New Toronto Fire Department

For five decades, the New Toronto Fire Department served the citizens and industry of New Toronto, an independent municipality located along Lake Ontario between Long Branch and Mimico. Established in the early part of the 20th century, the department was absorbed by the Etobicoke Fire Department on January 1, 1967.

History
A volunteer fire brigade was first organized in the area no later than 1914. Equipment was extremely rudimentary and consisted of two lengths of hose, a wheelbarrow, and an axe maintained at two locations: Fourth Street north of Lakeshore Road, and on the western edge of town on Twenty Second Street. A hand-drawn hose cart was also obtained.

The department purchased its first motorized apparatus in 1918. The pumper was built on a 1917 McLaughlin-Buick chassis and was housed on Seventh Street, south of Lakeshore Road.

In 1930 construction commenced on a two-bay fire hall with attached living quarters at 130 Eighth Street. The hall was designed by James, Proctor & Redfern Limited and H. A. McIntyre and cost $17,000 to build. The station was officially opened August 5, 1930. The first two paid employees of the department were also hired in 1930, bringing the department's total manpower to 24.

With the area undergoing rapid industrial growth during the Second World War, the New Toronto Fire Department became the first agency in Etobicoke to purchase an aerial truck. The American LaFrance 85' mid-mount featured a steel ladder and was delivered July 1945. Continued post-war growth of the community necessitated the addition of a third and fourth apparatus bay in the late 1940s.

By the 1950s the department had expanded to 26 paid men, with a minimum staffing level of six. The New Toronto Fire Department became a fully-paid department in 1965 when the use of volunteers was discontinued.

New Toronto amalgamated with neighbouring municipalities on January 1, 1967 to form the Borough of Etobicoke. The New Toronto Fire Department was no more, and the station re-designated Etobicoke Fire Department Station 9.

Apparatus Roster
All pump/tank measurements are in Imperial gallons.
 * 1954 LaFrance-Foamite 710-PJO pumper (850/300?) (SN#5047) (Privately owned)
 * 1945 LaFrance JOX M-8-85 aerial (-/-/85' mid-mount)(SN#L-2101)
 * 1942 LaFrance 601 triple combination pumper (?/100) (SN#L-1689) (Sold to Millbrook, ON - now Cavan-Monaghan Township Fire and Protective Services)
 * 1941 Plymouth P12 Special Deluxe station wagon
 * 1930 LaFrance 192 PWT pumper (600/150) (SN#L-442)
 * 1917 McLaughlin-Buick pumper