It came as a bit of a surprise to the Grande Prairie Fire Department, but they will be celebrating their 100 Anniversary a little sooner than expected this year.
Fire Chief Dan Lemieux says they previously thought the centennial would be coming around in 2018.
“The South Peace Regional Archives contact us a few months ago and said the information on our website was not accurate according to their records so we actually did a lot of research with the SPRA and we discovered that in fact the Grande Prairie Fire Department was first established in August 1915.”
Celebrations will be held around the September 11-12 weekend this year, with their annual memorial service, a formal banquet, and the Grande Prairie Fire Fighters golf tournament.
There will also be open houses held at the three stations during fire prevention week on October to showcase some of the artifacts from the fire department’s history.