New York City Fire Museum

New York City Fire Museum This renovated 1904 firehouse contains a comprehensive collection of fire-related art & artifacts from 18th century to the present.
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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.

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

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

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

New York's firefighters saved Washington. In the early days of the Civil War, New York's firefighters proved their coura...
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.

On this day in 1921, the U.S.T. Granite State caught fire and sank at her pier on the Hudson River, bringing an extraord...
05/23/2026

On this day in 1921, the U.S.T. Granite State caught fire and sank at her pier on the Hudson River, bringing an extraordinary chapter of American naval history to a close.

Originally laid down in 1819 as a 74-gun warship, she sat unfinished for nearly 40 years before being launched in 1864 as a Civil War supply ship. She later served the New York State Naval Militia as a training vessel for nearly three decades under the name Granite State, becoming a fixture on the Hudson before fire claimed her on May 23, 1921.

Even after being refloated and salvaged, the ship could not escape her fate. In July 1922 she caught fire a second time under tow near Massachusetts Bay and sank for good.

A vessel that outlasted a war ended on the water she once called home.

Built in 1854 at 126 East 14th Street on the corner of Irving Place, the Academy of Music was New York City's premier op...
05/21/2026

Built in 1854 at 126 East 14th Street on the corner of Irving Place, the Academy of Music was New York City's premier opera house and the cultural home of the city's elite. Seating 4,000 patrons beneath its ornate Italian Renaissance architecture, its stage saw the American debuts of Rigoletto, La Traviata, and Carmen before the Metropolitan Opera ever existed.

On the night of May 21, 1866, fire tore through the building. Believed to have been deliberately set, the blaze spread to neighboring structures and engulfed the NYU Medical School next door. Two firefighters lost their lives in the response, and eighteen others were trapped inside the Academy before being rescued.

Irreplaceable collections spanning half a century were lost in the flames.
The Academy was rebuilt but never fully recovered. By 1886 it had shifted to variety shows and popular entertainment, and in 1926 it was demolished to make way for what stands on that corner today: the landmarked Con Ed Building.

Next time you pass 14th Street and Irving Place, you are standing on the site of New York's first great opera house.

June 25 is coming fast and we need your support.The New York City Fire Museum's 6th Annual Golf Outing takes place Thurs...
05/21/2026

June 25 is coming fast and we need your support.

The New York City Fire Museum's 6th Annual Golf Outing takes place Thursday, June 25, 2026 at The Woodside Club in Syosset, NY. This year we are proud to honor Salvatore J. Cassano, 32nd Commissioner of the FDNY, a man who gave 45 years of his life to protecting New York City.

After more than two years of unexpected closure, this outing is our most critical fundraiser of the year. Every dollar raised goes directly toward preserving our collection, delivering fire safety education, and getting the doors of this museum back open.

Here is how you can help:

Play. Register as an individual golfer or bring a foursome. Sponsorships at every level are still available. Can not make it? Donate a raffle prize. Products, services, experiences, and gift cards are all welcome and prizes are being accepted through June 10.

Visit https://www.nycfiremuseum.org/2026golfouting, view sponsorship packages, and access our raffle prize wish list.

Ten alarms. Two photographs. A piece of history.These official FDNY photographs from January 23, 1985 capture the 10th a...
05/19/2026

Ten alarms. Two photographs. A piece of history.

These official FDNY photographs from January 23, 1985 capture the 10th alarm fire at 524 West 43rd Street in Manhattan. Engine 34's Mack truck stands center street as towering flames and cascading sparks light up a winter night in Midtown.

What makes these images even more remarkable is who took it. Firefighter Richard S. Smiouskas of Ladder 169, detailed to the FDNY Forensic Photo Unit, documented this scene firsthand, on the job, in the middle of one of the biggest fires of the year.

This colored prints are part of the NYC Fire Museum permanent collection and serve as a powerful reminder that history is not always recorded from a safe distance.

Every Monday we will spotlight a piece from our collection. What would you like to see next?

This week we recognize the individuals who show up when every second counts.EMS Week 2026 is a moment to honor the param...
05/17/2026

This week we recognize the individuals who show up when every second counts.

EMS Week 2026 is a moment to honor the paramedics, EMTs, and emergency medical professionals who work alongside firefighters every single day to save lives across this city and this country. Their work happens fast, under pressure, and often without the recognition it deserves.

To every first responder who has ever answered a medical call, held someone's hand in a crisis, or made a split second decision that changed the outcome, thank you. New York City is safer because of you.

Happy EMS Week from all of us at the NYC Fire Museum. 🚑

Before they answered their first alarm, they earned it here.The Rock. The FDNY Fire Academy on Randalls Island has been ...
05/15/2026

Before they answered their first alarm, they earned it here.

The Rock. The FDNY Fire Academy on Randalls Island has been forging New York City's bravest for generations. This throwback photo captures a probie class from 1979 in the middle of the physical training that every firefighter must complete before ever setting foot inside a firehouse.

The drills change. The standards evolve. But the commitment to excellence that begins at the Academy has never wavered.

To every Probie who has come through those gates, and every veteran who remembers the day they did, this one is for you.

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

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