Cincinnati Fire Museum

Aside from trains, Hulk's next biggest obsession is fire trucks. He once told me that he wants to be a fire truck when he grows up.

December 2018

You read that right.
A fire TRUCK.
You go kid.

Whenever I hear about a touch-a-truck event, we are there. The township I live in has a big event every summer and we've gotten to be friends with some of the fire fighters.
We ❤ our fire department.

I don't remember how I heard about the Cincinnati Fire Museum, it was probably one of those websites that lists family activities in the Nasty Natti. But however I heard about it my thought process was essentially, "Fire Museum = Fire Trucks = We are going".
We have been three times now.
I have no idea why.

December 2018

The museum is in an old fire house in downtown. It's small and the times that we have been there has only been one staff member that spends her time in the really small gift shop that I mistakingly let Hulk walk through the first time we went. Bad choice. I spent the next forever trying to get him out of there without buying anything. I. Hate. Gift. Shops. Almost as much as I hate waiting in line. Probably more, actually.

Anyways, you start by going downstairs and turning right (at the bottom of the stairs). The first exhibit is a game-show style movie that was probably produced in the 80s and teaches fire safety for kids. It features Donald Duck. Hulk loves it for some reason. Probably because we don't have tv at home. He's deprived.

March 2019

Along the wall (too high for kids to see) are old pictures of fire fighters from Cincinnati. The next exhibit is of fire fighting in early Cincinnati. There's a pump that kids can play with but a lot of reading - which is fine, I enjoy reading educational material at museums. Five year olds do not. I do explain the displays to Hulk. There's an old trampoline for people to jump onto when exiting burning buildings from a high window, several hats and buckets, and pictures. One historical bit I found interesting was that early fire fighters used hollowed out tree trunks as pipes to supply water. The trunks were coated to prevent water from leaking out. When there was a fire, the fire fighters would dig to the trunk, tap into the water during the fire, and then plug the trunk up and burry it when finished. There's even an old pipe on display. Blew my mind.
As an Oregonian and grand-daughter of a Forestry Engineer I believe it is my birth right to be nerded out by trees.

December 2018

<-- You can see the tree in the background of this picture, so cool!













Moving on there's a spartan display of a house that provides information on how to keep your house safe from fires. There's also a cabinet with several toy fire trucks.

December 2018

Upstairs there's a cab from a fire truck that kids can sit in (Hulk's favorite), an old dispatch station (you can hear dispatch calls being made as you walk around the museum), several old fire trucks, uniforms, gear, and displays providing information about the evolution of the fire department in Cincinnati. One time we went there was an accordion player, the kids loved dancing to his music. The history is really interesting, particularly the ingenuity of early fire fighters to keep their departments running smoothly and efficiently to respond quickly to reports.


As I said, we've been back a few times. Which amazes me because it's such a small museum, it does not take that long to walk through, and it is not kid friendly. I would even be so bold as to say boring. Aside from the movie, the hand pump, and the cab - there's nothing for kids to do and everything else is no touching. Which Hulk respects but Little Viking Girl is like, "I'm going to touch what I want to touch and if you try to stop me I will scream. Try me." She's a punk like that. But Hulk's a wannabe fire truck so it fits with his interests even though I was bored out of my mind after the first time. I mentioned to one of our fire fighter friends that we went and he said that the next time we go we should work it out so that he can come with us so that he can provide more in-depth history. Maybe that's the secret.