Jean Warrington and Brian Baker each explain the community aspect of how fires were dealt with in Innisfil prior to the 1960s. Jean begins by talking of how she was forbidden to use the coal oil lamps at her family's cottage as a child as her grandmother was terrified of fire after her farm burnt down in 1925 while she was visiting a cousin in Texas. The only person present at the time of the fire was a hired man as everyone had gone to do chores - the man noticed a fire in the woodshed where he and the others had eaten lunch. He went to the phone to ring everyone on the line to alert them of the fire. Jean's aunt received the message first and then alerted others. Jean's mother was in Barrie at the time making a wedding dress for a friend, but as soon as she heard about the fire she hired a taxi, which took her to Stroud. She felt the taxi wasn't fast enough so she left in hopes that a friend could drive her there faster but quickly discovered that everyone else was already at the fire. Unfortunately much was lost in the fire. Brian shares a similar story of how the community made use of a long ring to alert neighbours of a fire and everyone was expected to go and help out and form bucket brigades as there were no fire stations at the time.
