Cabri’s first Fire Brigade

The history of Cabri and district was recorded in the book “Through the Years”. There it noted there were many fires in Cabri throughout the years, involving homes, stores, livery barns, lumber yards and garages. In 1916 the town bought a Bickle pumper, which consisted of a large six cylinder gas engine directly connected to a vane type of pump, and mounted on two wooden wagon wheels. It was generally left in the back of the old Town Hall, where there was a large cistern under the floor for water supply. The hose was on two large reels that were stored in the same place, and were rolled out by hand to wherever the fire was.

The Pierce Nathan Liberty Barn in Cabri was destroyed by fire in 1916.

This Ford 1500 unit was used until John and Lorna Thomson made their historic trip to Florida in November, 1971, and brought back an IHC pumper donated by the late Bill Thomson.

The Bickle was an effective pumper, but when the length of hose needed was long, line friction cut the pressure at the nozzle. It had two separate ignition systems, and also a battery and distributor, and two plugs per cylinder. There was no radiator, so cooling occurred by admitting water through a small hose from the pump to the block.

It was used until Cabri got its water system with fire hydrants in the 1960’s. In addition, there was a chemical unit for smaller fires, or to hold off larger fires until the water was ready. It consisted of a heavy steel tank of about 50 gallons on a trailer, and contained a water and calcium chloride solution, forced out through a small hose by admitting CO2 from a welding type cylinder to pressurize the tank.

In 1945, the town bought a war surplus Willys Jeep and this chemical unit was mounted on it. This jeep was used until 1955, when it was traded to Wylie Thorburn for a Ford 1500 4 wheel drive army truck, on which a 400 gallon water tank and front pump unit was mounted. The chemical system was scrapped, and the Bickle was sold.