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Article based on the event of Lukes' Flour Mill's recent fire on the early morning of November 19th, 1895. The mill was located on the far east end of Bradford, and was registered under the Patrons of Industry Warehouse and Shipping Company.

"A cyclone, accompanied by torrential rain and some hail, wrought heavy damage on a comparatively small acreage of the Holland Marsh gardens late last Thursday afternoon. The storm struck in the Springdale area and while crops in general in that area took a terrific beating, about three or four growers, directly in the path of the about half-mile wide storm, suffered the heaviest loss." ...

"Rybka Bros. Produce, 251 Holland Street East, Bradford, located immediately west of the C.N.R. station, was completely destroyed by fire, with its contents, late yesterday afternoon." ...

"When the fire alarm sounded at 4.30 o'clock on Monday afternoon, the billowing smoke at the top of the hill in town confused, giving the impression that the fire was closer and presenting rather an alarming picture. However, when the fire-fighting equipment went on to the brow of the hill, the fire was located on the Stoddart property and it was the barn.
The older timber provided material for a real conflagration and the fire, having gotten away to a good start, was out of hand before the firemen arrived on the scene. All they could do was stand by to protect neighbouring properties.
Later Monday night, with a breeze blowing, the brigade returned when sparks menaced the neighbourhood.
The cause of the fire is unknown."

"A 19-year-old Downsview man, Robert O'Brien, was the second driver to end up in the canal in the past four weeks. Mr. O'Brien lost control of his car on Friday night after freezing rain covered area roads with slick ice. O'Brien was not hurt in the mishap."

"No cause has yet been determined for a stubborn blaze which broke out in a house at 16 John Street East in Bradford last Tuesday.
The Bradford Fire Department was called out at about 4 pm to quell the blaze which broke out in a back apartment, occupied by Dick Gullinger.
Fire Chief Harold Boyd said the whole apartment was in flamed by the time the firefighters arrived on the scene, and there was no hope of saving it.
The back wall of the house was also badly damaged, and thick smoke made the rest of the house uninhabitable for the occupants of the other two apartments, John Faria Jr., and Louis Dasiba.
"It was a tough one to put out," Chief Boyd said, explaining there were many false ceilings in the old house which had to be torn away to get at the flames.
The chief estimated it took about three hours to put the fire out. The occupants managed to remove most of their belongings during the blaze, and there were no injuries. There has been no estimate of damage."

Article of brief history on the Great Fire of Bradford (1871). Scanned from a donation of the Bradford Today supplement to the Bradford Witness.

Article about the Post Office fire which occurred on April 29, 1981.
Photo at the bottom of the article was captioned: "Cleaning Up, I the aftermath of last week's post office fire, postal worker Bill Marks shows a gentleman all that's left of a letter he mailed. In the photo at the right [see Related Description], postmaster Keith Stevens sifts through some of the identifiable mail. While 125 pieces were identified, at least as many - and likely more - were destroyed, Mr. Stevens estimated. More details on this page."

Photo of Keith Stevens sifting though identifiable mail from the Post Office fire which occurred on April 29, 1981.

Tornado Hits Bradford

Bradford - A tornado smashed through Bradford yesterday at around 3:30p.m., causing considerable damage. There were no reports of injuries. Fletcher St. was the hardest area hit, with residents reporting shingles torn off roods, trees uprooted, windows smashed, small sheds torn to pieces and fibreglass insulation spread everywhere. Part of the roof of the Fletcher St. home of Bradford doctor Larry Barcza was ripped off. Stanley and Muriel Cairns were driving to their home at the corner of Scanlon Ave. and Colburne St. when the twister struck. "There was a great ball of flames," Mr. Cairns said. It was later found that they saw an optical illusion caused by the wind ripping off red fibreglass roofing insulation. Mrs. Cairns added "When we were coming down the road we could see debris flying through the air."
The couple, who moved into their house six years ago, lost their back patio. Mrs. Cairns said the sound of the storm was "terrible - just like a roar." She said she'd never seen such a storm, and added "you wouldn't want to, either." Just down the street form the Cairns on John St., Luis Moniz didn't see the storm, but he felt it. He was inside his house when the tornado hit and told reporters he could feel the velocity of the winds. At Fred C. Cook Public School there were a few children playing on the school grounds just before the twister struck. A workman at the school, Robert Laraby, told The Witness the doors of the school couldn't be closed because of the force of the wind. he said the lights went out and a picnic table outside was blown away. "The kids were getting extremely nervous." He said the tornado lasted about two to three minutes. Desmond Paul Smith was on his way home to his Holland St. apartment when it struck. He was heading north through the main intersection when he saw "stuff going up in the air and a big bolt of lightning. It knocked lines out and I saw flames from the hydro poles."
He said he saw branches as long as 6 ft. going 300 ft into the air, and saw huge trees knocked over with their roots exposed. Mr. Smith said he warned a man on the street that there was a tornado coming and the man didn't believe him. "Then he looked behind him and started to run." The Bradford man also saw the 20-ft. hole in the roof of International Fruit Distributors and said staff there showed him a huge tractor trailer which had been lifted several feet to a new resting place by the force of the winds. Traffic lights at the main intersection were knocked out and power was blacked out in several areas around town. Power was restored in some areas at 6 p.m.
Hail the size of mothballs also swept through the town. By press time damage estimates were unavailable. Shocked resident toured Fletcher St. to view the worst of the damage. Bradford police reported numerous minor car accidents, and the Bradford Fire Department was kept busy responding to calls about downed power lines. Minutes after the tornado struck, an official of the weather office at Toronto International airport confirmed that tornado warnings had been issued for a large area of southern Ontario. It appears Bradford was the hardest hit area. The Witness office on Dissette St. was also blacked out by the tornado, and staff put together the final pages of this edition with manual equipment by candlelight. Our thanks to Newmarket photo lab for the use of their facilities.