CLICK ABOVE FOR A GALLERY OF UNITS FROM THE MUSEUM >>
By Ron Heal
Bob Burns, president of the New Jersey Fire Museum, invites anyone interested in vintage fire apparatus to come and visit Sunday October 22 for its open house. The location is at 4 Polhemustown Road, Allentown, New Jersey. Hours for the open house are10:00 A.M. until 3:00 P.M. Admission is free.
This is the second year that the museum has offered the opportunity to see the largest collection of vintage fire apparatus in the state of New Jersey. Apparatus covers the hand-drawn, horse-drawn, early motorized, and motorized apparatus well into the 1970s. While the museum does not yet have the proper facility to display the apparatus and other fire department memorabilia, the site on Polhemustown Road does have a large storage building and an office building. Members of the museum move half of the apparatus collection outside, freeing up some room in the storage building to allow visitors room to move around and see the vintage rigs.
The New Jersey Fire Museum works with the New Jersey Department of Parks. The museum has identified a possible site that one day may be the location of a proper museum building that can show its fine collection of apparatus on a year-round basis.
The New Jersey Fire Museum was started in the 1960’s. For anyone who has been around the fire service in the northeast for a long time, it is not surprising to learn that the name Ernie Day is associated with the early days of the museum. Ernie was a long-time fire apparatus salesman and the owner of New Jersey Fire Equipment Inc. The names of fire apparatus that include Pirsch, Oren, and Great Eastern come to mind in the hundreds of fire trucks Ernie sold. His sales throughout the northeast sometimes would result in his taking in an old rig in trade. Sometimes Ernie would just come across a vintage piece of apparatus he just had to have for his collection. His “finds” went all the way back to the early days of firefighting in America. As far back as 1963 Ernie started to donate pieces of his collection to the state of New Jersey. In turn the state agreed to erect a proper building to place the collection on display. Over the years, much design work went into a plan that would see the completion of such a facility. Legislation was prepared to fund construction. The tragedy of 9/11 and the state of New Jersey’s financial difficulties pushed the museum aside. A not for profit 501C3 has been formed to support the museum, focusing on nongovernmental financing. A capital fund drive is currently underway to build a museum and education center to house Day’s collection and other pieces of fire apparatus that have been donated or on loan to the New Jersey Fire Museum.
When you look back at the time of 1933 to 1987—the years that Day had his New Jersey Fire Equipment Company and was selling fire trucks all over the northeast, this was a great time to find all those vintage pieces of fire apparatus. During that time, there was a period when many old fire trucks were run over the scales and sold for scrap. You wonder if by the year 2040 will we be able to find fire apparatus enthusiasts wanting to own a vintage 2000 fire truck and just how expensive that purchase might be. It is also interesting to see how much it costs to maintain and store a vintage fire truck. It is good to know that a group of fire apparatus enthusiasts in New Jersey are continuing their efforts to bring a proper facility to New Jersey to show their collection of vintage fire apparatus.
Here is a preview of just some of the more than 60 pieces of apparatus you can see on October 22. An 1860 Rumsey hand pumper; an 1886 Silsby steamer; a 1907 Waterous horse-drawn gasoline-engine-driven pump; a 1951 Ward LaFrance pumper; and a Jersey City water tower. Food and beverages will be available at the open house. Remember, the event is free. The New Jersey Fire Museum does encourage new dues-paying members, and memorial paving bricks are also available for purchase. If you are anywhere close to Allentown, New Jersey on Sunday, October 22, plan to stop at the museum collection.
If you or your fire department have an interesting piece of vintage fire apparatus, please contact me at: [email protected]. I want to hear your story and pass it on.
RON HEAL compiles the “Apparatus Showcase” and “Recent Orders” departments monthly in Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment.
