Sophie Jones (left) and Hunter Gauthier (right) (Image Credit: University of the Fraser Valley)

By Alyssa Conti

Burning Legacy

UFV students chronicle over 400-page history of Abbotsford fire department

Mar 8, 2026 | 12:41 PM

ABBOTSFORD — Abbotsford firefighters have enlisted the help of the University of Fraser Valley (UFV) history students to dig up a rich saga right in their own backyard.

Over the 2025 summer and fall semesters, UFV’s Sophie Jones and Hunter Gauthier took up the task from Adam Campbell and the Abbotsford Firefighters Association as more firefighters retire or move away, leaving their stories forgotten.

Their practicum project, “Archiving the Alarm”, is the result of numerous hours spent scouring over a century’s worth of physical and online sources, ranging from The Reach Gallery archives and Abbotsford City Hall to social media and libraries across the community, including the university’s own.

“It started as a 20-page document and kept getting bigger and bigger,” Gauthier said. “We ended up with more than 400 pages.” 

One resource was an anniversary edition of the now-defunct Abbotsford Times that highlighted key moments from the fire service’s history.

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“There were snippets of old articles that we found in that one paper, which was fantastic,” Jones said. 

Stories included moments from interdepartmental water fights and saved lives, as well as firefighter deaths and reflections on the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre in 2001.

Although the project is done, the pair says their work is only a fraction of the whole story.

“There are more things that we know existed, events that we know happened, but we couldn’t find anything tangible in our searches,” Gauthier explained. “We found nothing on the Sumas Fire Department, other than one record of a fire chief, but we know there was a fire hall because it’s still standing there today.” 

“[But] the amount of work that we put into it, and how it’s evolved over time, has been incredible to see,” Jones added.