A hundred years of firefighting in Prince George will be showcased in a hard-cover 100-page book called Frozen Flame, A History of the Prince George Fire Department.
Launch date for the pictorial coffee-table book is Canada Day 2015 at The Exploration Place, which will be opening an exhibit of artifacts that will showcase the fire department's history during a three-month exhibit.
"Exploration Place is in partnership with us and what we need from the public is artifacts, photos, old fire gear or anything fire related to the Prince George area that can be part of the exhibit," said Aaron Brouwer, firefighter and member of the Prince George Fire Department Historical Committee. It will be a temporary loan and donators will get their items back after the three-month exhibit has been concluded, he added.
"So before all those memories get lost, we want to put something together to preserve the history of the department," said Brouwer.
The Prince George Citizen is partnering with the committee to provide stories about major events throughout the 100-year look back, while the University of Northern British Columbia provided research students and Exploration Place provided photos and will hold the exhibit in 2015.
The Prince George Community Foundation and the City of Prince George 100th anniversary grant program provided funding to help with the project that's been in the making for the last 18 months. The book will be published by Friesen Press out of Edmonton.
"The book will cover everything from how the department started, the halls, the teams, the fundraisers we do, the fires, the ice jams and everything major that the fire department was ever been involved in," said Brouwer.
The committee has decided to publish 200 copies of the book in its first edition and is looking at about $40 for each copy, Brouwer added.
If anyone has any unique photos of Prince George firefighters to donate to the book or any artifacts to donate to the exhibit, e-mail [email protected] for more details.
