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New York City Fire Museum

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New York City Fire Museum

This renovated 1904 firehouse contains a comprehensive collection of fire-related art & artifacts from 18th century to the present.
(1521)

Visitors explore firefighting history from buckets to motorized apparatus, from a volunteer to professional service. The New York City Fire Museum is the official museum of the FDNY and houses one of the nation's most prominent collections of fire related art and artifacts from the 18th Century to the present. Among its holdings are painted leather buckets, helmets, parade hats and belts, lanterns

and tools, Volunteer-era hand pumped fire engines, horse drawn vehicles and early motorized apparatus.

06/08/2026

Their names are unknown. Their courage was not.

Two firefighters. Full gear. Jerome Avenue, the Bronx. June 7, 1981.

We do not know their names. The photo record simply notes two unidentified firefighters operating at the scene of a fire at 1356 Jerome Avenue. But the image speaks clearly enough.

By 1981 the Bronx had endured more than a decade of relentless fire activity, one of the most demanding periods in FDNY history. The firefighters who answered those calls did so with the same resolve as every generation before and after them. Most of them did it without recognition, without their names attached to a photograph, without anything more than the knowledge that the job got done.

From the Fire Museum collection. Photo ID: 2015.0101

06/05/2026

Firefighters do not just save lives inside burning buildings. They protect the water we drink, the air we breathe, and the land beneath our feet.

On World Environment Day, the NYC Fire Museum recognizes the FDNY's role in hazardous materials response, chemical spill containment, and environmental emergency operations across all five boroughs. From fuel spills on the waterfront to chemical incidents in commercial buildings, FDNY HazMat units are often the first and last line of defense.

Protecting New York means protecting all of it.

Happy World Environment Day from the Fire Museum.

Year and members in photo unidentified. Object ID: 2017.2445

06/04/2026

8,800 gallons per minute. Eight separate water sources at once. One machine.

In 1965, the FDNY Super Pumper entered service and became the most powerful land-based fire pumping unit the world had ever seen. Designed by naval architect William Francis Gibbs and built by Mack Trucks for $875,000, it was powered by a 2,400 horsepower Napier Deltic 18 cylinder diesel engine connected to a DeLaval six-stage centrifugal pump capable of moving 8,800 gallons of water per minute at 350 psi. For context, a standard FDNY engine at that time pumped between 750 and 1,000 gpm.

The Super Pumper was born out of necessity. On April 20, 1963, a day known as Black Saturday, over 80 fire companies and 1,300 firefighters responded to brush and lumber fires across Staten Island during a severe drought. The lack of water supply nearly overwhelmed the department. Gibbs, who had already designed FDNY's legendary fireboat Fire Fighter, proposed a land-based solution with the same massive pumping capacity.

Housed in a specially built station in Brooklyn at the foot of the Manhattan Bridge, the Super Pumper and its full system of tenders responded to more than 2,200 calls across all five boroughs over 17 years. It was retired on April 24, 1982.

This image from our collection captures the Super Pumper in 1965.

Now we want to hear from you: What is your favorite piece of FDNY apparatus, past or present? Drop it in the comments.

06/03/2026

Clyde said it best. Shoot for Baskets, Not False Alarms!

Tonight the Knicks play Game 1 of the NBA Finals and the NYC Fire Museum is ready.

This vintage poster featuring Knicks legend Walt "Clyde" Frazier was produced by the FDNY Community Relations Bureau under Fire Commissioner John T. O'Hagan and Mayor Abraham D. Beame. Art by Bill Ealb of the New York Daily News.

Frazier, wearing his iconic number 10, helped bring the Knicks two championships in 1970 and 1973. The FDNY knew that if anyone could get New Yorkers to listen, it was Clyde.

Tonight the Knicks go for another one. Let's go New York!

From the Museum's permanent collection. Object ID: 2018.1543

06/03/2026

Happy World Bicycle Day from the New York City Fire Museum. And yes, we have something in the collection for this one!

This lapel pin from 1896 belonged to the New York Fireman's Cycle Club, a cycling organization made up of FDNY members formed at the height of the 1890s bicycle craze. The design is unmistakably FDNY: a classic Maltese Cross with a blue enamel "F" set inside a spoked bicycle wheel. N.Y.C.C. is inscribed on the cross.

The pin was designed by Dr. Harry Mortimer Archer, who would go on to become the chief surgeon of the FDNY, attending fires by horse, bicycle, and later his personal Locomobile outfitted with a bell and Maltese cross. He dedicated his life to New York's Bravest and the Dr. Harry M. Archer Medal, one of the department's most distinguished honors, bears his name to this day.

06/02/2026

23 days. That is all we have left.

The NYC Fire Museum's 6th Annual Golf Outing takes place Thursday, June 25 at The Woodside Club in Syosset, NY, honoring Salvatore J. Cassano, 32nd Commissioner of the FDNY.

We still need golfers, sponsors, and raffle prizes. As a self-funded nonprofit that has been closed for more than two years, this is our most important fundraiser of the year. Every dollar raised goes directly toward preserving FDNY history, delivering fire safety education, and reopening the museum.

Here is what we need right now:

Golfers. Register as an individual for $750 or bring a foursome for $2,800.

Sponsors. Packages from $300 tee signs to $15,000 Platinum level with two foursomes and full event branding.

Raffle prizes. Products, gift cards, services, or experiences. Prizes accepted through June 18. You can also shop our Amazon Wish List and have items shipped directly to us.

Visit https://www.nycfiremuseum.org/2026golfouting to register, sponsor, and donate.

05/28/2026

New episode out now!

In 1970, the U.S. was facing a nationwide nursing shortage. The solution? FDNY and NYPD firefighters and officers going back to school. 54 firefighters enrolled in an accredited nursing program at Hunter College's Bellevue School of Nursing, meeting three nights a week while staying on the job full time. Their 1973 graduation made national news and helped challenge the idea that nursing was only a woman's profession.

This one is a fascinating piece of FDNY history that goes well beyond the firehouse.

🎙️ www.nycfiremuseum.org/throwbackfdny

05/27/2026

On this day in 1911, Coney Island's grandest amusement park burned to the ground just hours before its Memorial Day opening.

It started at 1:58 AM in the Hell Gate attraction, when a worker accidentally knocked over a bucket of hot pitch. Within moments the flames were in the rafters. Chief Kenlon called in a rare double-nine alarm, sending 33 fire companies racing from across Brooklyn, some from as far as eight miles away. Low water pressure crippled the response, forcing FDNY to bring in fire boats to battle the blaze from the sea.

The fire burned so intensely that bullets exploded from shooting galleries and the glow was visible for miles. Eighty animals perished in the flames. Six premature babies being housed in the park's incubator exhibit were rescued.

By sunrise, 15 acres of Coney Island had been reduced to blackened ruins. Dreamland never reopened. Today the New York Aquarium stands where this million-light wonderland once was.

05/25/2026

On Memorial Day, the NYC Fire Museum pauses to honor every individual who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to others.

We remember the firefighters who ran toward the danger so others could run from it. We remember the first responders who answered the call knowing the risk and went anyway. We remember the families who waited, and the colleagues who carried on in their names.

Their courage lives in every alarm answered, every life saved, and every firefighter who puts on the gear and walks out the door.

We will never forget.

From all of us at the NYC Fire Museum.

05/25/2026

New York's firefighters saved Washington.

In the early days of the Civil War, New York's firefighters proved their courage far from home.

When fire broke out near Willard's Hotel in Washington DC in early May 1861, it was the New York Fire Zouaves who stepped in to save one of the capital's most prominent landmarks. The regiment, made up almost entirely of New York City volunteer firefighters and led by Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, took command of the scene alongside the DC fire brigade.

They formed human pyramids on each other's shoulders, scaled lightning rods, and climbed into windows. In two hours they saved the entire structure.

The feat was captured in Harper's Weekly and became one of the defining images of New York's firefighting legacy beyond the five boroughs. Ellsworth himself would become the first notable Union casualty of the Civil War just days later.

New York's bravest have always answered the call, wherever it comes from.

Address

278 Spring Street
New York, NY
10013

Opening Hours

Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	10am - 5pm
Friday	10am - 5pm
Saturday	9am - 5pm
Sunday	9am - 5pm

Telephone

(212) 691-1303

Website

http://www.nycfiremuseum.org/

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