Albert Gilbert July 16,1884 Toronto Fire Department On July 16, 1884, at approximately tenthirty p.m., an alarm of fire was sounded for the stable at the rear of T. Hall’s grocery store on the southeastern corner of Parliament and Sydenham Streets, in the east end of Toronto. Horse-drawn apparatus responded from Court, Berkeley, Wilton and Bay Street stations, which made up the eastern section of the Toronto Fire Department at that time. The hayloft above the stables was on fire, but quick work with several hose streams from the outside kept the fire from spreading to the store. When it became possible, several fire fighters entered with lanterns to try and save two horses reported to be still inside. Other crew members brought in another stream to confirm extinguishment and conduct overhaul. Fire fighter Albert Gilbert, from the Court Street Hook & Ladder, was about to use his pike pole—or “hook,” as it was
called then—to open up the hay for better water application, when suddenly the roof and hayloft collapsed, burying the fire fighters under tons of hay. About a dozen fire fighters were inside the building, trapped under the debris, including Deputy Chief Graham and Gilbert. Fire Chief Richard Ardagh, whose son Charles was also trapped, organized the rescue effort and they immediately began digging the men out one by one while extinguishing the fire that had been stirred up by the collapse. Fire fighter Tom Pointon’s life was saved by fire fighter Tom Worrell, who was later killed in the line of duty in 1905. Pointon was trapped up to his neck by the enormous weight of the wet hay but fire fighter Worrell held his head up until help arrived to dig him out. Charles Ardagh was rescued forty-five minutes later and it was thought he was the last of the trapped men. The reels began to return to their stations when Captain Frank Smith of the Court Street hall took roll call and determined that fire fighter Gilbert was missing. Some thought
he had come out already, but Deputy Chief Graham remembered Gilbert had been near him inside the building when it collapsed. The search was resumed and after an hour of hard work a pike pole and the legs of a man were discovered under debris and a heavy beam. Thirty minutes later the crushed body of Albert Gilbert was removed. His helmet was crushed and he still held the pike pole, broken, in his hand. Under the light of the stars a procession of fire fighters and their apparatus followed the ambulance with the body of their comrade back to the Court Street hail from where he had responded a couple of hours earlier. Albert Gilbert was forty-nine years of age, a widower, and left four children. He had been a fire fighter for about fifteen years and now rests in the Necropolis Cemetery. At his funeral a wreath on the casket read “rung out”—an 1800s phrase meaning “last alarm.”
can take no more. And such was the case with Fire fighter Thomas Charters. His last call was a relatively minor one; the kind of call that we go to every day. Just after 1:30 P.M. a stovepipe became clogged at Southworth’s Second Hand Store, 651 Yonge St. With the store filling up with smoke, an employee ran to the corner of Yonge and Isabella and pulled Box 42. With Yorkville not yet annexed,
the Yonge Street section was first in. Only $500 damage was incurred as the stovepipe was opened up and the store cleared of smoke, and crews were soon clear. It would turn out to be one call too many, though, for Tom Charters’ heart. He died later that night at his home, despite his physicians attempts. He would be the 10th Toronto Fire Fighter to die in the line of duty.
* Re-printed with permission from the book Their Last Alarm by Robert B. Kirkpatrick.
BY JON LASIUK – TORONTO FIRE FIGHTER
Thomas Charters April 14,1881 Toronto Fire Department As is often the case with fire fighting, the dangers of the job creep up to you without warning. With every breath of toxic smoke, with every strain and pain, fire fighting wears at a man until sometimes his body
FALL 2007 | FIRE WATCH 53