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By Caden Fanshaw

Fire Hall Demolished

Local firefighters bid goodbye to an old friend

Jun 1, 2023 | 5:11 PM

PRINCE GEORGE — After six decades in service, the old fire hall on the corner of 7th and Dominion St. has been almost fully demolished.

Mike Dornbierer who started working in the building in 1964 said the sight of the building being removed is emotional. The longtime firefighter said he vividly remembers the people he worked with at the old hall, those who lasted and those who moved on.

“I spent my entire career here, I didn’t go to any other hall,” said Dornbierer. “I was born into it and I retired from it.”

Dornbierer, his brother Harold, and his father August were all fire chiefs here in Prince George over the years.

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The old hall began service in 1957 serving as the city’s main fire hall and a weight scale for incoming trucks. In the early days, the hall was mostly run on volunteers who either lived in side or nearby. In fact, as Dornbierer recalls the hose tower even housed a siren that rang to notify volunteers there was a fire, and even signified the town curfew at one time.

The hall did pose some challenges to firefighters, including being built below grade proving to be a challenge with flooding at times, and being too small to house certain apparatus.

Both Dornbierer and current Fire Chief Cliff Warner are happy to have the new hall up and running although they are sad to see the old one go.

Dornbierer did manage to get a few old bricks from the hall before they were sent off into the sunset to cherish and spark a conversation about the old hall for years to come.

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Twitter: @CadenFanshaw

Email: Caden.Fanshaw@pattisonmedia.com