Tuesday 24 September 2013

NYC Museums: Fire Department Museum

By Tia Dryer


The NY Fire Department has a proud and exalted history of saving lives and keeping New Yorkers safe, and the New York City Fire Museum celebrates that history. The location calls to mind early 20th century New York City at the boom time of its success, when quick city expansion and meteoric rise in the immigrant population made firefighting more significant than ever. The New York Fire Department Museum looks in particular at firefighting and how it has evolved through the years to what it's become today. From painted buckets and leather belts to boots and helmets and even old-fashioned equipment, the Museum of the FDNY has everything you could possibly want to see if you're interested in the way the FDNY has changed and evolved over the years. If you're the type that is at all keen on the golden era or the history of firefighting, you can stop by the New York City Fire Museum.



The Fire Museum is situated on the western edge of the fashionable Soho neighborhood in Manhattan. This hip neighborhood is more well generally known as a locale for restaurants and shopping boutiques than as a hot spot for museums in Manhattan, but if you're having a shopping day in Manhattan and need to stir up the monotony with some history of New York firefighting, all you've got to do is go west on Spring Street and you will find the museum. The neighborhood is quite easy to get to, as it is a major mall for people from all around NYC, and a variety of public transportation service both the Houston St. Station and the Spring St. Station nearby.

The biggest draw of the New York City Fire Museum is the range of historical firefighting items like clothing, equipment and trucks from as far in the past as the 18th century. Those items includelanterns, axes, leather buckets, 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 show, which gives a sense for just how perilous fires were before the arrival of modern firefighting apparatus. The story of firefighting is told at the Museum of the FDNY, offering visitors the history and artifacts that help to understand what the life of a NYC firefighter was like and how it has changed through the years.

Also, a favored program for children held by the New York City Fire Museum combines the history of firefighting with useful information to use in the the event of a fire. This professionally led tour of the museum is supplied by a retired New York City firefighter who can supplement the information in the museum with real experiences from his life fighting fires as the technology has changed. Youngsters are also trained on the correct procedures to follow in case of a fire event. A flat is set up to look as it'd if there were a fire, and youngsters learn where to go, what to do and what to avoid. Fire risks are pointed out, and escape strategies are practiced.




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