By Tia Dryer
The New York Fire Department has a proud and exalted history of saving lives and keeping New Yorkers safe, and the New York Fire Museum celebrates that history. The location calls to mind early 20th century New York 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 specifically at firefighting and how it has changed through the years to what it's become today. From hand painted leather belts and buckets to helmets and boots and even old-fashioned hardware, the Museum of the FDNY has everything you could hope to work out if you have an interest in the way in which the FDNY has evolved and changed over time. If you're the type that is at all interested in the golden era or the history of fire fighting, 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 fashionable Soho neighborhood in NYC. This hip neighborhood is more well generally known as a locale for cafes and shopping boutique shops than as a hot spot for museums in Manhattan, but if you are having a shopping day in the city and desire to split up the monotony with some history of New York firefighting, all you have got to do is go west on Spring Street and you will find the museum. The area is relatively simple to get to, as it's a major mall for people from all around New York City, and a range of buses and trains service both the Spring St. and Houston St. stations nearby.
The largest draw of the New York City Fire Museum is the range of historical firefighting items, clothing, and trucks from as far back as the 18th century. These items includeaxes, leather buckets, lanterns, helmets and one of the first fire engines ever built, the 1790 "Farnam" engine. Rescue and oxygen breathing hardware from the early 1900s is also on display, which gives a sense for just how deadly fires were before the advent of modern firefighting equipment. The development 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 evolved through the years.
Also, a popular program for children held by the New York City Fire Museum encompasses the history of firefighting with handy tips to know in the in case of a fire. This professionally led tour of the museum is offered 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. Kids are also trained on the correct procedures to follow in a pretend fire event. A house is set up to look as it might if there were a fire, and youngsters learn where to go, what to do and what to avoid. Fire perils are identified, and escape methods are practiced.
The Fire Museum is found on the western edge of the fashionable Soho neighborhood in NYC. This hip neighborhood is more well generally known as a locale for cafes and shopping boutique shops than as a hot spot for museums in Manhattan, but if you are having a shopping day in the city and desire to split up the monotony with some history of New York firefighting, all you have got to do is go west on Spring Street and you will find the museum. The area is relatively simple to get to, as it's a major mall for people from all around New York City, and a range of buses and trains service both the Spring St. and Houston St. stations nearby.
The largest draw of the New York City Fire Museum is the range of historical firefighting items, clothing, and trucks from as far back as the 18th century. These items includeaxes, leather buckets, lanterns, helmets and one of the first fire engines ever built, the 1790 "Farnam" engine. Rescue and oxygen breathing hardware from the early 1900s is also on display, which gives a sense for just how deadly fires were before the advent of modern firefighting equipment. The development 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 evolved through the years.
Also, a popular program for children held by the New York City Fire Museum encompasses the history of firefighting with handy tips to know in the in case of a fire. This professionally led tour of the museum is offered 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. Kids are also trained on the correct procedures to follow in a pretend fire event. A house is set up to look as it might if there were a fire, and youngsters learn where to go, what to do and what to avoid. Fire perils are identified, and escape methods are practiced.
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