By Phil Egan, Special to The Sarnia Journal, Then and Now. (2015) Dawn broke that morning on a warm, clear day. There was no humidity in the air. A breeze from the river, at times brisk, swirled up clouds of dust on the dirt roads of Front Street. It was [...]
by Charlotte Vidal Nisbet for the Sarnia Observer [Editors Note: A 1941 story describing a fire that wrecked the Sarnia waterfront in 1896] (1941) The only Sunday morning that I know of when the bells of St. Andrew’s Church were silent and there was no gathering of our people for [...]
by Phil Egan It happened 148 years ago, but it was a massive, destructive blaze the likes of which Sarnia hasn’t see before or since. The fire that tore across Sarnia’s commercial downtown district on the night of Thursday, November 14, 1867, destroyed Sarnia’s business core, but it could have [...]
by Cathy Dobson for the Sarnia Observer (2003) Elmer Kleinsmith was just starting his work day at the Century Coal Company in Point Edward when fire broke out on the Hamonic luxury steamship docked at the CN freight shed. Kleinsmith quickly drove his coal crane over to the dock and [...]
by Scott Stephenson for the Sarnia Observer (2003) The history of firefighting in the city predates even The Observer. The first public meeting held to organize some type of fire protection for the community was held in 1840 and resulted in the creation of the St. Clair #1 Volunteer Fire [...]