
10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
(lower level of 900 Wharf Street, next to Ship Point)


This display provides an opportunity for the public to observe the operation of old and new fire apparatus pumping and shooting water streams, as they did 100 years ago right up to modern times.

For more information on the Victoria Fire Department Historical Society, visit:www.victoriafirehistorical.ca

#15 Ginger Snap

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Posted 25 July 2008 - 05:45 PM

Bell is going to be on the Pandora street side of City Hall, not in the actual square.

 



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