G. F. Rural Fire Dept. Big "Y" Hall - Firehouses on Waymarking.com

G. F. Rural Fire Dept. Big "Y" Hall is one of five Fire Halls in the Grand Forks Regional Fire District. Big "Y" Hall is referred as Station 3.

Grand Forks Fire/Rescue responded to just shy of 300 calls in 2012.

There were a total of 298 calls: 83 were Medical/First Responder, 41 were Motor Vehicle Incidents, and 174 were "Fire" calls (which also includes things like the July wind storm, and gas leaks/hazardous materials calls).

The largest events were March 7th (Grand Forks and Winnipeg Hotel Fires) with 31 members responding (291 man-hours), and the July 20th wind storm (26 seperate calls in a three-hour period, with 27 members and two reserves responding, 127 man-hours). The swiftwater team responded to 5 river calls this year, more than average.

Including all callouts and training, the members of GFFR once again exceeded 10,000 hours of volunteer time spent providing protective services to the community.

Department History

The Grand Forks Fire Department was formed in 1897 by a group of local businessmen. The group used an old garage until 1900 when a fire hall was built. It was torn down in 1987 and the present fire hall was built on the same property. In the early 1900's the department had a horse drawn Steam Pumper. It was similar to the one the fire department members are restoring at this time. The first motorized fire truck was received in September 1929. The unit has been restored by the department and is on display at the Boundary Museum. In 1946 the department acquired a second fire engine through the War Assets Corporation. The unit was an ex-Army 1943 Chevy fire engine. Over the years we have seen a major change in fire apparatus. New Fire Trucks were received in 1965, 1977, 1980, 1993, 1997 and the latest in 2002.

In 1957 the New Rural Fire Protection District asked the City Fire Fighters to operate the Rural's Fire Engine at fires outside the city boundaries. This was done by the volunteers until the Rural formed their own Fire Fighting crew in 1979. The City of Grand Forks began operating the two departments as one combined fire department again in November of 2006. We now operate out of 5 fire halls with 14 pieces of apparatus and 3 command vehicles.

The fire department also raised money through various fundraisers and donations from the community to purchase the "Jaws of Life". These are used to assist the Ambulance Service in removing patients from automobile accidents in our area.

Ace Talarico became the first full time paid Fire Chief for the City of Grand Forks in 1970. Today the fire department consists of almost 50 volunteer fire fighters with a paid Chief and Assistant Chief. In 1944 the department responded to 22 calls for the entire year. Today we respond to an average of 25 calls a month.

Staff:
Dean Gourlie Captain
Dave Grootjes Fire Fighter
Dave Walsh Fire Fighter
Ian Taylor Fire Fighter
James Dunn Fire Fighter
John Feenstra Fire Fighter
Ken Abetkoff Fire Fighter
Paul Findlater Fire Fighter
Norm Nicholson Fire Fighter - First Responder

Equiptment:
Engine 3 - 2002 International 7300 / Superior (1050/550/25F)
Tender 3 - 2006 International 4400 / Progress (-/1700)
Rescue 3 - 1979 Chevrolet utility

All information source: Grand Forks Fire / Rescue website (link below)

Paid or Volunteer: Part Paid / Part Volunteer EMS Involvement: yes Has 911 Dispatch: yes Has Emergency Call Box: yes Has Emergency Siren: no Has Fire Pole: no Average Alarms Per Year: 300 Number of Firetrucks: 3 Related Website: [Web Link] Physical Address: 2460 Carson Road Grand Forks, British Columbia Canada V0H 1H0 Number of Emergency Staff: 9 Rating:

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