STATION 445 BY JON LASIUK, TORONTO FIRE FIGHTER
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s the year 2008 draws to a close, Toronto Fire Station 445 will have recently celebrated its R MPE PU 48th anniversary. While that is a worthy accomplishment of its own, the story of ďŹ re protection in the area of Etobicoke that Station 445 serves began many decades previous.
A fixture of central Etobicoke in the first half of the 20th century was the Village of Islington. The village grew as its role as both a way station for travellers using the Dundas Highway and as a supply centre for the neighbouring farms increased. To provide fire protection to the village, a volunteer fire department was formed in 1918. Storage space was acquired for three hand-drawn hose reels and small chemical wagons at the corner of Islington Avenue and Bloor Street, as 38
well as at Dundas Street and Burnhamthorpe Road and at the corner of Dundas Street and Bloor Street. Prior to this, mutual aid from the Toronto area was the sole means of fire protection. In one famous account, Toronto Fire Fighters from Station #13, at
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Dundas Street and Lansdowne Avenue, responded several miles outside of the city limits to assist West Toronto Junction Fire Fighters in fighting to save the Canada Woolen Mill at Dundas Street on the west bank of the Humber River. At the time of the fire on January 19th, 1901, the mill was one of the largest employers in Etobicoke Township. The Village of Islington joined the mechanized world of fire fighting in 1923 with the purchase of a Bickle chemical and hose truck. To house this new apparatus, a new two-storey, multiple bay station was built by the village in 1924 at 5000 Dundas Street West. This station, which would eventually become Etobicoke Fire Station #3, would remain in service until replaced by what is now the current Station #445 in 1960. The Islington Fire Brigade would not
IN ONE FAMOUS ACCOUNT, TORONTO FIRE FIGHTERS FROM STATION #13 ... RESPONDED SEVERAL MILES OUTSIDE OF THE CITY LIMITS TO ASSIST WEST TORONTO JUNCTION FIRE FIGHTERS IN FIGHTING TO SAVE THE CANADA WOOLEN MILL AT DUNDAS STREET ON THE WEST BANK OF THE HUMBER RIVER.
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