Hall of Flame

As mentioned before, we used to live down the street from the Hall of Flame Firefighting Museum. As much as we respect firefighters, the sign to the museum always made us giggle a little. We tried to convince nearly every out-of-town guest we had to visit the museum with us, but all declined. Well, we figured this was our last chance to go, and we didn't think it would take that long to get through.

Warning...this museum is much, much larger than you would think possible. It is more of a collector's warehouse, as they have literally hundreds of restored fire engines. After paying the $6 admission, we were handed a binder filled with descriptions for each of the exhibits. In addition to the fire trucks, the museum also has a collection of the insurance plates that people used to attach to the sides of their houses so that the fire company would know who had paid for the service. Basically, if you didn't pay, they would let your place burn down, unless another structure (belonging to a paying member) was threatened. The museum also has a collection of firefighter patches, and we found a bunch that were from Pennsylvania.

Of particular interest to Arizonans is an exhibit on fighting wildfires, and there is also a fire safety section for children. One of the coolest things they have is the old dispatcher equipment with a map of Phoenix that shows the location of firehouses. They have an actual scanner playing real-time calls which is kind of interesting to listen to.

If you are in the area, definitely check out this museum, located on East Van Buren Street near Papago Park.