The CDN Fire Fighters Museum

I had to get online so I got off the 401 in Port Hope.

Roaming the town for WiFi (ended up at the local library, my recommendation to you… fast, free, quiet) and found the Canadian Fire Fighers Museum – collecting, preserving and displaying the history of fire service in Canada with artifacts dating back to 1759.

First I showed it my new tool then went inside and met the owner Isabelle and her son, and my tour guide, Pat.  Say hi for me if you go, they’re great, and they operate the place almost solely on donations so please give.

september 28 2009

That truck on the right is a 1926 Gotfredson nicknamed ‘Rocky’ and has appeared in the movies Firehouse Dog and Amelia.  

Far left is the hose nozzle that saved Port Hope from burning down years ago.  In the middle are old-fashioned fire extinguishers; mix water and baking powder in them and tada, now you have a foam to fight with.  

Far right are filled with carbon tetrachloride woah, I know.  You threw them directly into the fire, and those ones there mounted on the wall and when the room was a certain temperature the metal brackets warped and propeled the glass off the wall and into the fire.

An old defiburlator, a commemorative hat and just like in the cartoons a circle of fabric you jump onto from high up.  

This was maybe the most interesting thing to me:

 
Insurance companies used to each have their own fire departments.  If your house was insured by ‘Ottawa Fire’ and the ‘London Mutual’ crew showed up first and saw you were with their compeition, they stood back and let it burn.  And if you were caught grabbing your neighbour’s insurance sign and swtiching them out, biiiig trouble.

Oh, probably should have started the post with this at the top, but of the three uniforms I like fire fighters the best because every time they’re on the scene first. 

For a map and directions how to get here (exit #464), and hours of operation, click here.