New Westminster is no stranger to fierce fires — even before the Great Fire that devastated the city in September of 1898.
This week, 155 years ago, saw one of them: a fire that took out a boarding house on the wharf and made the pages of the Mainland Guardian newspaper on Feb. 11, 1868 under the headline “Alarming Fire.”
The blaze in question hit the Mansion House kept by Mr. Herring as a boarding establishment, and, according to the newspaper account, only the quick action of the city’s firefighting company saved it from spreading.
“The flames made rapid progress, although the Hyacks were quickly on the spot,” the newspaper reported. “The house was a large one, and was completely surrounded by small wooden tenements. It appears now almost a miracle that the firemen, however efficient, and guided as they were by Capt. Fisher and Chief Engineer Webster, were enabled to confine the conflagration to the premises where it first originated.”
According to the newspaper report, as the fire was only a short distance from the Hyack Hall, the Fire King wasn’t taken out of the station since a “copious supply” of water was at hand for the task.
Though the fire company was able to beat down the flames before they spread, Mansion House was a ruin: “nothing but smoking embers remained when the fire was got under,” the newspaper reported.
The fire caused some personal losses, including a quantity of jewelry and money belonging to a woman staying in the house at the time, to the tune of about $200. The house, furniture, bedding and other losses were estimated at $3,500 to $4,000, double the $2,000 insurance on the building, according to the paper.
The fire, which was believed to have started near the stove in the kitchen, was found to be accidental.
“Mr. Herring’s loss by the fire must be large, and his loss from the stoppage of the business will be also serious, as the house was an old established one, and well patronized,” the Guardian reported.
New Westminster is a city full of history — and that history includes a variety of community newspapers over its many decades.
In this new weekly series, we're taking a look back at the headlines from some of those newspapers, shining a spotlight each week on a notable news story, person or moment from this week in New West history.
Watch for it online every Thursday.
Follow Julie MacLellan on Twitter @juliemaclellan.
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