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The Humorous Side of Firefighting (taken from an old newspaper article) One thing that hasn't changed over the years is the town's dependence on Rubberset to provide employment for its volunteer firefighters. Harry Fick, who will be 72 in August was one of those men who served with the Gravenhurst Fire Department for about eight years during the 1940s. He recalls communication was a big problem back then, with no sophisticated telephone system to the firemen's homes or a loud siren to summon them to the hall. "I remember one woman who lived on Royal Street, would run to the Rubberset plant whenever there was a fire, and rap on the window loud enough that she could be heard above the noise of the machinery." German-born Fick said one day the firefighters were called to a fire at the prisoner of war camp, but they had to wait at the main gate while one of the guards checked their credentials before they were allowed in. The fire was in one of the floors and the prisoners had it out before the firefighters arrived, but Fick said that if it had been a bad fire the whole place likely would have been destroyed, while the guards were checking their passes. While they were inside waiting until it was certain that the fire was out, several prisoners were standing nearby conversing in German, unaware that Fick understood every word. While Fick was at Rubberset he suffered a terrible accident which almost destroyed his left heel, sending him to a Toronto hospital for three months. On his return and against Dr. Murray Fisher's advice, he continued to fight fires always riding on the rear platform of the engines. "One day in 1947 when the alarm went off, I ran out of the plant and head for the (old) firehall. But at the corner I stubbed the toe on my bad foot on the curb....and you won't believe this, but I turned a complete somersault in the air, landed on both feet and just kept running. But the engine was already leaving and I just couldn't manage to climb aboard. There were two big firemen standing at the back and they reached down and each one caught a side of my collar and pulled me up to the platform. "I remember the fire was in west Gravenhurst, but by the time we got there it was too late. On the way Chief Cecil Stamp was wearing a light painter's hat which was torn from his head by the wind. Instinctively I reached up and somehow managed to grab it. Later the Chief asked me how I did it and I replied: "Don't you know I once played for the New York Yankees?" Fick said they were driving down Bay Street to that same fire at the maximum speed limit allowed, probably around 55-60 mph in the neighbourhood of Greavette Boat Works. Suddenly they looked behind and saw Roy Mathias coming up fast on a motorcycle. "However, we were puzzled by a patch of red on the front tire, so after the hoses were all put away and we were ready to return to the hall, we went over to inspect the motorcycle and found hole in the tire. and the red patch we had seen was part of the tube sticking out. It's lucky he didn't have a blowout" Fick mused. Approval Okay Apparently the fire department worked under a tight budget in those days, even for minor expenses. "If we needed a broom for the firehall it had to be approved at a meeting of the whole council," said Fick.
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