The Festive Season Of Once That Nearly Marked The End Of Bracebridge's Historic Downtown

 

Photos by Suzanne Currie

A Preamble To Today’s Post

THE SIGHTS, SOUNDS, AND ACTUALITIES OF THE FESTIVE SEASON WITNESSED WHILE TENDING THE NEWS DESK OF THE OLD HERALD-GAZETTE

BY TED CURRIE

     There’s no question that the general atmosphere in and around Bracebridge’s historic weekly newspaper, at this festive time of the year, was a lot  better humored than during the other eleven months which I suppose it needed to be to keep up a level of competence that kept us out of trouble with lawsuits and having to apologize for errors in our news coverage. All the news staff back in the 1980’s, during my tenure, were eager to build portfolios that would some-day impress the editor or publisher of a daily newspaper or a prominent magazine. We all wanted something better in our fledgling careers, and especially in our weekly pay packets. We knew it was going to be a hard grind building the kind of portfolio of published photographs and articles, that would catch the eye of a talent scout in upper media, but it wasn’t as much hard work, as being particularly opportunistic. Basically, going after interesting story leads, and doing so first rate investigations, to potentially expose a major story that had been hidden to that point, such that a daily paper might have even paid to run the story nationally if it was good enough. So, suffice to say, we were pumped constantly, because we knew that some of our colleagues had been able to advance up the print media ladder, getting front page billing for a huge Canadian audience. I’m not suggesting that the month of December, and the coming of the much loved Christmas special edition, gave us time off to rest on our laurels, to resume again in January, but it would be true to say that we were all starved back then for a little bit of reflection on our personal situations, and whether or not it would be the better choice to walk away from one job, and hopefully begin another in the new year. I can’t remember any of my mates doing this, but we did talk about the possibilities over a few pints at the local press club, which was in those days, the Albion Hotel on Main Street. Yes opposite the old Bracebridge Train Station, or at least the depression in the earth where it had once resided before it met the wrecker’s ball.

     The events good and bad in any community with its wheels in motion, or not, can inspire the local class of keen reporters and photographers. But most of the time, in my years at the helm, we simply had to be creative. Not that we created news, but that we had some latitude in representing it in a more creative way; and this became our mainstay during slow news weeks. It wasn’t a matter of embellishment, but rather working a little hard to make it more readable, and the photos more interesting to our loyal subscribers. But every now and again, in the lull of a very quiet December, where fundraisers and church socials were the big deal to cover, we would get side-swiped by one or two situations, or events, that brought us back to the reality that catastrophes don’t operate on a schedule; or occur when all hands are on deck, and everything is tuned up, including the camera gear, to meet whatever stuff comes flying down the pike. We had enjoyed a very quiet Christmas season, this particular year, and had put out what we believed then, was a truly outstanding holiday edition, that if memory serves, was one of the biggest we had ever produced when the ad content was calculated by the advertising department. We actually had too many ads that issue, and it meant staff writers had to put in some serious overtime to kill the white space between all the Christmas greeting ads that had been sold. As I noted previously, our editorial staff loved to increase their bylines and this is exactly what was offered them from the advertising department, so pleased with themselves with that year’s Christmas bounty. And after all was said and done, and the paper “put to bed” as they say, we, in the news room were “spent” or so we felt. So even without much in the way of hard news and breaking stories that month, we got a lot of material for our resumes if needed. And that really was our Christmas bonus, and we carried on in the spirit of goodwill onward toward New Years, and another special edition of the paper. Not quite so big but large enough to keep us dutifully employed.

     Then came a terrible event in the downtown community, on a wickedly cold night. It was big enough and so dangerously aggressive, that we really did expect that our place of employment, or means to an end, was going to be consumed by the fireball that was ripping apart one of the historic buildings on Manitoba Street. From the back “flat” roof of The Herald-Gazette building on Dominion Street, beside the former town hall, we could look down onto the roof of what had been the Thomas Block of storefronts, and upper floor office space, and see the molten centre exploding in fireballs long into the night. We went from general complacency and lingering Christmas good cheer, to feeling a sincere fear that what we knew and loved of that old newspaper, was about to be reduced to ash; and that if the wind was to pick up, from east to west, the end might come sooner than later. But it was what news hounds are all about. So we went to work, and that included doing voicers from many city radio stations and television outlets, who had heard the breaking news that Bracebridge was burning down. Well, thanks to a huge commitment of first responders, this major town event was brought under control by morning of that wild news night. And we got to keep our jobs and continue working in this historic building for a little while longer.

CHRISTMAS IN BRACEBRIDGE -

THOMAS BLOCK FIRE WAS THE BIGGEST, MOST FRIGHTENING - CALAMITOUS TOWN EVENT I HAD EVER COVERED - NO ONE PERISHED - THANKFULLY

BY THE TIME I SQUISHED MY BEHIND DOWN INTO THAT EDITOR'S CHAIR, OF THE HERALD-GAZETTE, (BACK IN THE EARLY 1980'S), IT WOULD HAVE TAKEN THE JAWS OF LIFE TO SPARE THE CHAIR. FROM MY FIRST YEARS OF UNIVERSITY, I SET MY SIGHTS ON BEING A FUTURE EDITOR. IT TOOK A WHILE, AND SOME HUSTLING TO PROVE MY WORTH, BUT I FINALLY ACHIEVED MY GOAL. I WAS THE BOSS. I HAD THE CHAIR AND DESK TO PROVE IT. DID ANYBODY GIVE A RAT'S ARSE? JUST THE PUBLISHER. HE WANTED ME TO EARN MY KEEP, MOTIVATE THE STAFF, AND CO-OPERATE WITH THE TOUGH COOKIES IN THE PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT. MOST OF ALL, HE DIDN'T WANT TO GET A/ SUED, B/ VOID OF ADVERTISING.

WHEN I DID MAKE MY WAY TO THIS STATION IN LIFE, I HAD EXPERIENCED A PRETTY GOOD WORK-OUT ON THE LOCAL NEWS SCENE, STRETCHING FROM THE TOWNSHIP OF GEORGIAN BAY, MUSKOKA LAKES, AND BRACEBRIDGE. GRAVENHURST WAS STILL IN RANGE, BUT IT WOULD BE YEARS, AND A CHANGE OF EDITOR'S CHAIR BEFORE I BEGAN COVERING ITS MUNICIPAL COUNCIL, AND THE LOCAL BEAT. AS FOR HAVING COVERED ACCIDENT AND FIRE SCENES, I'D CUT MY TEETH ON SOME REAL DANDIES, AND DESPITE THE PROMOTION, I WOULD FOB-OFF AN ACCIDENT OR FIRE CALL ON ANYONE ELSE IN THAT NEWSROOM. MY CONSTITUTION WAS NOT SUITED TO THE KIND OF SCENES FIRST RESPONDERS HAD TO DEAL WITH. IF THERE WAS NO CHOICE, NO ONE TO HAND THE CAMERA TO, I DID WHAT WAS REQUIRED TO JUSTIFY THE PURPOSE OF OUR "NEWS" PAPER. I GOT MY WOBBLY KNEES JUST HEARING THE COMMUNITY FIRE SIREN, OR THE SCANNER WE KEPT IN THE OFFICE FOR EMERGENCY CALLS.

ON THIS BITTERLY COLD WINTER MORNING, SHORTLY AFTER CHRISTMAS-FESTIVITIES, THE CALL CAME OVER THE SCANNER ABOUT A FIRE AT A BUILDING ON MANITOBA STREET, AT CHANCERY LANE. I KNEW IT AS THE THOMAS COMPANY BUILDING, WITH LEGAL OFFICE UPSTAIRS, JUST BEHIND THE HERALD-GAZETTE BUILDING ON DOMINION STREET. I WOULD LATER THAT DAY, BE ABLE TO STAND OUT ON THE ROOF OF THE HERALD BUILDING, TO WATCH THE PROGRESS OF THE FIRE.

EVERY REPORTER WE HAD WAS CALLED OUT TO COVER THIS BREAKING NEWS EVENT. WHILE TWO PHOTOGRAPHERS HEADED DOWN CHANCERY LANE, TO GET SOME FRONT SHOTS OF THE BUILDING, I STOOD AT THE TOP OF THE LANE, JUST BEHIND THE FORMER BRACEBRIDGE TOWN HALL, BECAUSE I NOTICED A LOT OF SMOKE COMING FROM VENTS AT THE SIDE. I TOOK SOME SHOTS DOWN THE SLOPE OF THE LANE, CONNECTING TO THE MAIN STREET, AND SAW A FIRE CAPTAIN I KNEW AT THE BASE. WHEN STAFF FROM THE LEGAL OFFICE OPENED THE SIDE DOOR TO ESCAPE THE BUILDING, THE GLASS IN THE STOREFRONT BELOW, BLEW OUT, THE BURST OF AIR, TOSSING THE FIREMAN ARSE OVER TEA KETTLE, INTO THE ROADWAY. I GOT A SHOT BUT THE SMOKE GOT IN THE WAY OF A CLEAR IMAGE. THE SAME HAPPENED FOR THE PHOTOGRAPHERS BELOW, WHO, AT THAT POINT, DIDN'T KNOW HOW SERIOUS THE FIRE HAD BECOME IN MY ZONE. THE CUSTOMERS AND STAFF HAD JUST GOT OUT OF THE WAY IN THE KNICK OF TIME, BEFORE THE WINDOW EXPLODED.

FROM THIS POINT, INDEED, ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE.

The fire had been manifesting for some time before, inching through the openings above the numerous false ceilings in the store. Somehow, as I had been witnessing, the smoke was venting to the side, not the front, and it had not reached a serious degree of burn, until that morning's store opening. When the front and side doors were opened for customers and clients,I suppose it was acting as a sort bellows on the flames. Customers reported feeling very hot in the store, but the smoke wasn't an issue. It was exciting the building, in a less than obvious place.

After the window blew…..and we saw the fireman had escaped serious injury, I tried to talk to the business owner who was in shock at the time. I chased him up the lane, away from the fire, to get one or two sentences to use……as with events like this, print reporters were often asked to do "voicers" for regional radio and television stations. That's when I noticed the shards of glass that had injured his rear end…..obviously from the explosion at the front of the building. I left the rest to his son…..but it looked painful.

I'd never seen a fire accelerate like this one. It was obvious the fire had gotten into the nooks and crannies, enough to make it twice as difficult for firemen to douse. Within minutes of that window being blown out, the mood changed big-time. Spectators were fleeing and there were sirens everywhere. As we all know about these downtown fires, along the traditional, historic main streets in Bracebridge and Gravenhurst, it couldn't possibly be a simple, one building fire. It was the test to see if there were any firewalls between the old structures. I'm not sure now just how many of the buildings were gutted, but that it stopped before it hit Thatcher Studio. I'm pretty confident it affected three businesses, a medical office, and a law office upstairs. Fortunately no one was seriously injured. Emotional trauma. There was lots of that…..especially when, as historical record in Muskoka towns has documented, you could literally lose the downtown during one out-of-control fire event. There were a lot of gut-wrenching, nervous moments for all stake holders that day.

What was the saving grace, if memory serves, was that a "Tele-squirt" aerial firetruck was loaned by the Fire College, in Gravenhurst, which effectively stopped the progression from consuming other vulnerable buildings. It knocked the flames down, and gave firemen on the ground a better chance of stopping the carnage from heading north, or south, or even leaping west across Manitoba Street. The deep freeze made it a most unfortunate situation for firemen, who were quickly exhausted, carrying around ice on their backs and arms. The cold air and smoke made it hard for everyone to breathe, working on the ground level of the multi-building fire. I can remember spectators who had crept closer and closer over the long day, finding jewelry washing down the road from the shop. Rings were being found frozen in the ice for days after the event.

What had begun at about mid-morning, had carried on through the night….and I remember looking down on the fire scene, from the roof of The Herald-Gazette, and it appearing the mouth of a volcano. There was no roof structure left. Just an expansive, threatening, wavering glow in the sub-zero night air. As we said over and over again that day and night….and for the next week, "at least no one was injured." And you know, the owners of the property, rebuilt the structures that seemed beyond repair….and you can visit them today…..and see no evidence of that great winter fire, of once.

Over the past years, we've had several major fires in downtown Gravenhurst, and although I'm not employed as a reporter any longer, I still got those wobbly knees, and churning stomach, that always went along with the territory. I watched those fire fighters tackle that blaze, with the prowess I recall seeing so many times in the past. On both fires, I saw the terrible odds they were facing….old buildings, many renovations in the past, all kinds of nooks and crannies for a fire to hide, and the looks of sincere regret……on their faces…..that they couldn't do more to stop the disaster in its tracks. No one can tell me, after my own years of experience covering accidents and fires, that first responders are void of emotion at times of crisis……just because they're used to difficult circumstances. No, they're mortal, and they wish for a better outcome from their efforts. Some times it just isn't possible.  

I heard a smart ass, at the first downtown fire, back in the spring, say "Yup, they haven't lost a foundation yet!" Insensitive bastard.

As a wee footnote, I remember reporting on a side-bar story, of the fire that claimed Windermere House, quite a few years back. It was about the emotional state of a few of the firefighters, one who had been in tears, because, in some way, he felt that losing the building was the brigade's fault……that a landmark was lost because they couldn't beat the flames back. Do you think I'm blowing smoke. Tell me then, the last time you heard of a memorial service being held for a building……and for all those who fought the blaze. It was held at the Windermere United Church shortly after the fire, which was begun by the way, during the filming of a Hollywood movie. I was at that service, as my wife is from Windermere. We felt bad for the firemen, that they shouldered responsibility this way….when they had done everything possible to extinguish flames in that very old, very dry resort building. It was clear evidence for me, even though I had seen it in my photographs, showing firemen in action….for years, first responders take it on the chin every time…..and wish there was a positive outcome to each event.

Windermere House was rebuilt, as it was on that promontory, overlooking Lake Rosseau, and it is every bit the historic landmark it once was……but thoroughly modernized. No one had been killed or seriously injured in what could have been much more serious.

As a reporter who shadowed the firefighters of South Muskoka for more than a decade, I have the utmost respect for them, and confidence they will do everything humanly possible to maintain our health and welfare in the event of crisis. But don't think for a minute, they have any choice, about taking their work home with them……and that's something we need to know about their dedication….before we make insensitive comments…….about saving foundations, and such.

Thank you firefighters of Muskoka. Thank you all first responders.