NYC Museums: NYC Fire Department Museum

admin — Wed, 01 Jan 2014 06:46:16 +0000

The NY Fire Dep. has a proud and exalted history of saving lives and keeping Residents Of The Big Apple safe, and the NY City Fire Museum celebrates that history. The location calls to mind early 20th century NY City at the boom time of its success, when fast growth and meteoric rise in the immigrant population made firefighting more significant than ever before. The New York Fire Department Museum looks in particular at firefighting and how it has developed through the years to what it’s become today. From painted leather belts and buckets to boots, helmets and even old style hardware, the Museum of the FDNY has everything you could hope to determine if you have an interest in the way the FDNY grew, changed and evolved over time. If you’re the type that is at all fascinated by the period of time or the history of firefighting, it’s worth a trip to stop by the New York City Fire Museum.

The Fire Museum is found on the western edge of the trendy Soho neighborhood in Manhattan, at 278 Spring Street near Varick and Hudson. This hip neighborhood is more well known as a locale for eateries and shopping boutiques than as a hot spot for museums in Manhattan, but if you’re having a shopping day in Manhattan and desire to split up the monotony with some history of New York City firefighting, all you have to do is go west on Spring Street and it’s easy to find the museum. The area is pretty simple to get to, as it is a major shopping center for people from all around the city, and a variety of public transportation service both the Houston and Spring St. stations nearby.

The most important draw of the New York City Fire Museum is the range of authentic firefighting items like clothing, equipment and trucks from as far in the past as the 18th century. Those items includeleather buckets, axes, lanterns, helmets and one of the first fire engines ever built, the 1790 “Farnam” engine. Rescue and respiring gear from the early 1900s is also on display, which gives a sense for just how deadly fires were before the appearance of modern firefighting equipment. The story of firefighting is told at the Museum of the FDNY, offering visitors the opportunity to understand what the life of a NYC firefighter was like and how it has changed through the years.

Additionally, a popular program for children held by the New York City Fire Museum mixes the history of firefighting with useful info to know in the if caught in a fire. This guided tour of the museum is provided by a retired NY City firefighter who can supplement the information in the museum with real experiences from his life fighting fires as the technology has changed. Kids are also trained on the proper procedures to follow in a pretend fire event. An apartment is set up to look as it may if there were a fire, and kids learn where to go, what to do and what not to do. Fire hazards are pointed out, and escape strategies are practiced.

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NYC Museums: NYC Fire Department Museum