On the night of September 16, 1949, the SS Noronic, a passenger ship on a seven-day cruise of Lake Ontario, was docked at Pier 9 in Toronto Harbour (approximately the present location of the Toronto Islands ferry terminal). At 2.30 am, a fire was discovered in a locked linen closet, which quickly spread throughout the ship. There were 524 passengers on board, but only 15 of the 171 crew members, which resulted in a poor evacuation. The ship’s hull turned white from the fire, and the ship started to list towards the pier because it was so full of water from the fire hoses. The recovery of bodies was so difficult that the death count could only be estimated at between 119 and 139.1
The St. John Ambulance’s initial response was to establish a first aid post on the dock2, and they were then tasked with setting up an ad hoc morgue in the Canadian National Exhibition’s Horticultural Building to begin the difficult task of identifying the badly burned bodies.3 Eight St. John Ambulance volunteers assisted police and firefighters in the removal of bodies from the ship, the only volunteers involved in the task.
As family members of the deceased arrived from the United States, St. John Ambulance members assisted them in identifying their loved ones’ remains, which in some cases was impossible owing to the condition of some of the bodies. American newspapers spoke highly of St. John Ambulance, with one writing:
“Thanks in large part to the St. John Ambulance Brigade, the chaos which often follows a catastrophe was kept at bay… in keeping with the tradition of an ancient order, the Brigade was tireless in its errands… it wasted no effort but brought its full capacities to bear in a crisis because its 300-member hospitallers knew what they were doing.” Detroit News4
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1 Christopher McCreery, The Maple Leaf and the White Cross: A History of St. John Ambulance and the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in Canada (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2008), 129
2 Harry Hammond, Yesteryears: A History of St. John Ambulance (Toronto: Versatel), 60
3 Kevin Plummer, “Historicist: Queen of the Great Lakes Aflame.” Torontoist, September 11, 2011
4 Hammond, 57-60