I went to the Toledo Firefighters’ Museum on Saturday afternoon. Despite having lived in the Toledo area for a number of years (off and on), I have never visited it. Its housed in the Old Number 18 Fire House, on Sylvania Ave near Lewis. If you’re in the area on a Saturday afternoon, take the time to stop in, and talk to the historians there. Its free to visit (donations accepted), and it won’t take you long to walk through.
During the tour I was looking for some interesting subject matter to shoot, and there is a lot of it – from old hand pumped water trucks, to the various badges the chiefs wore (each one chose their own design). But out of all the exhibits, the one that really resonated with me was the 1971 gallery of firefighters, broken down by wards. I found a picture of my uncle Robert (“Bob”), looking quite a bit younger, but not much different from how he is now, is his dress uniform. Very cool!