Posts Tagged fire

Photo Credit: Comox Valley Echo

Well, sadly it is official.  As a follow up to a previous story I posted this morning, the Lorne Hotel and Pub in Comox, one of British Columbia’s oldest and longest serving hotels, has been completely destroyed by fire today. It’s a very sad loss for heritage in British Columbia.

If you would like to read the story at the Vancouver Sun by Tamara Cunningham, please click here to take you directly to the story.

Below is a picture of the Lorne Hotel in the 1880s, courtesy of the Comox Archives and Museum.

Photo Credit: Comox Archives and Museum

Photo Credit: City of Toronto Archives Fonds 1244, Item 1

Although the date of April 19, 1904 would suggest it must have been a very pleasant and mild spring day in Toronto, it was actually quite the opposite. The temperature was -4 Celsius and there were flurries in the air that evening in the downtown core. But the winter-like conditions were the least of Toronto’s worries. People were furiously jumping off the streets and onto the sidewalks to avoid the charging horse teams that pulled 7,500 pound fire engines down Wellington Street West at about 8:30 that evening. When the night was over, Toronto had lived through the worst city fire in its history.  (more…)