Flood damages world’s largest firefighting museum in Phoenix

Among the museum’s collection is Rescue 4, an FDNY firetruck that responded on 9/11 and a crew buggy from the Granite Mountain Hotshots.

PHOENIX — The Hall of Flame Museum, home to the world’s largest collection of firefighting history, is cleaning up after two powerful monsoon storms sent floodwaters pouring through its galleries.

The nonprofit museum, which sits near the Phoenix Zoo on the Tempe border, took what Executive Director Chuck Montgomery calls “a pretty severe hit.”

“One [storm] dropped four inches of rain on our acre roof, filled up our galleries with water, and we spent the better part of two weeks cleaning that out,” Montgomery said. “No sooner did we get that out and then we had the catastrophic storm that hit Tempe.”

The second storm, a confirmed microburst on Oct. 13, ripped off roofs in Tempe. 

The Hall of Flame — which spans nearly an acre under one roof — houses artifacts from around the world, including Japan, Europe, and South America. Some of its oldest pieces date back 300 years, including a fire engine built in London in 1725 by Richard Newsham.

Among the museum’s most moving pieces are Rescue 4, the New York City firetruck that survived 9/11 while its entire crew died as heroes, and a crew buggy from the Granite Mountain Hotshots—19 Arizona firefighters killed in the 2013 Yarnell Hill Fire.

Montgomery said he was inside the museum when the water began to rise.

“We made a valid attempt to try and get artifacts up and out of the water,” he said. “Obviously, you can’t do that with a fire truck, but we were able to get the smaller things up and tried to salvage them the best we could.”

The Hall of Flame is a metal building on a concrete slab and once the water rose above the concrete level, it began seeping directly through the walls. The east side of the building, which sits nearly five feet below street level, took the brunt of the damage.

“The infrastructure seemed to suffer the most,” Montgomery said. “We’ve got drywall repairs, rechanneling, and gutter work. We just had contractors out to give us estimates, and we’re looking at close to $100,000 in repairs.”

A few artifacts suffered water damage, but Montgomery said the museum’s most historically valuable pieces were spared. Still, he said the scale of the flooding was unprecedented for the museum, which has been in its current building since the 1970s.

“This building has never had that kind of a flood,” he said. “We thought we were prepared, but the storms this year were something else.”

The museum has launched an online fundraiser to help cover repair costs and they are also accepting donations in person. Montgomery emphasized that as a nonprofit, the museum depends on public support to stay open.

“We’re really, really thankful,” he said. “We have no other way to cover those expenses.”

In addition to repairs, Montgomery said they plan to improve drainage to prevent future flooding. Much of the museum’s runoff currently flows toward its parking lot, which proved insufficient during the record-breaking monsoon rains.

For now, the Hall of Flame is open to the public again, even as restoration work continues.

“We just want to thank the community for helping us out and getting us back on our feet,” Montgomery said. “We’d love for people to come in and take a look at our treasures here in the Hall of Flame.”

He added that his thoughts are also with nearby businesses and residents who were hit hard by the same storms.

“Our hearts go out to the businesses in Tempe that suffered greatly, the Phoenix Zoo across the street — they suffered great losses as well,” Montgomery said. “As a first responder, I spent my career responding to these kinds of incidents, and it’s humbling to be on the other side of it.”