The Hall of Flame Museum of Firefighting

HTML clipboard   The Hall of Flame Museum of Firefighting is an absolute gem in the desert, and it can be found right in the heart of Phoenix. It may not be the best known museum in the area, and it isn't very visible from any major street, but the Hall of Flame Museum of Firefighting is certainly worth finding if you want to see the largest collection of firefighting apparatus in the United States   The Hall of Flame Fire Museum and the National Firefighting Hall of Heroes, located in Phoenix, Arizona, has almost an acre of fire history exhibits, with over 90 fully restored pieces of fire apparatus on display, dating from 1725 to 1969. Most of the exhibits are American, but we also have pieces from England, France, Austria, Germany, and Japan. The Hall of Flame sponsors the National Firefighting Hall of Heroes, which honors firefighters who have died in the line of duty or who have been decorated for heroism. The Hall also includes a gallery dedicated to the history of wildland firefighting in the United States. The Hall of Flame is sponsored by the National Historical Fire Foundation, which was established in 1961 by George F. Getz, Jr. The Hall is in Phoenix, Arizona at 6101 East Van Buren St. It is open Monday through Saturday from 9 to 5, and Sundays from Noon to 4. There are six galleries at the Hall of Flame Museum of Firefighting, incorporating over 130 wheeled pieces (fire engines and equipment) and over 10,000 smaller objects, all of which relate to the history of firefighting.   The Hall of Flame Museum of Firefighting has a library with more than 6,000 holdings, including books, journals, magazines, manuals, and trade catalogues. The library also contains over 50,000 graphics, most of which are photographs. Whats New: We have a special addition to the National Firefighting Hall of Heroes -- a memorial to the firefighters and policemen who lost their lives in the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The exhibit is a beautifully decorated full size model of a quarter horse pony created by a public arts project called the Trail of Painted Ponies. The horse was on display at LaGuardia Airport in New York for two years. The project has donated the horse to the Hall of Flame and it will be on permanent display. The exhibit, 9 feet high and eight feet long, is depicted below.   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. It is also linked to an informative and thought provoking article by Wildland Firefighter Ray Kresek about the 2000 Wildfires in the Northwest. Although critical of the manner in which many of the fires were fought, Ray makes a number of achievable, practical suggestions for leaders of the U.S. Forest Service.   Copies of the Hall of Flame's Newsletters are now available on this site. To view the Newsletters go to the Home Page and click on the Newsletter titles, or go the the Table of Contents Page and click on Newsletter Page.   Many of the photos on the website have been replaced by higher resolution photos. Most people now have internet connections and processors that can accommodate higher resolution pages that require a lot of pixels. Our original photos were inserted when broadband width was much narrower. They were not large files, but their quality suffered.   Photos and citations of the Firehouse Magazine Rescue Award winners for 1997, 1998,1999,2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003. The same information as that which appears on the walls of the Hall of Heroes Gallery. Almost 600 firefighters are recognized. Go to the Hall of Heroes Page to see these firefighters. Citations and photos of firefighter heroes for 2004, 2005 and 2006 are in the process of being added to this website.   In December of 2001 we formally opened a permanent memorial exhibit to the 343 New York City firemen who died in the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Almost a thousand people attended the dedication. Pictures of the ceremony and the exhibit are on the National Firefighting Hall of Heroes page.   Photos of almost all of the wheeled pieces in the exhibit. Go to the Hand and Horse Drawn Page or the Motorized Page to see these photos. Many of these photos have been replaced by upgraded versions with higher resolutions.   In 2003 the museum began to digitally restore a selection of high quality but damaged photographs from the archives. We have also begun to catalogue the thousands of photo negatives of Chicago fires taken by Chicago newspaper reporters over the years 1920 - 1984. Some of the restored photos as well as a sampling of Chicago scenes are displayed in the graphics page here: Graphic Objects   A new page describes the many education programs at the museum. Local teachers and parents: check out this page and schedule a tour!   The museum hosts many after hours receptions and dinners. If you are hosting an event in the Phoenix area, give us a call. Click on Rental of Galleries for After Hours Events for additional information.   Contact: The Hall of Flame is a registered trademark 6101 East Van Buren St., Phoenix, AZ 85008, (602) 275-3473 (Voice) or  602-275-0896 (Fax)

 

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