Ontario Fire Buff Associates (OFBA)

The Ontario Fire Buff Association was formed in 1971 to bring together people interested in the fire service in Ontario. Of course, the interests within "the common interest" are many. They include canteen service to fire departments at large fires, fire department histories, fire and apparatus photography, collecting and preserving antique fire apparatus, attending fire apparatus musters, shoulder patch collecting and building scale model fire apparatus. Thanks to the dedication of those early organisers and members, the OFBA grew. In 1979, our group was incorporated under our present name, the Ontario Fire Buff Associates.

The OFBA is an affiliate member of the International Fire Buff Associates. The IFBA is an umbrella group of fire buff clubs in the USA, Canada, and other countries. Each year, the IFBA holds a convention in a different city, hosted by one of the affiliates. In 1978 the OFBA hosted a very successful convention in the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto, further establishing fire buffing in Ontario.

Today, the OFBA has over 150 members from across Ontario, across Canada and around the world. For more information on our newsletter, events and our 1949 Lafrance Hi-Pressure truck, please click on the links below.

The club is administered by an Executive of eight people elected by the membership at-large every two years. The current Executive consists of:

PRESIDENT - Rick Loiselle	SECRETARY - Harry Newlove
TREASURER - Jim Stronach	MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY - Robert Herscovitch
VICE-PRESIDENT - David Mollison	DIRECTOR (SPECIAL EVENTS) - Herb Gallaway
DIRECTOR & EDITOR - Walt McCall	DIRECTOR - Bob Rupert

To contact any member of the Executive, please send us an e-mail.

WHAT IS A FIRE BUFF?
Third Alarm editor Walt McCall recently submitted this article to the Windsor Fire Department website:

In general terms, a “buff” is defined as anyone with an intense interest in virtually any subject. There are sports buffs, jazz buffs, antique auto buffs – and fire buffs.

The very word “buff ”in fact -- meaning a rabid fan or aficionado -- has a fire service-related origin. More than a century ago as the legend goes, well-heeled civilian supporters of the New York City Fire Department would attend extra-alarm blazes regardless of time or temperature. Standing on the sidewalk watching their helmeted heroes hard at work, these well-to-do citizens were conspicuous in their (expensive) buffalo-hide robes or coats. Hence their nickname “the buffaloes”-- inevitably short-formed to “buffs”.

A fire buff, therefore, is a person with an all-consuming interest in the fire service. Mostly civilians, they are ardent admirers and enthusiastic supporters of all firefighters and the job they do. More than a few firefighters -- professional and volunteer – are also avid fire buffs in their off-duty hours.

“Fires to us are not mere spectacles” Baltimore fire buff Karl Detzer wrote many years ago. “They are demonstrations of strategy and tactics, for behind the apparent confusion at any working fire there is generalship. A real buff can tell at a glance just how the battle lines are drawn. The placement of hose lines and ladders, the use of high-pressure turrets and water towers, the location of windows being smashed with axes – all these are clues as to what kind of fire it is, where it is centred and how the job of extinguishing the blaze is progressing”

Fire buffing has, in many respects, the same connotations as sports fans supporting their local teams whether it be baseball, football or hockey. Fire buffs are basically eager students of the science of fire fighting with a parallel interest in a host of other activities designed to aid and promote their local fire department. Contrary to popular perception that the average fire buff is a small boy who never grew up, we take pride in numbering among our companions the following whose motives or sanity has never been questioned: George Washington, Boston Pops conductor Arthur Fiedler and Winston Churchill to name a few who have shared our enthusiasm.

Fire buffs’ interests are as varied as the individuals themselves. In addition to championing their local fire departments and firefighters everywhere, some fire buffs specialize in compiling fire department histories, taking and collecting fire apparatus photos, building and collecting model and toy fire engines, monitoring area fire frequencies and responding to extra-alarm fires and collecting and trading uniform shoulder flashes and patches. Every true fire buff’s dream, of course, is to one day own his or her own fire engine – a dream that is realized these days with remarkable frequency.

In many U.S. and Canadian cities, local fire buff clubs operate mobile canteen services for fire and other emergency services, and actively participate in fire prevention and fire service educational activities.

Canada’s largest and most active fire buff organization is the Ontario Fire Buff Associates. Founded in 1971, the OFBA has active members from coast to coast across Canada and in the U.S. and overseas. Toronto boasts two active fire buff clubs – the Box 12 Association founded in 1949, and the Greater Toronto Multiple Alarm Association. Other Canadian fire buffs groups include the Box 43 Association of Hamilton; the Regional Niagara Fire Buffs and Kitchener’s Box 690. In Quebec, the Montreal Auxiliary Firemen has provided fireground canteen and first-aid service for many years. Appel 99 is Quebec City’s active fire buff club. For many years Detroit had three fire buff clubs – members of which routinely hopped across the border to take in major fires in Windsor.

The umbrella organization for the more than 50 fire buff organizations in Canada, the United States and overseas is the International Fire Buff Associates, Inc. The IFBA held its first meeting In Toronto in 1953.Three years ago Appel 99 hosted the IFBAs annual convention in Quebec City. Previous IFBA conventions have been held in Toronto and Hamilton.

“Watching your fire department control and extinguish a fire can only bring admiration and confidence that the fire department has again met the challenge of man’s greatest friend – and enemy” – the IFBA’s little red Code for Fire Buffing handbook states. “It finally can be said that an interested -- and enlightened -- citizenry becomes the strongest bulwark against unfair criticism of any municipal (fire) department – paid or volunteer”.

Although Windsor does not have an organized fire buff club as such, a small group of dedicated individuals (the author among them) have been chasing the rigs here for many years.

So the next time you spot your local fire buffs behind the yellow fireground tape, give them a friendly wave of thanks for the unbridled respect and admiration they share for the vital job you do so well.

THE FRED CALDER "FIRE BUFF OF THE YEAR AWARD"

The late J. Frederick (Fred) Calder, who proudly hailed from Glace Bay Nova Scotia, always had an abiding interest in, and love for, the fire service. As a result, it was no surprise when in 1963 Fred became a professional firefighter and joined the Toronto Fire Department. He carried Badge No. 641.

Fred who last drove Pumper No. 34 out of the north end Yonge Street Station, came from a real family of firefighters. It all began in 1907 when James A. Calder (Fred’s grandfather) was elected a member of the Glace Bay Fire Department. As he held a ‘Steam Engineer’s Certificate’, he was named an engineer on the “John Leaman”, a 1904 Waterous steam fire engine named after the department’s first Chief. In 1918, when Glace Bay acquired its first piece of motorized apparatus, a 1917 LaFrance Type 75 Triple Combination, James was appointed operator and caretaker and became Glace Bay’s first full time member. His son, Fred W. Calder, joined the department as a spare driver in 1927 and in 1938 became assistant operator and the department’s second paid man. James A. was promoted to Captain in 1933, a rank he held until his death in 1956. At that time, Fred W. was appointed Captain and chief operator and caretaker and retired in 1975.

Fred’s career with the Toronto Fire Department was like most others and he moved from station to station as he gained experience and qualified to drive the various apparatus. He never considered ‘going into work’ to be a chore and always looked forward to being with his ‘second family’. He was a real people person and especially enjoyed whenever young people visited his hall. He would spend hours on the apparatus floor answering their questions….and often a bit more.

Fred also built and collected fire apparatus miniatures and models in his spare time. When he died in 1991 at the age of 52, his basement was full of un-built kits waiting their turn at the hands of a caring and methodical craftsman.

The Toronto Fire Department lost a most dedicated fire fighter. The OFBA lost a very special friend, a former Executive Officer and active member. A tradition of over 109 years of active firefighting in the Calder family has also come to an end.

Fred Calder’s contribution to fire buffing, to the preservation of ex-T.F.D High Pressure Number 2 and other apparatus and other firematic items will long be remembered and appreciated. His skill as a model builder was, and is, legendary.

As a means of perpetuating Fred’s memory and measuring his achievements, the O.F.B.A. in 1992 established the “Fred Calder Fire Buff of the Year Award”.

The Award, when presented, is to recognize an individual fire buff or buffs, who have made a significant contribution towards furthering either the cause of Fire Buffing or promoting the general welfare of the Fire Service. Recipients of the Award likely have an active interest in a host of activities designed to aid or promote either Fire Buffing or the Fire Service. These interests could include furnishing a canteen service for a local fire department, or recording the past by preserving pieces of antique fire apparatus and other firematic memorabilia or by publishing photographic histories of fire departments and fire apparatus.

PAST CALDER AWARD WINNERS
Bob Dubbert & Shane MacKichan
Fred Gaines
Walt McCall
Jerry Campbell

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