10 Part Series on the Major Fires of Saint-Hyacinthe (Part 7) January 21, 1944

 

They let it burn!

January 21, 1944, a major fire broke out on the rue des Cascades, opposite the fire station of Saint-Hyacinthe.

In the space of a few hours, seven shops and five homes were razed to the ground; the quadrilateral formed Cascade streets, St. Mary, Calixa-Lavallée and Duclos is in ruins.

Yet the Fire response time is almost nil and they are helped in their efforts by the Navy School of the fire.

And that's what makes this particular disaster.In the edition of January 28, 1944 the Courrier de Saint-Hyacinthe , Harry Bernard asks in an editorial why firefighters were so helpless. The answer takes the form of a lack of water, a drop in pressure and inadequate machinery at the aqueduct.

The plot thickens the following week when Bernard returned to the charge by saying simply: they let burn! He even adds that the refusal of the city to accept the help of the Southern Canada Power for powering the pumps is largely responsible for the disaster; that do not agree to recognize the municipal authorities, including the mayor, Télesphore-Damien Bouchard in mind.

 

(Translation may contain errors)

 

©2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson

10 Part Series on the Major Fires of Saint-Hyacinthe (Part 6) January 18, 1938

Fire At Sacred Heart College
The fire of the Sacred Heart College, which occurred January 18, 1938, in addition to completely destroying the building, resulted in the death of forty students, five teachlng brothers and caused injuries to twenty others.
But, anyway, what was this college? Where was it located? What congregation of religious teachers was in charge? And what do we know of the fire?



First, what was this college? It was a school where students received extensive instruction in mathematics, physics and chemistry, to be able to upgrade their education in higher spheres. In early 1930, the college began to emphasize the teaching of the English language: mathematics and geography, among others, there were taught in that language. Where was it located? The Sacred Heart College was located in Bourg-Joli, on Laframboise street, which was erected in 1946, the church Sacred Heart of Jesus, so in the northeast of the city of Saint-Hyacinthe. Following the fire, the Sacred Heart Brothers decided not to rebuild the college and divided in 1945, their vast property into lots, thus promoting residential development in the neighborhood.
According to the newspapers, that night was particularly cold, we speak of -18 degrees Celsius which would hinder the work of firefighters.



Returning newspaper articles recount the testimony of the night of the college keeper, Marcel Quesnel, before the inquiry we read the morning of the fire, I had done my tour and everything was normal in the building. Suddenly, at 1 am or so I do not know exactly, I heard a great noise and was shaken by a violent explosion that shook the whole building, I looked outside and saw flames coming through the windows. Also, it was established that the first call to the fire station was housed in 2 hours?

This is a tremendous explosion and a mournful whistle that I was awake. I made the light and foreseeing a misfortune, I clothe myself in gear and out of college by the door. The thick smoke that filled the college prevented me to see anything inside. On leaving, I looked around the chapel where everything was normal and went to the alarm box, but firefighters were already on the scene. The whole wing of the side was like burning but the fire seemed to come from the cellar. Such is the tetimony of brother Lucius, college director.



The fire began following a gas explosion produced by the incomplete combustion of coal in one or more of the five furnaces that provided heating the facility. For their part, the testimony of the first firefighters arrived at the scene say they have toured the building to see if they could help some people who would be in the windows or on the roof. The only person who has been seen is a Brother who was in a first floor window at the end of the north-west wing of the building on fire. When the brigade arrived on the scene the flames were coming through all the windows of the right wing and passed over the building, and this is what explains that if he were still children on the roof, they had been pushed back by the flames to the center of the roof where nobody could see them ... Even if the brigade had lifesaving nets at its disposal, it could not be used.Besides, it was impossible to approach the building, as the heat from the fire was intense.

Arriving at the scene, firefighters were quick to help the religious and the students who had escaped the burning building and waited in sleepwear to come to their aid. Taxis and auto citizens who had been awakened by the general alarm, carried the survivors, as ambulances St. Charles Hospital were not enough to collect the injured. The cries of students gathered on the roof and shouted for help, mingled complaints of those who were thrown from the upper floors and already lying in the snow with horrible burns and multiple fractures. That's the horrible spectacle that presented rescuers.

Of course, all kinds of rumors, probabilities or outcomes about this slaughter were conveyed before, during or after the inquest. What you need to remember is the perfect abnegation religious to rescue the students and the great charity Maskoutains to gather and help the survivors, not to mention the attentive care given to victims, either at the hospital Saint-Charles, at the Hôtel-Dieu or by doctors of Saint-Hyacinthe.



In the early days that followed, intensive research to find the bodies of missing or unaccounted for continued to finally establish the exact number of deaths is: 5 and 41 religious students. The remains of forty-six victims, found in the rubble, charred and mutilated could not be identified, except those three students, demanded that parents; others were placed in fifteen coffins.

A solemn service was celebrated at the Cathedral in the presence of an emotional and sympathetic crowd. Then fifteen beers were brought to the grave of the cemetery, waiting for the thaw allowed digging a mass grave in the small cemetery of the monks, near the stricken college.This transfer took place in the following May current. In May 1948, during the sale of land belonging to the Sacred Heart Brothers, the remains of the victims and the magnificent monument to the victims, which serves as the foundation for the statue of the Sacred Heart, the sculptor Emile Brunet, were transferred the Cathedral's cemetery.

(Translation may contain errors)


(c)2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson

10 Part Series on the Major Fires of Saint-Hyacinthe (Part 5) November 28, 1917

The Hôtel-Dieu in flames!

In one night, the entire central part of the building is razed.

Here is what Mgr Charles-Philippe Choquette in History of the City of Saint-Hyacinthe  : "It has been said that all the people of Saint-Hyacinthe witnessed on site of the calamity of November 28, 1917. During half hour, the bells of the churches and chapels sounded the alarm and called for help college students were allocated the task of saving the furniture;. citizens gathered the old men while the ladies seized the children and gave them asylum and several nuns. compassion was general and expressive. It is claimed that a smoldering match thrown by a smoker would be the cause of the fire.



All parts of the stone building was engulfed in flames within hours, it remains now only rubble.Hundreds of people were in the building at the time of the fire, namely the elderly, infirm children stalked by a terrible death. It is estimated that between five and six hundred people were hospitalized.
In fact, after the fire, the sisters settled temporarily in both wings intact. There remains only the orphanage.

When it was learned that the Hotel-Dieu was in flames, the bells tolled in churches and chapels of the city for half an hour. A special train transported to Saint-Hyacinthe twenty firefighters and steam pumps to contain the fire. According to some historians, the last words of chef Pierre-Agapit Foisy, while fighting the destructive element on the third floor of the Hotel-Dieu, were said in this context: it departed somewhat from the heart of the disaster to go to the kitchen in a state of weakness and extreme fatigue caused by superhuman efforts posed to contain the fire. He asked that he be paid a coffee and even before he could pour a cup, he exclaimed, turning pale: Please, give me a chair, I am dying! These were his last words, for just sitting, he gave up the ghost in a last breath. "

The funeral of the chief Foisy were no less friendly. Mgr Choquette: "The city made ​​fresh with extraordinary pomp Never perhaps one lives scroll the center of the city such a large procession the first songs of the.. office resounded under the vault of the cathedral and hundreds of protesters were still waiting at the door of the funeral home to take rank in the procession this highlighted the following order. led the Philharmonic and fire cars charged floral tributes, the fire chief Adjutor Bourgeois, the hearse escorted by six regular firefighters and six volunteer firefighters acting as porters, the family of the deceased, the city Council in full, municipal employees. school children, the judiciary, professionals, industrialists, labor organizations, crowd the choir, several ecclesiastical dignitaries. in the nave, the staff of teaching communities and their schools reflected the universality of grief ".



In the weeks that followed, a public fundraising campaign was launched to collect more than $ 25 000.00. The City of Saint-Hyacinthe offers for its part: $15 000,00.
The name of the subscribers appear for several weeks in the mail with the amount they give. The reconstruction began in 1922.

(Translation may contain errors)

(c)2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson

10 Part Series on the Major Fires of Saint-Hyacinthe (Part 4) May 20, 1903

The weather is dry and sunny. A strong western wind raises dust in the unpaved streets. About noon, fire broke out at the factory side, at the corner of Saint-Antoine and Saint-Hyacinthe (Hotel-Dieu). The alarm is given by an employee of the foundry Dussault and Lamoureux.
Immediately, the nine regular firefighters and 15 volunteer firefighters who make up the fire brigade are on the scene. Already, the fire crosses the Hotel Dieu Street and Dussault foundry and Lamoureux is on fire to spread to neighboring houses.



The unique steam pump is not sufficient to the task. At two o'clock the factory Hudon and National laundry, on the rue Saint-Antoine, burn. The St-Jacques mayor seeks help firefighters arriving to Montreal 2 h 45.

Realizing immediately that the situation is totally out of control because of the wind, they post on the rue Saint-Antoine with the intention of saving the sewing room Sainte-Geneviève. At that moment, two hundred houses blaze and others are endangered. The hustle is scary. In addition to the crackling fire, the noise of collapses and cries of people means the neigh and cries of death of many horses, chickens and pigs are the only victims.

About five o'clock the wind decreases. We begin to count the losses, seven factories, the sewing Sainte-Genevieve Girouard academy and 29 square homes on four streets in height and eleven cross streets.

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(Translation may contain errors)

©2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson

10 Part Series on the Major Fires of Saint-Hyacinthe (Part 3) November 3, 1876

 
Two months to the day, of the great fire of September 3, 1876, another great fire raged in Saint-Hyacinthe. Let's see what the edition of November 4, the Mail had to say.

"It was not quite the terrible fire of September 3 that devoured in a few hours, most of our city. Two months apart yesterday, November 3, at nine in the morning the tocsin was heard and a thick column of smoke rose into the air, to the horror of everyone. The fire had just taken from the great body of Larivière establishment  the wind was blowing furiously and Saint -Hyacinthe was besieged with a new misfortune.
The fire broke out on Cascades street in the small portion of the city that the fire in September was spared, that is to say in the manufacturing part.On one side there was fear for the great



brick factory known as the shoe factory name "McMartin, Hamel. "In front was the mill shop and forges owned by Olivier Chalifoux. Then  the fire was heading towards the big manufacturing company of shoes in Saint-Hyacinthe and efforts were made to preserve this wonderful establishment and safes factory FX Bertrand.

In an hour's time the square of houses between the streets Cascades, Saint-Joseph, Saint-Dominique street and the river were reduced to ashes, with the exception of two houses near the brick factory. A house belonging to Lady Labatte, on St. Joseph Street, the only one that was spared two months ago in this place, was also reduced to ashes. The fire threatened so the establishment of our newspaper we were forced to move our things. Fortunately this time we have no losses reported.

The loss is estimated at $ 50,000. The areas ravaged by fire were a condom for new homes that are built in two months. Many believe that if the city had not burned at the end of the summer it could not escape this time to the destructive element.

All citizens competed with zeal in efforts to reach the flames and Seminary students rushed to the scene with the teachers have rendered great services. We had to find a lack of organization in the fire department, and the aqueduct, we do not know for what reason, did not respond to the expectation of the public. At the place where we were we found that the water could not reach the top of a wooden house with one floor. "
 
(Translation may contain errors)
 
©2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson

10 Part Series on Major Fires of Saint-Hyacinthe (Part 2) September 3, 1876

 

"Those who have learned the terrible misfortune that has befallen on Saint-Hyacinthe in which The Courier was one of the many victims of yhis horrific fire. On September 3rd all our equipment burned, as well as our presses, sheets of Agriculture Journal and Farmer's Journal and we could not save our account books, some volumes of mail , a few boxes, and a small part books from our library.

Having to buy presses and other new hardware, is very difficult, it will take a few weeks; before we can resume the regular course of our publication and we are counting on the sympathy of our subscribers.

We have the courtesy of our colleague Union to offer our subscribers the sad story of the terrible conflagration Sunday and he please accept our thanks.

We are overwhelmed by fatigue and pain in the soul that we draw these lines.

Alas, our charming little town of Saint-Hyacinthe has just suffered a terrible misfortune, that Divine Providence spreads over an entire population at the least expected moment. Quebec suffered terrible setbacks, St. John was partially destroyed, but the fire we suffered is the most disastrous ever seen in the history of the country, given the population and extent of Saint -Hyacinthe. The fire has swept in and devoured all before it and we do not exaggerate by saying that nine-tenths of our city is a heap of ashes.

The fire broke out Sunday at two o'clock in the afternoon, in a building leased by Magloire Blanchet , on Des Cascades, back to the printing of the Courrier de Saint-Hyacinthe.

The weather was fine and a light breeze helped to spread the flames further. At the time of the fire water from the aqueduct was lacking as in Saint John since the morning, the ducts had been closed, in order to effect certain transactions.  instant was  Like all the surrounding houses were wooden, the water was missing and  the organization of the fire was very incomplete, it became impossible to put out the fire and when the water was finally available the devastation was too expanded to isolate. Then we can say it was a stampede. The wind having risen carried the flames, a great distance.

Archambeault the house, the beautiful block Kéroack, touts our stores around the market, the market itself disappeared in a cloud of smoke.Despite vigorous efforts, the house rented by Bank of Saint-Hyacinthe offices was also devoured by fire, as the Post Office. The further Merchants Bank suffered the plight of others. The magnificent homes of Girouard were not spared the elegant villa that Dr. St. Jacques had just erected in front of the bishop, the lovely home of Mr. Sheriff Taché, as Mr. LG de Lorimier, prothonotary, the offices of Messrs. Bernier, Bachand and Richer RE Fontaine, the notary Guertin, were swept away in a few hours.

About four o'clock a steam pump arrived by special train to Montreal and Montreal brave firefighters were pressed into service. Their efforts were first directed to the great factory of shoes Compagnie de Saint-Hyacinthe and Mr. Mills. Langie and Fréchette. They managed to control the flames that consumed the surrounding houses. Fortunately they preserved this great building, as if it had burned, establishing Larivière & Frère body going there, and maybe the mills and cloth factories and manufacturing company of shoes Saint- Hyacinthe.
We are only three stores and no resources to feed all these people who is in the streets, homeless and without food. Oh how great is our pain and that Providence was severe in punishment that was inflicted. Already blacks were well tested by the financial crisis in the country; our brave working population had, it seems, enough days of trials and tribulations. At the approach of winter here it was reduced to poverty and no shelter.

It is not without tears we see the poor suffering mother with the most cruel anguish, the child ask the food she can not give him the honest and private workers the fruits of his savings. Doubtless God who so distressed we find consolation for our misfortune and we will send the help of generous hearts.

Fortunately, our communities were spared. Also do we see with our recognition Grey Sisters, sisters of the convent of the Presentation be the first to provide assistance to transport objects, and comfort the afflicted. It was beautiful to watch the dedication and efforts of these holy women in the midst of danger, and last night our religious houses received all these people who came to beg for shelter. Many found refuge for the night in churches. Do not forget the priests of our seminary and the diocese and the Dominican fathers who multiplied to assist the population. May God give them a hundredfold what they have done for the needy.

The streets where the fire has passed are the St. Joseph streets, Saint-Hyacinthe, Sainte-Anne, Saint-Denis Mondor, Piety, Holy Mary, Concorde, St. Paschal, Williams, Cascades, Saint-Antoine, Saint Marguerite du Bord-de-water, St. Francis, St. Simon, St. Louis, St. Michael and St. Casimir.
On St. Simon Street stood only four houses near the river; street Bord-de-water the two houses, the Saint-Louis Street, 4 houses, St Mary Street 9 houses. In the beautiful Concorde Street, in the space between the Rue Saint-Antoine, and the bridge from the center, there are only 5 houses. The Saint-Antoine Street only four houses standing. The fire stopped at the Yamaska ​​avenue, near the river, for lack of homes to power it.

Many houses and households were insured, but we can not specify an amount. It is difficult to give the amount of losses. Some believe the one million and a half dollars.

The city map we publish our readers will be aware of fire disasters.
Yesterday morning the post office opened in the registration office and two banks have also started their operations: The Bank of Saint-Hyacinthe, on Girouard Street in the house once occupied by the judge Chagnon, and the Merchants Bank in the part of the remains of Mr RP Duclos facing on Girouard street. All papers and bank values ​​were saved.

A convoy was shipped from Montreal yesterday morning with bread and other provisions for the suffering population. It circulates a rumor going to say that there had been loss of life, but that is not true.
We do not believe the attack on the Herald to belittle our people, by insinuating that innkeepers retailed liquor while their house was on fire.

(Translation may contain errors)


(c)2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson

10 Part Series on Major Fires of Saint-Hyacinthe (Part 1)

The first big fire was on 14 May 1854

The first great fire which firefighters were faced occurred on May 14, 1854 in the kitchen of a brewery on the corner of Bourdages and Cascades. The results of this fire does not indicate any loss of life, but destroyed part of the city center, a brewery, two hotels, 40 homes and the College of St. Hyacinthe.


The circumstances of the fire are really unfortunate. A servant of the hotel was browning meat in the kitchen becomes distraught when the fire was lit in the stove. She spills all the grease on the wooden floor which immediately catches fire and no one can extinguish that fire, and in no time the fire spreads to the building.

The fire quickly spreads to the other institutions on both sides of the streets of Bourdages and Cascades. In no time, all the houses in the square formed by Cascades, Bourdages, Girouard and St. Dominic are in ashes. And that's not all, the flames, fueled by very strong winds, try to spread to the north side of Girouard, but fortunately the fire only did light damage on Girouard; but again, it was reduced to ashes, before dying, the former College of St. Hyacinthe, at the precise spot where we find today the bishopric.

(Translation may have errors)

(c)2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson