10 Part Series on the Major Fires of Saint-Hyacinthe (Part 9) August 2, 1981

 

 

The worst fire in a long time, damage estimated at $7 million

Text from the Courrier de Saint-Hyacinthe , Wednesday, August 5, 1981, page 4.

For those who walk in downtown Saint-Hyacinthe the last few days, and there are many, the scene of desolation that reigns in the quadrilateral formed of Des Cascades, Saint-Antoine and Hotel-Dieu, St. Anne and St. Francis seems unreal but nothing can relive the intensity of the fire of August 2, when in a few quick hours, the destructive element, ignited by a criminal hand, would reduce to rubble no less than twenty stores and dwelling houses.

It was around 5 pm that the first alarm was sounded and when the first firefighters arrived on the scene, it was obvious that they would have to fight a major disaster already, flames crackled on both sides of the Sainte-Anne, at the height of the brewery of the old Saint-Antoine.

That is why, from the first moment, the possibility of a criminal hand was not ruled out, rightly elsewhere as it was to be demonstrated later.

This is also why he was called Sorel including firefighters who hurried towards Saint-Hyacinthe with a scale of 100 feet, as well as those of Saint-Hilaire, with a scale of 75 feet.

 

The flame intensity was such that the windows would burst under the effect of heat on the Rue Sainte-Anne. In addition, high voltage forced firefighters to exercise caution to avoid electrocution. The time required to remove power would have seemed significant to certain risks and were taken by the magnitude of the disaster.

With the arrival of the volunteer firefighters of Saint-Damase Saint-Dominique, La Presentation, St. Rosalie and St. Thomas Aquinas, not less than one hundred firefighters were on hand with a major equipment.

A very large crowd was also on hand and special measures had to be adopted so that everything happend in conditions as safe as possible. One of the first arriving on the scene was to evacuate the house and it is thanks to this intervention no lives were reported. At most, two firefighters were injured by smoke and burn.

Lit from the back of the brewery in Old San Antonio probably in the debris of a house demolition, the fire crossed the Rue Sainte-Anne, in the direction of the market, while continuing its destructive work between rue Sainte -Anne and Hotel-Dieu. 

Many questions remain unanswered at the time of writing, while two individuals appearing in connection with the fire, including the fact that the fire is found on both sides of the Rue Sainte-Anne as quickly. Answers should be obtained during the investigation that will follow.

It only took a few hours for the flames leave behind rubble and millions of gallons of water were dumped. More than forty hours later, firefighters continued to stir debris with a backhoe to water possible homes. The destructive element seems to have been stopped in its course by the arches of the house Laflamme (at least on the side of the Rue Saint-Antoine), while elsewhere the work of firefighters focused on protecting a perimeter to contain flames.

 

(Translation may contain errors)

©2016 Linda Sullian-Simpson

10 Part Series on the Major Fires of Saint-Hyacinthe (Part 8) February 2, 1963

Fire in the seminary of Saint-Hyacinthe

Saturday, February 2, 1963, a massive fire broke out in the central part of the Seminary of Saint-Hyacinthe. It took three warnings before control the flames.
Firefighters, under the command of Director Lionel Left worked in difficult conditions, under the cold and snow, over 32 hours to master the elements and then make sure the fire would not resume in the smoking ruins. Apparently, the flames would have originated in the premises reserved for the edition of the newspaper Le Collégien . After a brief investigation, the authorities are lost in conjectures about the precise cause of the fire.



The central part of the minor seminary built 150 years ago was completely destroyed by fire while the adjacent wings, newer and better protected building, suffered only damage by water and smoke.



Firefighters went immediately to the scene and, upon arrival, firefighters worked to make rescues using the aerial ladder and removing six priests threatened with suffocation.Fortunately, the institution's authorities had already taken steps to evacuate students and much of the teaching staff.



However, the flames quickly spread to the point that a few minutes later, the upper floors were inaccessible and dense smoke prevented firefighters and volunteers to fight the seat of the fire from the inside. It is believed, for a time, they maîtriseraient flames without much difficulty. They seemed to subside, then resumed in various places so it was soon impossible to circumscribe, and efforts soon tended to preserve the two new wings, which date also more than thirty years.

Only the central part of the facade where the great parlor were, prefecture offices and procures and floors, the rooms of twenty professors who are in fact the most affected by the fire, was destroyed . A little before eight, the building was a huge inferno. Around 8:15, the dome collapsed noisily, falling in the courtyard of the seminary.



Before the menacing proportions of the element, the City of Saint-Hyacinthe appealed to municipal services surrounding communities including St. Joseph and Providence Douville. The protection of Casavant Frères service was also mobilized to lend a hand to Maskoutains firefighters.

A crowd of onlookers visited the scene causing traffic jams in many places. The stewards of the Civil Protection Corps was also mobilized to assist municipal officials. It is estimated that nearly 3,000 people massed near the seminar to monitor the progress of the fire and the work of firefighters.



It is not known the extent of damage but there is reason to believe that the material losses will amount to more than a million besides the majority of seminarians and priests have lost their belongings.

Fortunately, thanks to the diligence of the authorities of the seminar and fire Saint-Hyacinthe, there were no injuries. However, we dare not think about the consequences of such a disaster if the fire had started later in the evening or at night. Indeed, some 500 students and priests live permanently in the seminar during the school year.



Painful as the situation in the aftermath of a disaster that affects the whole population of the city, it remains that we saved the chapel, the rich library of the house and pupils, the museum and laboratories, academic hall, the pavilion from 1911 where there are number of classes. Study rooms and recreation suffer considerable damage, as most rooms of the staff in the north wing. They are due mainly to water and smoke, but there is nothing that is beyond repair. In the south wing, the priests who lived there returned to their premises, once restored heating.



A thick layer of snow on the roof of the factory would have saved Casavant & Frères Ltée, during the fire. At least that is what a spokesman for organ builders told the result of the fire. The Casavant & Frères Ltée factory is located a few hundred feet away from the seminar. During the height of the fire, the wind blew sparks on the buildings of the factory. The brigade against fires of the company, consisting of seven men, was constantly on alert.

(Translation may contain errors)

©2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson

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