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Fire! A look at the last 100 years.In the Mission area, newspapers usually reported fires involving mills and other buildings, very rarely forest fires. Mill fires were often felt more keenly by the residents of our area, as they lost jobs, property and income as a result of them.
An exception to this was the impact of forest fires on shake mills. Take into account the fact that the cedar mills bid on what was deemed salvage to make the "bolts" to cut shakes and shingles from. A forest fire often left a considerable amount of salvage to be used for this purpose. Although the branches and bark were gone or charred the trunks were usually still usable.
The following are excerpts from local newspapers that chronicle local concern for the impact of these fires. We cannot vouch for the accuracy of the reporting.
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1910 - 1933April 14, 1910.
Serious loss occured, by fire, to the Suniach Shingle Mill.
July 21, 1910.
A Ruskin Mill destroyed.
June 22, 1922.
Mr. H. Day's shingle mill was completely destroyed by fire on Sat. night.
August 14, 1924.
Coote and Reynolds mill is destroyed by fire.
June 25, 1925.
There was a fire near Bains Mill in Cedar Valley last Thursday.
July 16, 1925.
Fire at Ruskin Operations Ltd. shake mill, the Stave Falls Lumber Company plant.
May 14, 1926.
The J.J. Mitchell shingle mill on the Fraser River burnt to the ground last Monday.
August 31, 1933.
A fire at Bain-Johnson's sawmill at Steelhead destroys 2 miles of plank road, a logging donkey engine, and several logger's shacks.
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Meeker mill fire.1953
Mission, British Columbia
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July 18,1953.The Meeker Cedar Products Limited mill is destroyed. The fire caused $60,000.00 in damages. All that was left were a few stacks of shingles and the mill office. Reconstruction was started immediately.
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1950'sSeptember 13, 1950.
A forest fire on the west side of Stave Lake destroyed 200,000 feet of felled and bucked timber in a 20 acre area. (considered a BC Hydro fire)
July 18, 1951.
Grewall announces no plans to rebuild Mission Sawmills Ltd., which was destroyed by fire.
July 22, 1953.
Meeker fire. (scanned article)
May 19, 1954.
Full page spread of ads on prevention of forest fires, reforestation, and new logging methods.
February 29, 1956.
Hammer Mills, owned by Peter Hammer of Stave Falls, located near Stave Falls Power Dam, suffers $60,000.00 in fire damage. Plans are underway for rebuilding.
August 22 1956.
A fire destroys the Mission Forest Products Mill near Stave Gardens. The mill is owned by N.S. Grewall.
October 2, 1957.
Fire completely destroys the Davidson Brothers Ltd. Shingle Mill at Silverdale. Loss estimated at $75,000.00 to $80.000.00.
October 9, 1957.
Fire destroys a Silverdale historical site, Davidson Mill on the north bank of the Fraser [river] just east of where Billy Miner robbed the CPR train [Canada's first train robbery in 1904].
January 1958.
Edge Shake Mill burnt down.
December 24, 1958.
The re-saw shake mill of Louis Clark Ltd. is seriously damaged by fire.
April 19, 1959.
Stave Lake Cedar to rebuild at Dewdney after fire, last week, destroyed a large part of the mill. The new buildings and machinery will cost approximately $250,000.
November 4, 1959.
The main building of Fraser Valley sawmills is totally destroyed by fire.
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Mill fire.1965
Mission, British Columbia
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July 30, 1965.Flames envelop the Northwest Forest Products Plant at the end of Broadway Street, as firemen wage a losing battle to bring the fire under control. Loss in the Thursday evening fire is estimated at $100,000.00. Owners plan to rebuild.
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The 1960'sJune 13, 1962
Little was left of a 20-year old industry at Stave Falls when fire destroyed the G.W. Lobb Shake-Shingle mill earlier this week.
October 14, 1964
Fire destroys Fraser Valley Sawmills Ltd.
June 30, 1965
Northwest Forest Products (scanned article)
June 18, 1969
McMahon Lumber Co. Mill section is
completely gutted by fire.
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Mill fire.1965
Mission, British Columbia
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July 23, 1975The shell of Whonnock Lumber's Stave Lake shake and shingle mill continued to burn after the flames destroyed all hope of salvaging any of the equipment. Fire on Monday ended operation of the last working mill on the lake. Damage is estimated at $700,000.00
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The 1970's and 80'sJuly 23, 1975
Whonnock Lumber's Stave Lake mill. (scanned Article)
December 2, 1981
Arson is believed to be the cause of a fire at the Thompson Avenue shake mill.
December 23, 1981
Northwest Shake and Shingle Ltd. Mills, in Ruskin, burns down.
September 29, 1982
Catherwood lumber mill destroyed by fire Thursday morning.
March 16, 1983
The Red Valley Cedar mill is damaged by fire.
September 7, 1983
A fire causes $200,000.00 of damages to McMahon Industries.
December 14, 1983
Fire Chief Ken Lissimore advocated that fire protection should be withheld from mills that don't pay taxes to the district.
July 11, 1984
A million dollars in damages caused by fire to Crescent Island Lumber. (scanned picture)
August 29, 1984
Mills not properly following safety procedures could be forced to pay their own firefighting bills. There had been nine mill fires since May of that year.
March 6,1985
A fire causes $200,000.00 in damages to S and L Cedar Industries, formerly called Blue Lagoon Enterprises, Ltd.
August 7, 1985
Persons having illegal campfires on closed Mission Tree Farm property are creating forest fire hazards. Signs of "No Entry" are posted but ignored or torn down.
October 8, 1986
It is reported that in 1985 the municipality paid $24,096.00 to fight 24 fires at seven mills. In 1986, $11,860.00 was used to fight 14 fires at six mills.
October 15, 1986
A small fire at Meekers Cedar Products Ltd. was extinguished quickly by automatic sprinklers shortly after 10pm on Friday night.
December 2, 1987
Fire at Great West Cedar Products.
February 27, 1998
Fire in Green River Mill (operated by the Clarke Group)
April 1999
Fire destroys the Richwood lumber mill.
October 21, 1999
Island Cedar Mill damaged by fire. This mill is owned by Calvin Gill and leased to Maginder Gill who built the mill in name of Janbar Enterprises.
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Mill fire.1964
Mission, British Columbia
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July 11, 1984A spark from a welder's torch is believed to have started a fire Friday evening, which destroyed the Crescent Islands Lumber Mill at Ruskin. Damage is estimated "in the area of a million dollars," according to a mill spokesman.
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Mill fire.1987
Mission, British Columbia
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