The Building

Welcome to The Fire Hall Museum and Education Centre.

Our Fire Museum is free, but we very much rely on the support of the public. If you feel inclined to donate, we encourage you to Ring the Bell and donate cash into the red box under the Bell or you can etransfer to the address on the Red Donation Box. Thank you very much!

Now back to the tour:

This building was originally the home of the Galt Fire Department and was in service from 1898 to 1979. Basically, the Museum is divided into two sections. First in the front grey floored area are the Tools of the Trade. Secondly, in the back carpeted area, you’ll find the history of the Cambridge fire service.

Just for your information: The City of Cambridge is made up of the 3 former communities of Galt, Preston and Hespeler. They were amalgamated in 1973 to form the City of Cambridge.

Originally, there were horses, wagons and fire engines in this station. The wagons were lined up ready to go at the front of the building. The horses were kept in stables in the back of the building. When the alarm was sounded the stable doors were thrown open, the horses were trained to quickly go in front of the fire wagons. The harness would drop down from the ceiling onto the horses. The firefighters were able to respond out the front doors in less than one minute from receiving the alarm. The Galt Fire Department last used horses in 1928.

Later in the tour you will see pictures representing the change from horses to fire trucks under the Galt section on the back left wall of this building.

Take a minute to try on actual Firefighter gear located to the right of the front door.

You may notice there is a variety of colours of Firefighting gear.

Generally, in the fire service the different colours indicate the different ranks or levels of authority.

Children’s Area.

You also may have noticed on the floor a big green mat with toy vehicles. Beside it we have tables and chairs. This is our Children’s area. We encourage children of all ages to play on the mat with the emergency vehicles. Or colour at the tables. Or learn many fire safety tips from the many Firefighting related children’s books.