As settlers continued to push the frontier back, fires multiplied. Land clearing, farming, lumbering, railroad construction, mining, prospecting, even hunting and fishing added to the fire hazard.

By the late 1800s wildfire was a very real risk to life, property, and timber resources. Aubrey White, the man responsible for Ontario’s forests, sent an urgent memo to the Ontario government in 1885.

White’s concerns were echoed across Canada. He strongly suggested that a certain number of men “… to be called Fire Rangers…” should be stationed in areas where fire hazard was high. Ontario acted on White’s recommendations. In 1885, the province hired 37 fire rangers, forming the first fire patrol system in Canada.

By the early 1900s fire rangers – also called fire guardians, fire wardens, patrolmen, or garde-de-feux – were active in every province and territory.

Who were these men? What did they do? Click on the titles below to learn more about the first fire rangers.

Early Fire Patrols: through forests, mountains and prairies

Finding Fire: firefighting with pail, shovel and hoe

Preventing Fire: the ranger as teacher and lawman

Fire Rangers: measuring up to the job

Photo Credit:
Alberta Sustainable Resouce Development [Fire Rangers, Alberta 1922]