April 6 is the 56th anniversary of Brandon's Olympia Café fire and the death of fire fighter Frederick J Brown. Some sources say that he's Brandon's only fireman to be killed in the line of duty - some say there were others, though I have not seen a reference.
The Olympia, originally a Bank of British North America, was located at 10th and Rosser and was Brandon's largest eatery. The fire broke out at 1:20 in the afternoon, so loss of life could have been much greater.
According to the 7 April 1953 Free Press Brown was “...trapped in the basement of the building housing the Olympia Café during the early stages of the fire and the blaze spread so quickly that the other members of the brigade could not reach him”.
Brown left behind a wife and 6 grown children.
Here's a photo of the fire:
http://www.ebrandon.ca/photos/regular/J18EQ77UNW5PITWN.jpg
Here's an overhead photo of the intersection
http://www.hillmans.soupbo.com/archive/airvuh5.jpg from Hillman's Archives
http://www.hillmans.soupbo.com/archive/brandon14.html
For whatever reason Brown has never been commemorated as a Fallen Fire Fighter either at the Winnipeg Memorial in Brookside Cemetery or nationally in Ottawa
http://www.cfff.ca/fallen/fallen_e.php">http://www.cfff.ca/fallen/fallen_e.php">http://www.cfff.ca/fallen/fallen_e.php
A couple of years back when I did the 125 History Quiz I emailed one of the organizations information and they said that he would be up for nomination but it had to be the Local that nominated him. I guess nothing ever came of it because he's not on the 2009 list.
I will re-send the information. If anyone has a contact in the fire department maybe mention this to them. Seems only fair to have him recognized.
Edited by mrchristian, 2009-04-03 22:47:23