Hall of Flame
Museum of Firefighting
Exhibits
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| The Hall of Flame has six exhibit galleries. Visitors receive an exhibits catalogue which describes all of the major exhibits. These exhibits are identified with a numbered plaque that corresponds to the description in the exhibit catalogue. Smaller exhibits are described with text cards and text mounted on pedestals. | Within Gallery I is a theater in which visitors can view a 10 minute video which introduces them to the exhibit galleries. |
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| The photos above are a portion of the exhibit in the museum's four apparatus galleries, the Wildland Firefighting Gallery, and the National Firefighting Hall of Heroes. | |
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Left: The museum's 50 seat theater displays helmets and memorabilia as well as showing a ten minute introductory video. |
| Attached to Gallery II is the National Firefighting Hall of Heroes, where visitors can view the photographs and citations of over five hundred firefighters who have received national awards for heroism. They can also view the names of the more than two thousand firefighters who have died in the line of duty since 1981, the first year in which national records were kept. | They can also view the names, citations and photographs of hundreds of other firefighters who have received local awards for heroism or who died in the line of duty prior to 1981 in our computerized database. To obtain additional information about the Hall of Heroes click Here. |
Most visitors require at least an hour to tour the galleries. It is not unusual for visitors with a special interest in firefighting to spend several hours in the galleries.
One fire engine is available for boarding by visitors. Picture taking is welcome. We have a large fire safety exhibit that contains many hands on activities for children.
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This 1951 American La France Model 700 fire engine from Miami, Arizona is available for boarding by visitors. The rig is fully functional. We have removed ladders and hose to make access easier. |
Gallery I |
This 10,000 square foot gallery contains over
30 manual
and horse drawn pieces of apparatus, dating from 1725 to 1890. They
are American, English, French, and Japanese.
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There are a wide variety of engines, ladder wagons, parade carriages, hose wagons, chemical wagons, a fire sled or "pung", an aerial ladder wagon, and steam powered engines. Also on exhibit are lithographs, engravings, prints, and paintings. There is a fine display of over 100 insurance firemarks from all over the world.
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Gallery II |
In this 10,000 square foot gallery are
20 motorized
pieces dating from 1897 to 1930. Most of the pieces are American. Makers include American
La France, Seagrave, Ahrens-Fox, Mack, Howe, Brockway, Merryweather, Christie,
and Waterous. Among the rarest pieces is an 1897 Champion water tower that was motorized with a Christie tractor, a Waterous
gasoline powered pumper, a Brockway chemical car, and an elegant 1935
American La France Type 400 engine.
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A Merryweather Braidwood body style fire engine built in London in 1913 was used by the fire department of Lima, Peru. All of these pieces are fully restored. A 1951 American La France Model 700 engine from Miami, Arizona is available for boarding.
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Gallery III |
This gallery of 5,000 square feet contains rotating exhibits of restored motorized pieces. On permanent display are a 1951 Mack Model A fire engine, a 1955 American La France aerial truck, a 1955 Seagrave Quad Anniversary Model engine, and a 1967 ERF/HCB-Angus "pump/escape" fire engine from the Nottinghamshire Fire Brigade this rig was donated to the museum by Mr. and Mrs. Peter Eichorn. On temporary exhibit are a 1945 Mack Model 505 engine and a 1941 Ford/Howe engine. Also in this gallery are three operating alarm room exhibits. | One Gamewell semi automatic system dates from 1925 and was used in Glendale, California. A second system was custom made by the Phoenix Fire Department in 1956 and was one of the earliest binary systems to make full use of telephone capabilities. The third system is a Protectowire operating system that demonstrates an effective alarm system using a specially constructed thermal cable.
Our new storage building allows us to move pieces from the exhibit to temporary storage and allows us to install temporary exhibits. Most of these new exhibits will be displayed in Gallery III.
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Gallery IV |
This 5,000 square foot gallery contains three fine aerial trucks made by American La France, Seagrave and Pirsch, as well as a fully restored 1930 Ahrens-Fox Quad fire engine that is driven annually in the Fiesta Bowl Parade. The Seagrave and Pirsch aerials are entirely original. Behind the Ahrens Fox is a fully restored 1935 Ford / Pirsch flathead V-8 fire engine from Slinger, Wisconsin. | Also on display in this gallery are over 4,000 arm patches from fire departments all over the world. A printout of the patch collection allow visitors to quickly locate patches from their city, state, or province. Gallery IV also contains a large Fire Safety Learning Area consisting of a mini-theater, a two room Safety House, and a large practical application area.
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| National Firefighting Hall of Heroes | The National Firefighting Hall of Heroes is a 3,000 square foot gallery that addresses the human element of firefighting. In this gallery can be found the names of thousands of American firefighters who have died in the line of duty. The names and citations for thousands of firefighters who have been recognized for acts of heroism are also found in this gallery. | The gallery also contains
exhibits which describe the history of the volunteer and paid structural
firefighters and wildland firefighters. A special display honors the
firefighters, police officers and Port Authority officers who lost their
lives on September 11, 2001 at the World Trade Center. This gallery opened in
1998. For more information go the the National
Firefighting Hall of Heroes page on this website.
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| Wildland Firefighting Gallery | This 2,500 square foot gallery deals with the history of wildland firefighting in the United States. It includes a replica of a lookout cabin, several pieces of apparatus, a wide variety of tools, and exhibits about the smoke jumpers, hotshots, helitack crews, engine crews and Class II crews which make up the |
firefighters of the state forestry departments, rural fire protection districts and the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and National Park Service. For more information go to the Wildland Firefighting Gallery page on this website.
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Home | Who We Are | Collections | National Firefighting Hall of Heroes | Membership | Volunteers | Hours & Location | What's New | Related Web Sites | Table of Contents Page | Fire Safety Exhibit Page