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