The Lumby Fire of 1932
By Peter Ward

The most disastrous fire in Lumby's history completely destroyed the main section of the town in the early hours of Saturday,October 8th, 1932.

The blaze which originated at about 3a.m. from unascertained causes raged uncontrolled from where it started in the office of the Shields' & Company store. The fire than jumped across the street to the Lumby Hotel, then spread to Morand's Hotel, and finally to Mrs. Cleophas Quesnel house. There it was finally checked. Though both hotels had an unusually large number of patrons registered that night,everyone was evacuated safely. Fortunately, most of the furnishings from the Lumby Hotel and all of the furnishings from the Morand Hotel and the private household were saved.

Someone called the Vernon Fire Department and they immediately responded with their pumper-truck which they drove right into Bessette Creek (Duteau) for water supply. Two fire hoses were laid from the truck to the site and two additional pumps belonging to the Forest Branch in Lumby, but which had been unfortunately stored in Vernon, were also put into service. "this assistance, while to late to prevent the destruction of the blazing buildings, no doubt saved Lumby from being completely wiped out". It was thought by some if only these Forestry pumps had been available in Lumby at the onset of the fire, at least some of the property might have been saved.

Some of the happier aspects of the fire were that several houses which had been standing vacant at the time , were available to provide immediate refuge foe those who were burned out of their homes.

Telephone service was reestablished only four hours after the fire was discovered and electrical power was restored by mid-day. and though all of the stock of Shields store had burned, Mr. Jack Heighway, manager of Shields, was able to set up shop by noon of the same day in a vacant building on the south side of Vernon St. with new supplies which he obtained from Vernon!

Morand's Hotel, owned by Mrs. Sideleau, and the Quesnel house were fully insured. The Lumby Hotel, the old Ram's Horn of 1895, was insured for only $6000 and Mrs. Jackson the owner did not rebuild. Shields store built in 1912, was fully insured except for the Christmas stock. The new red brick building was opened on the week-end of May 6,1933, less then seven month after the fire... and served the community for many more years.



Home | Pioneer Profiles | Overview | Houses & Buildings
Schools & Churches | Clubs & Organizations | Mills | Sports