Frederick County Fire & Rescue Museum

The Frederick County Fire & Rescue Museum and Preservation Society is located in the old Volunteer Ambulance Company Number 26 building in Emmitsburg, Maryland, 2 blocks north of the National Fire Academy. Their mission is to protect, preserve and display the artifacts of the history and tradition of the fire and rescue service of Frederick County, Maryland. With the purchase of the first fire engine by the City of Frederick in 1764, fire protection has been consistently provided to the citizens of the county. As you “walk through the history of the Frederick County Fire & Rescue Service,” you will find artifacts, pictures, and apparatus that tell the story of the individual companies and the many members of the county fire and rescue service.

Three of the featured pieces of apparatus are the “Old Lady,” a hand tub pumper originally built in 1821 for the Mechanical Fire Company Number 1 of Baltimore that served both the United Fire Company Number 3 in Frederick and the United Volunteer Fire Company of Libertytown. This pumper, rebuilt in 1847 by the Rogers Company of Baltimore, was recently restored in pumping condition and was used to pump water at the commemoration of the 1861 Frederick County Court House Fire.

The second featured pumper is the 1939 Ahrens-Fox piston pumper owned by the United Fire Company Number 3 in Frederick. This massive engine fully restored and operational and still seen at musters. Last, but not least, is the 1893 Hand drawn hose cart built in Baltimore by the Charles C. Halloway Company. This Hose cart was in-service from 1893 to 1926, originally purchased and proudly owned by The Independent Hose Company 1 in Frederick.

The facility is also home to the National Fire Heritage Center. The primary objective of the National Fire Heritage Center is to archive the history of the American Fire Service and Fire Protection Disciplines. The establishment of this facility facilitates historical review and research to approaches and methods to save human life from destructive fires and mitigate fire losses in the future. For more information on both facilities, visit their respective web sites at www.frederickmdfiremuseum.org and www.nationalfireheritagecenter.org.