Collection
The Fire Hall Museum & Education Centre’s collection includes a wide range of firefighting equipment including dress uniforms, bunker and turnout gear, helmets, life safety equipment, hand tools such as axes and jaws of life, ladders, fire hydrants, fire hose, communication gear such as radios and walkie talkies, fire extinguishers, alarm bells, and much more! A small selection of artifacts in the museum's collection are shown below - there's lots more!
The collection primarily relates to firefighting in the City of Cambridge and its predecessor communities of Galt, Preston and Hespeler, but the Museum also has an extensive collection of shoulder patches and many helmets from fire services across Ontario, Canada, the United States and cities from around the world.
For researchers, the Museum has an archive encompassing thousands of photographs, video tapes, newspaper clippings, documents, firefighter training materials, and library reference books about firefighting in Cambridge and beyond.
Some of the Artifacts in the Museum's Collection
Doug Johnston Fire Library
Thanks to the late Doug Johnston, a fire buff and friend of the museum, we have an extensive reference library of books about the history of firefighting, emergency service vehicles, and firematic collectibles. The Museum is not a lending library, but we’ll be pleased to make these resources available to people researching the history of firefighting. Please email us at info@firehallmuseum.ca to book an appointment.
