Firehall #1

Well done to billthecat for spotting the tightrope walker in the photo of the wrapper that I blipped yesterday!
Both G and I had requisitions for routine blood work, so we went to do that first thing this morning. We had breakfast at the Tree House then I took a few photos for Mono Monday. I decided on this one for the MonoMonday theme of "old". Thanks to laurie54 for hosting MM this month.
Although this isn't an old building compared to buildings in other places, it is quite old on this island. The building of a new hall was very controversial and was delayed for a few years because of the cost. Ironically, the cost for building the new one that is under construction now is much higher than it would have been if it hadn't been delayed. 
"Salt Spring Island Fire Protection District, also commonly known as Salt Spring Island Fire Rescue (SSIFR), or Salt Spring’s Fire Department, has been operating out of Firehall # 1 in the center of Ganges since 1959. The island has changed dramatically over six decades, but the island’s emergency response center has remained headquartered in a building that has steadily become insufficient to the task. The need to build a new modern firehall has been recognized for many years, but although plans were proposed in 2013, gaining community support for construction of a new facility proved elusive." (from the pdf document Six Decades in the Making: Summarizing the Process of Designing and Gaining Support for the Building of a New Firehall on Salt Spring Island)