Captain John Calhoun July 7, 1957
Captain Ross Gledhill December 31, 1958
With less than a year until retirement and a career dating back to the days of horse drawn hose reels, Captain John Calhoun had seen some of the worst fires in Toronto’s history throughout his forty years as a Toronto Fire Fighter. In 1952, he narrowly avoided death when, at a three-alarm fire, a building wall collapsed on him and two other fire fighters. They were all fortunate enough to dig their way out. Five years later, while responding on Pumper 27 from Ascot Avenue, Captain Calhoun and his crew arrived at a house fire at 998 St. Clarens Avenue. As is often the case, fire fighters were unsure of whether or not the house was occupied and proceeded to search through the dense smoke. Captain Calhoun collapsed during the search and was immediately removed and treated by his crew with an inhalator before being transported to St. Joseph’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. This was not the first time the Calhoun family had been touched by tragedy from a fire call. More than twenty years earlier, John’s brother, Robert, died when the aerial ladder he was on broke while fighting a fire on Sherbourne Street. A family man with a wife and four children, Captain John Calhoun was buried at Park Lawn Cemetery.
As fire fighters are regularly called to respond at a moment’s notice, the inherent risks to the heart are always present and something that Captain Ross Gledhill knew all too well. The forty-three year old Captain had recently been cleared to return to duty after a heart attack and rejoined his crew at the Earlscourt Fire Hall. Down the road at McCormack St., a homeowner was having trouble with his fuse box that caused the first of two fires in his home that day. Several trucks arrived to find many guests from a party standing outside while a fire burned within the house. With the fire knocked down, Captain Gledhill and his crew proceeded to the second floor to pull down ceilings and search for fire extension when he became overcome by smoke and had another heart attack. Despite quick action by his crew to remove him from the home and treat him with an inhalator, he was pronounced dead at Northwestern General Hospital later that day. The forty-two year old Captain had served not only the Toronto Fire Department for nearly two decades but was also a World War II veteran. Due to the municipal borders at the time, had the fire been just a few yards further west, Captain Gledhill never would have been called, as the fire would have been within York Township.
Alexander Budd November 21, 1957 Working out of the Scarborough Fire Hall on Civic Road, twenty-nine year old fire fighter, Alex Budd, was driving the open cab Pumper #3 on the day he was called to St. Dunstan Drive for reports of a smoking furnace. With Captain Norman Davis and Fire Fighters Frank Morris and Albert Burrows onboard, Fire Fighter Budd began to navigate his way south on Warden Avenue. As they approached the intersection of Warden Ave. and St. Clair Avenue East with the gong and siren ringing, Fire Fighter Budd swerved to avoid a car that was ahead of him about to make a left turn, clipping the car as he passed on the right. Continuing through the intersection but off course from the impact, the pumper struck two other cars on St. Clair, as they waited for the light to change. Alex Budd was ejected from the open cab as the truck rolled onto its side and pinned him beneath it. Miraculously, all of the car occupants, as well as the Captain and two fire fighters on the back of the pumper were relatively unscathed. Fire Chief George Collins would later credit the leather safety straps on the rear of the truck with saving the lives of Fire Fighters Burrows and Morris. With nobody else significantly injured, all attention immediately turned to the condition of Alex Budd, whose boots could be seen sticking out from under the truck. After waiting for nearly thirty minutes for tow trucks to remove the truck from his body, it was evident that Budd had died from chest injuries sustained in the crash. A married father of five young children, Fire Fighter Alexander Budd became the first member of the Scarborough Fire Department to die in the line of duty. Budd’s widow, Alice, was eventually remarried to Captain John Wilde, a member of the Scarborough Fire Department. In a most bizarre coincidence, the next line of duty deaths for the Scarborough Fire Department took place at the same intersection, when two fire fighters died in a vehicle accident responding to a call. One of those fire fighters was Captain John Wilde.
Brian Kozluk
Dec. 18/62 - June 5/13 Start April 26/93
Mark LeMessurier Mar. 26/72 - June 11/13 Start April 29/02
David Ross
Feb. 1/52 - Aug. 17/13 Start May 29/78
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old; age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them. SU S PMRMI NE G R 2 0 1 3 | F I R E WAT CH 33