The Hall of Flame Museum Burns Bright after 60 Years

Phoenix is one of the hottest cities in the United States is also home to one of the hottest fire service historical attractions.

Billing itself as "The World’s Largest Firefighting Museum," The Hall of Flame may have merit to this claim.

With five galleries covering 35,000 square feet, and a similar space assigned to education, storage, restoration, education and administration, the museum boasts thousands of artifacts, including more than 130 wheeled vehicles tracing the fire service profession back to the colonial days.

From its humble beginnings in a private garage space, today’s enterprise maintains the focus of its founding organization, the National Historical Fire Foundation. The foundation is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit: the collection, preservation and exhibit of objects relating to the history of firefighting, fire safety education, and the recognition of firefighters who have died in the line-of-duty or who have been recognized for acts of heroism.

The Hall of Flame is unique in that it is a membership supported-organization, receiving no revenue from municipal sources.

Firehouse talked with Executive Director Chuck Montgomery and Curator Mark Moorhead to provide our readers with additional insight as to the past, present, and future of the Hall of Flame as the organization celebrates its 60th anniversary. 

Chuck’s path in life closely mirrors the museum's. While born in the Midwest the same year as its inception, he moved to Arizona, retiring as deputy chief of the Glendale Fire Department.

This makes him the first fire official to hold the position of executive director of the museum. 

Firehouse: How did the Hall of Flame get started?

The Hall of Flame Museum of Firefighting began in 1961. In 1955 the founder, businessman George Getz, Jr., was given a 1924 American-LaFrance pumper, which had been in service in Oshkosh, WI, as a Christmas gift from his wife and son. This inspired a lifelong fascination with firefighting and the fire service. By ’61 he had collected enough pieces to start a small museum in Kenosha. A few years later the Getz family business relocated to the Phoenix area, and the museum has been in its current spot in east Phoenix, near the Phoenix Zoo, since the early ‘70s.  

Firehouse:  You are billed as the largest firefighting museum. Can you elaborate? 

Although there are hundreds of fine fire museums in the U.S. and internationally, we believe we are the largest in area as well as in the size of our collection (more than a third of which is in our storage facility); we also believe our collection has broadest scope, both historically and geographically. 

Firehouse: What is the oldest piece in your collection? 

The oldest larger piece in the collection is a Newsham hand pumper from England, built in 1725 (about seven years before the birth of George Washington, as we point out to kids on the tours). 

Firehouse: The newest? 

The “youngest” vehicle currently on display at the Hall of Flame is a Ford F-750 transport buggy from Prescott, AZ; it was one of two used to carry the Granite Mountain Hotshots who died in the Yarnell Hill Fire. It’s the only vehicle we have from the 21^st century (it belongs to County Fire Museum of Los Angeles, where its partner buggy is now on display). The youngest vehicle that is actually owned as part of our collection is the 1996 Saulsbury from FDNY Rescue 4 in Queens, which responded to the 9/11 call at the World Trade Center, where the entire crew of which was lost. 

Firehouse: The most interesting or rare? 

That’s a tough choice, but one candidate would certainly be our 1882 Howe rotary sweep pumper, designed to be powered by horses walking in a circle around it attached to wooden arms. Despite the excellence of the design, few were made and very few survive; reportedly men were usually used instead of horses and disliked being in that beast of burden role. 

Firehouse: Besides apparatus, what other important pieces do you possess?

Among our international helmet collection, we are fortunate to have two that belonged to the famous FDNY medical officer Dr. Harry M. Archer (watch video below). 

Firehouse: If someone wants to donate artifacts, how can they? 

Call us (602-275-3473) or email us. We greatly appreciate people thinking of us, but owing to space issues we have to be a bit more selective than we used to as to what we can accept. Still, we’re always curious to see what people have, so please get in touch. 

Firehouse: Discuss how the Hall honors fallen firefighters? 

We consider it an important part of our mission here. We have a Hall of Heroes in which we try to record the line of duty deaths of American firefighters (we limit the scope to American firefighters not because we don’t honor international firefighters but simply because language and reporting challenges would make tracking them overambitious for us). This part of the museum includes memorials honoring the 9/11 firefighters and Granite Mountain Hotshots as well as a database of information on thousands of individual firefighters who died in the line of duty. 

Firehouse: How can agencies assure that their heroes are included?

Departments can access our database directly at the museum, or call us at (602) 275-3473, and we’ll be happy to assist.

Firehouse: What are folks’ biggest misconceptions about the Hall of Flame? 

I can speak for myself on this one; I suspected the place might be a bit of a tourist trap when I first heard of it. I learned otherwise as soon as I visited it. Although as our punning name suggests, we don’t take ourselves too seriously and we aren’t as formal as some museums, we do try to be a genuine history museum. We’re well understood locally to be a fun place for kids, but it may not be understood that we’re also a fascinating place for adults (though not always at the same time as the kids). 

Firehouse: Can you share your future plans?

There are still gaps in our collection, of course—we don’t have a Ward LaFrance, for instance—and we’ll fill them as opportunity arises, but we’re in a period of slowing active acquisition since the passing of our beloved restorer Don Hale. Right now, we’re looking to expand our educational programs.  

Additional information about the Hall of Flame, including hours, location, and special events can be found at their website, www.hallofflame.org.