Volunteer Company Formed in Ontario City
The experience of organizing the volunteer fire station in the Kilbride area of Burlington, Ontario, Canada, proves that the volunteer spirit still exists in areas of increasing population.
Burlington is a city of over 100,000 that had a fast growth of housing and industry near Lake Ontario. At the same time, the Kilbride area in the northern part of the city was slowly growing with the development of country estates and expensive rural homes.
Until last February, the city had two fire stations manned by full-time paid and volunteer fire fighters and two stations manned by volunteers. On February 1, Burlington Station 5 was opened in Kilbride with 30 volunteers.
For a number of years, there had been talk of fire protection for the Kilbride area, which had no water mains and was over 5 miles from a fire station. The homeowners pressured for protection.
Apparatus bought
The city and Chief Warren Corp decided to place a volunteer station in the area that would have space for three apparatus and include meeting and office areas to meet the needs of a 30-man company. Three new vehicles were bought—a 625-gpm pumper, a 500-gpm, 1200-gallon tanker, and a 1/2-ton pickup truck for auxiliary equipment.
This was important in developing an esprit de corps for Station 5. If a used pumper and a converted tanker had been put in an inadequate garage, the task of putting Station 5 in service would have been very difficult if not impossible.
Then came the key problem of recruiting volunteers. Word of mouth and informal contacts drew 24 men for the first training session in October 1978 at the headquarters station in downtown Burlington.
Training starts early
The decision to give basic training prior to the arrival of the apparatus and the opening of the station helped develop confidence in the men. When the apparatus arrived late that fall, handson training for a couple of mont hs prior to the opening of the station helped a great deal.
The officers were chosen in midJanuary by the chief. Only one man in the new company had had any experience in a volunteer fire company.
The district chief was a long-time resident of Kilbride who was respected by the community. As one trained volunteer in the company I became captain and instructor.
In the station’s first six months of service, it responded to 26 alarms, more than the total number of calls for the area in the previous year.
