American Museum of Firefighting
ON THE BOOK SHELF
By John M. Malecky August, 2022
American Museum of Firefighting
By R. Dennis Randall
Available from:
FSP Books & Videos
433 Main Street
Hudson, MA 01749
1-800-522-8528
E-mail: support@fire-police-ems.com
www.fire-police-ems.com
Price: $19.95
This is a hard cover book of excellent quality, measuring 9 ½ inches by 12 inches. It has 200 pages, 191 of which have color photos. The museum, located in Hudson, New York, is part of the Firemen’s Association of the State of New York. It is a first class “institution” with a collection occupying four buildings and encompassing the entire history of firefighting in America. Outside of a magnificent forward by Walt McCall, a well respected author and historian and an introduction equally magnificent by Denny Randall, the rest of the book has photos within five chapters. Many of the photos take up the full page and represent every aspect of firefighting from portraits, equipment, appliances, apparatus, helmets, builder’s plates, alarm boxes and registers, sirens, warning lights and more. There is a model of the 1916 FDNY Fireboat William J. Gaynor. Another interesting photo is a roll of riveted leather fire hose. This type of hose was so difficult to maneuver that there were handles also riveted on it every so many feet to make it easier to advance. There is no actual text to the book, but the reader can put together the stories and backgrounds of the photos just by the captions which are elaborate. Photos of apparatus from hand-drawn to motorized are plentiful. Included also are sectional photos of many of these trucks. There is even a beautiful 1974 Cadillac/Miller Meteor ambulance which had been gifted to the museum by a fire department. This is a quality book available at an inexpensive price. For anyone interested in the fire service it is well worth the purchase!
No information from the author.
