Station #1 – Calabogie:

In the beginning, Our Most Precious Blood Catholic Church had a pump that was used to fill cisterns for local residents. In the event of a fire, the pump was used by whoever was available at the time to assist in the extinguishment of the fire. Eventually, the Township formed an actual Fire Department in the late 1950’s and purchased a 1946 GMC pumper from the Marathon Fire Department for about $5,000. The apparatus was purchased by a member of the Calabogie Lion’s Club and the Lion’s Club made repayment to this member through fundraising efforts. This pumper served the community for about 20 years until 1976.

The original fire hall in Calabogie was situatied at the home of the Township Reeve in his garage. The first Fire Chief’s name was Dan Moran. Later on, an actual fire hall was constructed (about 1970/71) and housed the pumper and an additional 1 ton GMC truck. This second truck had a large box built onto the back for the transportation of equipment to the scene of a fire. The fire hall was shared with the Department of Public Works until a new Department of Public Works garage was built in 1975. The building the first fire hall was in still exists, and can be found at 12612 Lanark Road/Highway #511. The Fire Department at the same time also had a Monarch pump for back-up or when the pumper could not physically reach the fire.

When the existing Department of Public Works garage was built in 1990/91, the Fire Department moved into the vacant Department of Public Works garage at 12470A Lanark Road/Highway #511. This fire hall is now Station #1 and the current apparatus it houses are:

• 1978 International 10-speed tanker with air brakes that is capable of delivering +/- 1800 gallons of water
• 1981 International 10 speed tanker with air brakes that was a former Township plow truck and is capable of delivering +/- 2000 gallons of water
• 1993 Ford F450 rescue truck that is a former RCMP command post vehicle
• 2008 Peterbilt combination pumper/tanker that recently replaced our 1975 Thibault pumper and is capable of delivering 1500 gallons of water
• 2010 Chev Silverado 4x4 – a smaller truck that can get down the many private roads in our Township

District Station #2 – Griffith/Matawatchan:

Station #2 in Griffith opened its doors for operation in early 2001 as a direct result of the size of the newly amalgamated Township and the need for 911 services in the area. Previous to this, the only fire protection in the area was through an agreement with the Ministry of Natural Resources for bush and forest fires only. Structure fires were not part of this agreement. Personnel were hired late in 1999 and completed a full year of training before they started responding to fire calls.

The Fire hall was constructed at 25991C Highway #41 in Griffith as an addition to the existing Public Works garage and was constructed primarily by members of the community and the new fire department team who donated their time and expertise. A 1986 Ford pumper truck was bought from the Town of Petawawa and a water tanker was donated by Tom Carty to get District Station #2 started.

Personnel & Equipment:

GMFD has openings for 36 volunteer firefighters (18 in each District). At this time there are only 29 members (13 in District #1 Calabogie and 16 in District #2 Griffith/Matawatchan).

Our fire apparatus at each station includes:

• Peterbilt combination pumper/tankers that supply water to the fire hoses
• Water tankers that shuttle water to the fire scene from the nearest approved water source
• Rescue vans that carry self-contained breathing apparatus, medical and other small equipment
• Rapid attack 4x4 pickup trucks – a smaller truck that can take firefighters, portable pumps, hoses and other suppression gear down the many private roads in our Township where the big apparatus cannot go.

Our Team:

The rural volunteer firefighting service in Canada is in trouble and we are no different. We do not have enough members on our team to do all of the work required. For example, apart from fire suppression, we need to spend many hours doing fire prevention and public education, fire equipment maintenance and GMFD administration. Volunteer Firefighters today do not have the same availability as they did in the past and the demands upon the Fire Service continue to increase. Most of our team work outside the Township during the day and are not available to respond to fire and rescue calls. Even when our firefighters are working within the Township, many companies can no longer allow their staff to leave on a moment’s notice to go fight a fire.

We are working hard to fill vacant positions on our team.

If you are interested in helping, please contact us at 613-433-2545.