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Amherst Island Beacon Dec., 1995 L/R) eevc cy P Mi i en Fire Chief/Councillor Scott MPP Gerretscn at the Firchall opening. The New Fire Hall - Chris Kennedy - The new fire hall was officially opened on December 2nd. All the equipment had been moved in over the previous two weeks, and was all polished up for the open house. Our MP, Peter Milliken, and our MIPP John Gerretsen both came, and made very short speeches, as did the Reeve and Alex Scott, the Fire Chief. About fifty people came to see the new building and have cake and coffee. There was general satisfaction with the building, which should last the township many years. Many people helped with the project. It was very generous of the tax-payers of Canada and Ontario to pick up two-thirds of the cost. The Road Crew put in a lot of volunteer hours on site Preparation, I think special thanks are also due to Phjl Silver, the previous Fire Chief, who did a lot of work to get the project started and supported by Council, and to Alex Scott, who has put in a lot of work overseeing the construction and organizing the new hall. I think that the Township is very fortunate to have a brand new Municipal Garage and Fire Hall, as that kind of money won't be around in the foreseeable future. ' Fire Department History - Ian Murray - In recognition of the Department's 25th anniversary, I looked through some early Beacons to see what I could find that might interest our readers. This item appeared in the 29th edition, May 13, 1971. Observations - A. Bruce Caughey - As indicated in a recent issue of the 'Beacon', the conversion of the Township Hall to the purposes of a splendid fire hall has now been completed and it is certainly hoped that this will provide a very useful, although we hope a little used facility in the community. We wish Messrs. H. Filson and J.S. Neilson every success in their endeavours to mould into shape an excellent fire brigade. We hope also that those who have volunteered to serve in this most useful capacity will enter in to their duties with the some enthusiasm that the members of Council, who have been responsible for this proiect did their part. As of January 5th last, The Amherst island Mutual Fire insurance Company officially turned over to the newly formed brigade, the fire fighting equipment that was owned by the company. This equipment which was purchased in 1953, at a cost of $1,200, consisted of a McCullough Portable pump, which if close enough to the water supply was capable of handling two lines of hose, about 700 feet of hose plus a 'fog' noule and all was carried in an antiquated half ton truck. This equipment was purchased by the Insurance Company, in the hope that it would be added to during the years and might prove to be of some use in time of an emergency. No other organization ever did come forth with additional equipment and down through the years it was 'cursed' and it was 'blessed' - cursed when the air cooled engine was slow in starting with a fire raging and blessed when the welcome streams of water were at least able to save adioining buildings at an outbreak. W h e n t h i s