10/28/2024
Barkerville Strong!
Did you know that the relationship between the Wells Volunteer Fire Brigade and Barkerville Historic Town & Park fire protection dates back to at least 1940 where a call-out record indicates mutual aid support to the Barkerville Fire Brigade?
In 1962, the Barkerville Fire Brigade, then under the leadership of Fire Chief Bill Hong for many years, officially disbanded as a society and response entity after 93 years of service (since 1869); many of you may know that the historic Theatre Royal was also a joint Fire Hall in Barkerville.
Prior to 1938, the WVFB had begun holding annual Klondike Nights featuring casino-style games, bingo, raffles for gold nuggets, and a local orchestra for entertainment and community dance. Later, these events were called Gold Rush Nights and continued into the 1990s, drawing attendees from as far away as the lower mainland. Barkerville, and in particular, the interpretive cast, were heavily involved in the Gold Rush Nights from the 60s through 80s. These events were advertised via radio, television, newspaper, and, of course, in Barkerville.
After 1962, the province, under the parks branch, had assumed protection services for the townsite turned museum. Bill's sons, Lou and Ray Hong, were members of the WVFB and Lou was the WVFB Fire Chief in 1964.
In the late 60s and early 70s, Barkerville's Superintendent, John Premischook, also joined the WVFB. During that time, the provincial pumper in Barkerville was used by both Barkerville and the WVFB and the WVFB was responsible for all after hours fire protection in Barkerville.
In the early 1980s, Barkerville struggled to meet provincial fire suppression compliance for park protection. By 1985, all winter fire suppression for Barkerville was provided by the WVFB and from 1986 -1990, the WVFB (as a CRD Regional Hall at that time), was contracted by the province to provide annual fire suppression to Barkerville. When that contract expired in 1990, concern for Barkerville's fire protection became provincial news. The WVFB felt that even though they were only ten minutes away, that only ten minutes could be too costly were a fire to start in Barkerville. The solution at that time was for the WVFB to train a satellite crew of initial responders in Barkerville who could prepare for the arrival of pumpers from Wells and begin on site suppression efforts in the event of an emergency.
In the mid-2000s, former Quesnel Fire Chief, Ray Beaulieu, oversaw Barkerville's fire protection systems and began training a small crew of operations personnel for initial response in the site as Barkerville's Fire Chief. The WVFB still provided protection to Barkerville and housed, maintained, and used the site's 1979 Hub Pumper as their secondary apparatus. When Beaulieu passed away tragically in 2014, the WVFB (now a municipal brigade) again assumed full protection of Barkerville.
Between 2016 and 2023, the WVFB's secondary apparatus was a 1990 Phoenix Aerial Ladder truck (previously owned by Quesnel) belonging to Barkerville. Over the years, many WVFB members have been past or present Barkerville employees; inclusive of Chief Rummel (1992-2004) who remains one of Barkerville's principal merchants as the proprietor of Mason & Daly General, Chief Zinz (2018-2019) who was Barkerville's Librarian and Archivist, Chief Chard (2019-2022) who was Barkerville's Operations Manager and is the current General Manager, and Chiefs Bailey (2022-2024) who are long-standing Barkerville employees and supporters (Brendan as an interpreter since 2011, and Emily as a Stage Manager in 2017 and 2019).
In 2023, the agreement for the WVFB's fire protection of Barkerville was formerly re-clarified and ratified with the province. This past season, evacuation alerts with the Cornish Mountain and Cunningham Pass wildfires brought provincial attention back to Wells-Barkerville and a week later the Antler Creek wildfire leading to the evacuation of both Barkerville and Wells drew international attention to the site and to the interconnectedness of Wells and Barkerville as an interdependent community.
In 2023, the WVFB acquired a new pumper for increased protection in the region. Meanwhile, Barkerville has just acquired a donation for two specialized apparatus for increased wildfire protection from the Prince George Airport.
-Brendan Bailey, 2024
[abbreviated from the historic WVFB records dating to 1938]
If you would like to assist Barkerville in acquiring more wildfire suppression equipment, you can visit www.barkerville.ca to acquire a Barkerville Strong sticker for a minimum donation of $5.
In the picture below, taken by Chief B.Bailey, you can see WVFB's Engine 11 proudly displaying Barkerville Strong.
