Huron-Perth Boomers - Spring 2023

y Sinead Cox
HISTORY
“A terrific electric storm was in progress and firemen
had difficulty at first in plying streams of water on
the tower, owing to its height,” the paper stated.
“Some of the firemen climbed on to the slate roof,
slippery with rain, and fought the flames from
perilous positions.”
A warning sign in the gaol.
floors become engulfed in flames.
In 1851, when the building was only a decade old
and served the United Counties of Huron, Perth
and Bruce, an errant chimney spark caused the first
known fire of significance. Fortunately, the only
harm sustained in that instance was damage to
the building’s roof. Afterwards, the Gaol Inspector
recommended covering the roof with metal, and
that the county purchase a new ladder tall enough
to enable water to be carried high enough to fight
a fire (staff, presumably, having discovered the
inadequacies of the previous ladder during the
emergency). No ladder would have been very useful
as a means of rescue for prisoners, however, as all of
the windows on the gaol’s upper floors were barred
to prevent escape.
The newspaper claimed that, despite the late hour
and extreme weather, a crowd of people gathered
outside the gaol’s walls to watch their efforts. While
firefighters risked their lives to stop the fire from
spreading to the lower floors, a constable escorted
the seven prisoners who were committed to the
Huron Gaol at the time to an outside courtyard, still
confined within the 18-foot walls. Thankfully, the fire
was contained within the cupola and extinguished,
but the flames and the water employed to douse
them had caused more than $1,000 in damages
(equal to about $16,500 today). The county enlisted
prisoner labour to help with the subsequent clean-up
and repairs.
The cupola caught fire again in 1944, this time from
burning leaves, either carried from the ground by a
strong wind or ignited in the eaves by a spark. Although
this fire burned only briefly, it caused destruction and
water damage similar or worse than the 1929 blaze –
costs duly submitted to the county’s insurer.
Officials and staff recognized the inadequacies
of the gaol’s design very early in its operation –
In the 1860s, the County of Huron replaced the
tin-covered roof with slate, which was swapped
for asphalt shingles about a century later. When
reverting to slate in 2021, roofers discovered that
lumber inside the cupola still bore blackened scorch
marks from historic fires. The cupola, or central
tower, has been struck by lightning at least twice – in
1892 and 1929. Torrential rain prevented fire in the
first case, but the second strike “set the tower ablaze”
just after 1 a.m., according to The Clinton News Record.
SPRING 2023 • 17