Museum Report

Bob Noll: Oklahoma Firefighters Museum Archivist Gene Brown: Firefighters Museum Director

The year 2021 was a real trial for a lot of us in the fire service and for our families. However, for the Oklahoma State Firefighter’s Museum, 2021 was a terrific year. Some of the highlights are listed here for your review and comment. Staff has continued to work on the Seagrave Suburbanite pumper that was

Ret. Yukon FD donated to us by the Hollis FD. A hose basket was fabricated and installed, the motor received its final tweaking, peripheral items such as the gasoline tank was reinstalled and work continues on the wheels. Brendon Pierce has been a notable contributor of his skill and knowledge for this project. Many items in the museum whose provenance was vague have been identified. They have been marked with the current accession number system, photographed, and the vertical file either updated or created. Vague description of an item, lack of numbering and cloudy provenance remain a daily problem. Staff members have spent numerous hours organizing and documenting the fire helmets in the collection. The display in the North Hall has been revitalized and is very impressive. Greg Roberts was “Incident Command” on that project. Greg also continues to be involved in the museum’s photo collection. The gift shop area in the Main Hall has been rearranged, and the inventory there has increased dramatically. A ton of credit should go to museum staffer Lance Gill for his work there. Lance is also a great researcher and has proved to be invaluable in gathering information. We should be receiving a grant from the Oklahoma History Center sometime this month (January 2022). The prime mover on this effort is Andi Hernandez who is currently on leave pursuing a career goal in a parallel field. We expect her successful completion and return the first quarter of 2022. The museum’s intake -- that is the items that come in as donations -- was the best ever. The total number of donated items was 89. This was almost double the previous year’s activity. A private collector donated several parts of the city of Okmulgee’s fire alarm telegraph system. The four circuit power board with case, a fire alarm transmitter, a 15-inch gong, several battery jars, several fire alarm box movements, a 1-inch tape register and a working traffic light were accessioned. Another donor sent us his complete set of rappelling gear. This included ropes, harnesses, Prussic cord, carabiners, and numerous other related items. At least one item remains an enigma. The Beaumont FD museum in Beaumont, Texas, has a hand pumper that allegedly served somewhere in Oklahoma or in Oklahoma Territory. We’ve traced the hand pumper to a Norman, OK, fire station in approximately 1955. We can

Hello Everyone! Another year has come and gone. Here at the museum, we have had a good year. The biggest thing is the new 60foot X 120-foot shop. It will house some of our trucks to allow room for our public education area. Ret. The Village FD We have the shop dried in. We are working on getting it wired for lights and getting the plumbing in. We have to run the sewer, water and gas. The drive will come soon after. This is a very big step forward for your museum. Our goal is to have it up and running this spring. We are still working on the Hollis and Stuart trucks. Both are coming along very well. This past year, we were able to share our pictures with the Oklahoma Historical Society. It will allow all of our pictures to be searchable on the internet. The pictures have been processed and are being loaded to the web. All OSFA newspapers will be available, also. This should be completed soon. This has taken a lot of work, but it will be worth the wait. The museum gift shop has been expanded and has more items for sale. We are working hard to enhance your experience. We have one of the finest museums in the country. We also have the best memorial in the country. Please make time to visit the museum and memorial. Thank all of you for your support. Stay safe, Come see us! tell you where it went from there to the present. Prior to that, we don’t know. If anyone knows, please contact me. The museum continues to enjoy extraordinary support from the approximately 950 fire departments in the State Of Oklahoma and many, many retirees. We can’t say “Thank On Display at Oklahoma Firefighters Museum You” loud enough or often enough for your support. The Oklahoma State Firefighters I would be remiss if I didn’t Museum is currently upgrading its mention Museum Director Gene helmet collection, and many OklaBrown. We’d be nowhere near homa fire departments have helmets where we are today without his on display. continued support, encourage If you would like to donate a helment and his unselfish use of his numerous talents. One final note ... One of the many things we try to do at the museum is to serve as a resource for fire service memorabilia and apparatus collectors. Please contact us if you have any questions or need some information. Not saying we have all the answers, but our museum has a great network of other private collectors and fire service museums throughout the country. We’ll try to help you if we can.

met from your department, please drop it off at the museum. The helmet needs to be in good condition and should have the department name displayed on the outside of the helmet.

Los Angeles leather helmet (circa 1930s-1940s)

Tulsa Helmet (circa 1960s)