For 60 years, when a fire raged or a car crashed in southwest Langley, Firehall Five has been the first called out.
The Brookswood hall is celebrating its 60th year this Saturday with a big open house for the community.
For many years, the hall was located at 40th Avenue and 200th Street, near the heart of Brookswood’s main business area, said Matt Gillam, a paid-call firefighter and Hall Five’s president.
That older hall was too small and outdated, and in the early 1990s the new hall was built on 32nd Avenue, just south of the most populated parts of the community and with easy access in and out.
The new location had a lot of room, for training firefighters, but also for community events and open houses in the hall’s meeting room.
The hall has always been a part of the community, Gillam said, and local firefighters have been active hosting fundraisers for muscular dystrophy and Alzheimer’s research, as well as for the Langley Animal Protection Society, Critter Care, and the Langley Food Bank.
Every year the firefighters do an annual Candy Cane Run and hand out Christmas treats to kids around Brookswood. The hall also supports two scholarships, at Brookswood Secondary and Langley Fundamental, rewarding those who want to go into protective services.
This Saturday, for the big anniversary, the hall has invited Township and City firefighters, including both antique fire trucks owned by the local fire services.
In addition local groups like the RCMP, BC Ambulance, Fraser Valley Search and Rescue, Crimewatch, and the Township firefighters’ charitable society will be taking part.
Those keen to see or take part in firefighting activities will have plenty to do.
There will be a mini-hose coupling competition every hour, and there will be an auto-extraction demo, with the jaws of life fired up to show how firefighters rescue people trapped in their cars.
There will be extra parking available at the nearby school.
The firehall is located at 20355 32nd Ave., and the anniversary event will run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.