all of Flame
Museum of Firefighting
What's New at the Hall of Flame Page 1
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The 62 Firehouse Magazine Rescue Award winners for 2003 are now posted on this web site. The site also includes the winners for 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002. Are you a member of the Hall of Flame? All of our members at the Firefighting Professional, Black Helmet, Red Helmet, and White Helmet levels are now listed on a new Member Recognition Page. |
Check out the Museum's new Wildland Firefighting Page. It has pictures and descriptions of our Wildland Firefighting Gallery which opened in August of 2003. |
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This web site was extensively redone in June of 2009. Among the most important changes are:
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Fiesta Bowl Parade
| Every year since 1977 the Hall of Flame has provided one or more rigs in the Fiesta Bowl Parade. The Bowl Committee rides on the Hall's 1930 Ahrens-Fox Quad. The museum also provides additional rigs for Fiesta Bowl Committee functionaries. | Museum founder George F. Getz Jr. drove the Fox until 1990, when he delegated the job to his grandson, also named George Getz. When Mr. Getz died in 1992, George succeeded him as museum president. |
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George drives down the parade route with the Fiesta Bowl Committee aboard the museum's 1930 Ahrens Fox Quad fire engine from River Forest, Illinois. |
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The museum usually supplies a number of rigs for the parade besides the quad. In 2009 we provided our 1955 American La France Model 700 aerial truck and our 1969 Mack Model CF engine. |
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The museum's 1955 Seagrave Quad from Oak Lawn, Illinois, is also a parade favorite. At the wheel is museum volunteer Larry Peterson, who commanded the Oak Lawn FD company that used the rig. Larry persuaded the Oak Lawn FD to donate his old rig to the museum. It is one of our finest engines. |
Recent Accessions and Restorations
1948 Mack Model 45 "District" Fire Engine
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In Don's ShopI |
Museum volunteer Dick Stuve prepares to drive the Mack into Gallery II. |
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In April of 2004 we received an addition to our collection of Macks -- a Model 45 Fire engine built in 1948 for the city of Pierre, South Dakota. In 1939 Mack introduced the Model 45 as the largest of a new class of fire engines called the District Pumpers. Mack wanted to capture the branch of the fire department market that included small towns and volunteer fire departments unable to afford Mack's usual line of apparatus. The smallest District Pumper, the Model 25, mounted a 250 gpm pump on its front bumper. The Model 45 was by far the most popular District Pumper, and after World War II all District Pumpers except the Model 45 were discontinued. The 45 was a popular engine. Several hundred were sold until its discontinuation in 1949. All District Pumpers were equipped with an L head six cylinder engine built by Continental. |
Our engine is rated at 130 horse power, with a 500 gpm two stage pump, a 150 gallon booster tank, and a hose bed with a capacity of over 1000 feet of 2 1/2 inch hose. The rig has a 2 1/2 inch pre-connect behind the hose bed. It also has a storage unit atop the booster tank that was used for a 200 foot length of pre-connected 2 1/2 inch line. It weighs in at about 10,000 pounds. After a long career in South Dakota the rig was sold to individuals in Arizona who used it to give rides to children at a local amusement park. We are very grateful to the Mack Trucks Historical Museum in Allentown, Pennsylvania for providing a large amount of information about the rig. The rig went on permanent exhibit in April 2005. It is fully restored to running condition. |
1908 Anderson Coupling Company Chemical Engine, Ex - Phoenix FD
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| Don Hale with the restored chemical engine | On exhibit in the Wildland Firefighting Gallery |
| In May of 2005 Don Hale began a complete restoration of one of the museum's chemical wagons - a 1908 engine that was used by the volunteers of Phoenix, Arizona from 1908 to 1914. The maker was the Anderson Coupling Company of Kansas City, Missouri. The company specialized in hose and hose couplings, but sold a range of other fire appliances. The copper chemical tanks are of the Champion style. The wagon looks very similar to those sold by the Fire Extinguisher Manufacturing Company of Chicago. It is possible that Anderson simply placed their manufacturer's plate on a FEMA machine. Where the wagon spent the years from 1914, when it was retired in favor of a couple of Seagrave chemical cars, to 1938, when it was purchased by a Phoenix firefighter, is unknown. | Firefighter Simpson, who later became chief of the department, loaned it for use in parades. For a number of years he loaned it to Gene Autry's museum in Orange County, California. In 1969 his widow sold the wagon to museum founder George F. Getz, Jr. Mr. Getz had the rig refurbished, and it was displayed in that form at the Hall of Flame. Don completed its restoration in 2006. Since chemical engines were commonly used as fast attack rigs at brush fires, we have placed it in the Wildland Firefighting Gallery. |
New Addition to Hall of Heroes 9/11 Memorial
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| The Phoenix Fire Department recently donated a piece of the World Trade Center to the National Firefighting Hall of Heroes. The fragment was presented to PFD Chief Alan Brunacini by the Retired FDNY Firefighters of Phoenix in recognition of the service performed by the PFD's Urban Search and Rescue Team at Ground Zero in September and October of 2001. | Chief Brunacini thought it most appropriate to display the piece at the Hall of Flame. The piece is now on permanent exhibit in the Hall of Heroes, adjacent to the Memorial Pony, as well as panels honoring the firefighters, police, and Port Authority police who died on 9/11. |
Museum Volunteer Donates Defibrillator to the Hall of Flame
| Volunteer Richard Landon and his wife Marilyn recently donated a state of the art Philips Heart Start portable defibrillator to the museum for use in the event that anyone at the museum suffers cardiac arrest. Many public buildings are purchasing the defibrillators, which are quite expensive, which are designed to be used by untrained people to re-establish a victim's heart beat. | Survival rates for victims who receive speedy defibrillation are much higher than those who receive only CPR prior to the arrival of paramedics. The Landons donated the defibrillator in the name of their nephew, David S. Bacon Jr. Mr. Bacon was a certified flight paramedic who died in the crash of a life flight helicopter in Spartansburg, South Carolina on July 13, 2004. |
1955 Seagrave Quad From Oak Lawn, Illinois
The Quad is on permanent exhibit in Gallery III.
| In June of 1998 the Museum accepted the donation of a nicely restored Seagrave "Quad" fire engine from the fire department of Oak Lawn, Illinois. The rig is an "Anniversary" model, and was delivered to Oak Lawn in 1955. It has over 200 linear feet of aluminum ground ladders, a 500 gallon booster tank with two electrically powered booster reels, and a 1,500 gpm single stage centrifugal pump. Its hose tray can carry 1,500 feet of 2 1/2 inch hose. It was fully reconditioned in 1981, including a Cummins V-8 diesel engine matched to the original drive train. | The department needed to free up space in its fire house for new equipment, and one of its assistant chiefs had visited the Hall of Flame and recommended it as a place to exhibit the rig. Hall of Flame volunteers Ron Deutsch and Ralph Glasmann flew to Oak Lawn to take formal delivery. The rig was driven in this year's Fiesta Bowl Parade, and will probably appear in the parade for many years to come. |
1968 HCB Angus/ERF Pump-Escape
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| In August of 1998 we received an English fire engine built in 1968 by HCB/Angus on an ERF chassis. The rig belonged to the Nottinghampshire Fire Brigade and served the town of Retton for about twenty years. Mr. and Mrs. Peter Eichorn bought the rig and restored it mechanically. They donated it to the museum, and it came by ship to Port Hueneme, California, which is about 20 miles north of Long Beach. Museum Director Peter Molloy and volunteers Ron Deutsch and Dave Riley drove the rig from Port Hueneme to Phoenix. | It has already appeared in several parades. Mr. Eichorn equipped the rig very well, and it is fully functional. Don Hale repainted the rig in late 1999. Its closed cab has room for six firefighters, and it has a 750 gpm single stage centrifugal pump. It is powered by a 6.5 liter Perkins V8 diesel engine. Most distinctive is it 55 foot Merryweather "Escape" ladder, which is rolled from the engine's rear and maneuvered into position. |
Executive Director Peter Molloy with the ERF on the waterfront at Port Hueneme.
| Don Hale repainted the rig in late 1999. He also repaired the fiberglass body and rebuilt a few of the rig's many wooden sections. | The ERF is a popular attraction at many local events. |
1915 Robinson Fire Engine
| In October of 1998 the Hall of Flame received a rare Robinson fire engine on loan from the town of Gila Bend, Arizona. The rig was bought from the St. Louis manufacturer in 1915 by the mining town of Globe, Arizona, and sold to Gila bend around 1940. After a few years it was retired and left in storage. In 1993 the firefighters of Gila Bend began its restoration, and the project was completed in 1997. | It has a 1,000 gpm rotary pump and a large hose bed. It apparently did not have a chemical tank. It is powered by a 1,000 cubic inch six cylinder T-head engine. Only one other Robinson engine is known to be in existence. It is owned by the town of Staunton, Virginia, and has been fully restored. |
1947 Seagrave Canopy Cab Fire Engine
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| In Early 1999 Museum Restorer Don Hale completed the restoration of a rig that ALCOA donated in 1982 -- a 1947 Seagrave canopy cab fire engine. It was owned originally by the volunteer fire department of Vandergrift, Pennsylvania. Originally green, the Vandegrift volunteers painted it in a brown color scheme around 1960. It was sold a few year later to ALCOA, which used it as an industrial fire brigade truck in its plant near Pittsburgh. On its retirement the company shipped the rig to the museum as a donation. | The rig is now restored with its original color and striping scheme. We were fortunate to obtain its Seagrave delivery photos from Seagrave historian Matt Lee. The rig is equipped with a two stage 750 gpm centrifugal pump and a 300 gallon booster tank. The booster is sited below the large cab. Four firefighters can easily sit on the tank, and two can ride in the cab itself. The rig is engined with the small Seagrave V-12 gasoline engine. It is in excellent mechanical condition. |
1969 Mack Model 600 CF Fire Engine
| In June of 1999 Volunteers Ron Deutsch, Ralph Glasmann, Dave Riley and Dick Stuve flew to Chicago to take delivery of a 1969 Mack CF fire engine from the Calumet City, Illinois | Fire Department. The rig is in excellent shape, and was extensively refurbished about 15 years ago. |
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With Dick Stuve at the wheel, the Mack stops for a photo op at the Arizona State line. |
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Dick Stuve demonstrates the 1,250 gpm pump. |
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From left to right: Ron Deutsch, Ralph Glasmann, Dave Riley and Dick Stuve pose with the Mack. The four volunteers drove the rig, with a chase car, from Calumet City, Illinois to the Museum. |
1905 Chief's Buggy
| In January of 2002 Don Hale completed the restoration of a 1905 chief's buggy built by Peter Pirsch of Kenosha, Wisconsin for the Chicago Fire Department. CFD donated the rig to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. | In 1964 the MSI donated the buggy as well as a CFD hose wagon to the Hall of Flame. The rig is on permanent display in Gallery 1. |
| In 1957 Museum founder George F. Getz, Jr. purchased a hose wagon from a private individual in Michigan. The rig was purchased in 1909 by the Fire Department of Petosky, Michigan from the Seagrave Fire Apparatus Company of Columbus, Ohio. Sometime during the 1920s it was sold as surplus to a private individual, where it received indifferent treatment. Its condition did not permit its exhibit, so it was in storage until September of 1999, when it went into Don Hale's shop for restoration. | Matt Lee's excellent books on Seagrave were a great help. Don also had the good experience of restoring a similar Seagrave wagon for the San Luis Obispo, California FD during the 1970s. The restored rig, complete with lanterns, ax, foot gong and fire extinguishers was placed on the floor in April of 2000. |
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| Don Hale at work on the Seagrave ladder wagon. The running gear was original, but the upper chassis required a lot of rebuilding. |
On display in Gallery 1 |
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