In the neighborhood
Fanning the flames of history
A
lbany is rich in history, but there is one segment of the area’s story that has been, until recently, underrepresented at local museums. The Albany Firefighters Museum and one of its creators, Bill Tobler, aim to change that by sharing the city’s firefighting history through exhibits and artifacts dating back to 1773. “Every day we’re discovering something new,” Tobler said. “We always find something that juts off to another avenue to explore.” In December of last year, the museum opened its doors for an event that featured Albany City Historian Tony Opalka and invited visitors to take a trip back 240 years to the start of the volunteer firefighter period in
Albany and work their way back to the present day. It also featured a unique type of auction that included parts of a historic Albany fire truck, to raise money for the facility.
“There’s not too much literature written by the guys themselves,” Tobler said. “It’s a hit and miss.”
A lot of the physical history, like reports or stories, no longer It was one of the first public exist or are proving hard to events for the museum find. The reports filed since the pandemic. by the department However, Tobler were destroyed in by credits the a fire at Albany pandemic with City Hall in the helping the 1800s. Historimuseum gain ans have no way more information to tell how many about individual reports burned firefighters who with the building. served in the Albany Fire However, Tobler and Department. In the few times other active or retired firefightthat the museum was open to ers did catch a bit of luck. The the public in 2021, visitors from team found a ledger dating back as far away as Arizona and Los to 1801 that listed every Albany Angeles told stories of distant fire company in service until relatives who served. 1867. Approximately 10,000 in-
Cheyenne Wallace
dividual firefighters who served during that time are listed. “We’re trying to explore the individual firefighters,” Tobler said. “We find a little information on a person and try to develop that as far as we can.” The museum fundraised by auctioning off parts from the 1986 American LaFrance fire truck, Albany Engine No. 1. It was the first truck manufactured by the company in its Century 2000 series. The museum wanted to preserve as much of the engine as possible and figured that an auction would be the best way to raise money to do so. “We’re going to restore the cab and put that in the museum,” Tobler said.
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