The Catawba County Firefighters Museum is a hidden gem in Conover, NC. It is just open on Saturdays and Sundays as it is run by volunteers. Admission is free but they do take donations.
I was warmly greeted when I arrived at the stone building and informed that the museum is the largest firefighters museum in the state. I have been to most of them so I would agree with that.
I was given a guided tour of the museum but did have the option to go around on my own and did do that after my tour. But I wasn't going to turn down a guided tour by a retired firefighter 30 years experience.
The museum pays tribute to those who lost their lives in service. The bell in the lobby has part of a pole from a fire station in the county. The wood work around it is amazing and the attention to detail is there.
The museum is very organized into sections so you can see how each has changed and improved through time.
I didn't count how many fire trucks were on display but there are a bunch of older ones that were donated. The museum covers everything about firefighting though from the the ways fires were discovered before the current technology. Alarms used to be on the streets and if pulled it would print out a punch tape with so many holes and they could look up which box it was coming from. Then there were pagers and walkie talkies to phones and there are phones from different times in history. Then there was the setup for what was used like 911 is today.
Alarms, sirens and lights that were used are on display. Uniforms used to be like a rain jacket but have come along way since so they are lighter and keep the firefighters cooler. To dress a firefighter with everything needed runs about $4500 from boots to the helmet to pants to a vest to breathing equipment.
The first breathing equipment was turned by hand to pump in fresh air so thankfully the machines are more efficient now.
A large life net is on display where someone would need to jump into it. There are many ladders on display and the first ones were made of wood. The newer ladders are lighter and easier to maneuver.
Fire extinguishers are on display as well as heat detectors and smoke detectors. Sprinklers would start when a part of the mechanism melted. Then various tools used from axes to wrenches ton alarm that would buckets when they used to put fires out by passing the bucket.
The arson area of the museum was interesting as each fire is investigated to see where and how it started. So there is evidence of illegal fireworks to bombs made.
The classroom area had scrapbooks with articles and photos and then some objects that burned from landline phones to a box of crayons to an alarm that would have melted on the wall. I'm not sure if I was allowed to touch these items but I couldn't resist. There are robots used to teach children fire safety and they will talk to them and explain what to do.
I highly recommend a visit to the museum if...
Read more
Learn more insights from Wanderboat AI.
