1200 Degrees Ontario celebrates Burford grand opening

Chris Abbott

Grant Haven Media

1200 Degrees Ontario celebrated its grand opening with a ribbon cutting at 356 Bishopsgate Road, Burford on Thursday, May 7.

The new, 18,000 square foot purpose-built facility, representing a $6 million investment in Brant County, was on display during the two-day grand opening.

“Thank you for investing in the County of Brant, good luck and success, and keep up the good work,” said County of Brant Mayor David Bailey, who attended the Thursday afternoon’s ceremony with members of Brant County Council.

“There is no question about it, it is $6 million invested into Brant County - it was the right decision,” said 1200 Degrees Ontario co-owner Jeffrey Climie. “On behalf of 1200 Degrees, all of our vendors and the first responders who are here to support, thank you very much for coming out and helping welcome us to Brant County.”

“I’m impressed when someone can build a building that exactly suits them,” said Bailey after the ribbon cutting. “They had a building in Ayr that was working, but it wasn’t quite big enough. They couldn’t test the height on these machines (indoors). Here, they built it as high as they needed to. They said the build itself is very basic, it’s just like a big warehouse, but it does have all the room they need to try all the hydraulics, and testing all the machines, all the fire trucks, can be done inside where they should be done.”

Bailey noted access to highways is perfect at the Bishopsgate Road location, zoned for commercial/warehousing.

“It’s not invasive… because we had a building very much like it, next door to it. They’ve been there for years and we’ve had no trouble with them, so the natural extension is to come down this road, and I am sure that you will see more big builds coming into this area of Burford.

“A year ago today, this was a corn field, and I think that’s amazing that they got it done so quickly. This is a lot of cement, this is a lot of stuff that needs time to cure, but they did it. So their timing from beginning must have been perfect because now we’re here and it’s finished.

“We’re happy to have them,” Bailey concluded.

“I came here today to support them and to see if they’ve got anything else here new that might be interesting for us to look at,” said County of Brant Fire Chief Darren Watson, who attended the 1200 Degrees trade show and ribbon cutting.

Brant County has a purchasing policy for its eight-station Brant Fire and Rescue, which includes Station 1 in Paris and Station 3 in Burford. A new North Paris Fire Station (Station 9) is coming to Ann Wilson Way in the spring of 2027.

“Just recently they (1200 Degrees Ontario) won a tender from us for auto ex equipment,” said Watson, noting the auto extraction equipment is on order, expected this month. “It went through the bid process… and it was actually so close, one of the closest I’ve seen.”

Watson said having 1200 Degrees Ontario in Burford is both good for the local economy and good for neighbouring departments.

The dealership’s move from Ayr to the new Burford building happened in December 2025.

“We had 12,000 square feet in Ayr, but it was a very inefficient 12,000 square feet because as the company grew, we expanded throughout the strip mall area we were part of,” said Climie. “Here, it’s 18,000 square feet, but it’s fully custom-designed by us, for us. An example, there’s no beams in the shop, so we can swing aerials around. The bay doors are a little bit taller and wider to get fire trucks inside. Little things, like that, that make this work for us.”

1200 Degrees Ontario already has a proposal to expand, giving them an option of future growth.

Currently the company has three dealerships – one in Ontario, which started in 1993, and two in the Trois-Rivieres, Quebec area (1979 equipment and 1991 trucks). The aerial fire trucks are manufactured by a Florida company.

“The reason that there is three is we have our equipment division and our truck division separate in Quebec,” said Climie. “Here in Ontario we’re all in one building, we’re all one big team.

“1200 degrees is the hottest fire can get at ambient temperature… we always say 1200 degrees is a good representation for our company because it’s also the passion that we have, it’s the hottest that you can get.”

ABOUT 1200 DEGREES ONTARIO

1200 Degrees is a leader in the field of sales, maintenance and repair of fire trucks and equipment for Quebec, Ontario and the Atlantic Provinces. 1200 Degrees Ontario supports municipal and industrial fire services across Ontario with specialized fire apparatus sales, preventative maintenance, emergency repairs, refurbishments, and technical support, along with a full range of frontline emergency response equipment.

The new, larger facility in Burford is expected to improve customer response times, increase service capacity, and enhance customer support.