When you think of Peter Stuyvesant, you may think peg leg or the first mayor of New York (then called New Amsterdam, the name the Dutch used until they lost the city to the English in 1664). You probably won’t think of him as having a vested interest in fire fighting, but he did. Fire posed a devastating threat to the small settlement, so Stuyvesant took steps to prevent it: setting limits on materials and locations of new buildings, appointing fire wardens to inspect all chimneys, and heavily fining those whose chimneys didn't meet safety standards. The fines went to providing buckets, hooks, and ladders, the primary means of fighting fires until 1731, when New York bought its first two fire engines.

Fire also determined the pattern of the settlement that has developed into the city. The first Europeans to settle Manhattan hadn't originally selected the tip of that island, but were forced to land there in 1613 when their ship caught fire outside of New York Harbor. As the city developed and expanded, so too did the threat of fire and the mechanisms developed to keep it in check. You can learn all kinds of interesting American history and New York City history by learning about the Fire Department and its development-and there's no better or more fun place to do that than at the New York City Fire Museum.

You can't study the history of the Fire Department without learning something about the city's water supply and the technology used to harness it. Water has been and continues to be the cheapest and most effective way to fight fires-but New York's first fire hydrant, at William and Liberty streets, wasn't installed until 1808. Until the early 18th century, fires were fought with buckets.

Fire protection started with the Night Watchmen, who, acting as both police and firemen, wandered the settlement at night. If they saw a fire, or anything suspicious for that matter, they signaled the residents with a really noisy wooden rattle similar to the kind used to celebrate New Year's. Citizens responded by forming a line from the nearest water source to the site of the fire. They brought their fire buckets, creations of the local shoemaker, passing buckets full of water up the line to the fire and emptied buckets back down the line to be refilled. To keep their buckets safe from mistakenly being taken home by others in the fire line, each family would paint their bucket uniquely, often including symbols of their home country, profession, or interests. Few survive, but the museum has some, and each tells a special story about its owners.

In 1731 New York got its first two fire engines-small, heavy, and made of wood-which men pulled to fires. Amazingly, these men still had enough strength left to operate the pump, using a massive see-saw-like lever up and down. Four years later New York got its first fire department, which was all volunteer and consisted of a mere 35 members. You'd think that firemen would have gotten tired of hauling their engines to the fire and would use horses, but horse-drawn engines came along much later. And with all the hard work, you'd think firemen would be hard to find (the department was all volunteer, remember), but in fact, they were so eager to keep their "jobs" that some tried to murder the inventors of the horse drawn steam engine. Firemen feared that the new engine, which required fewer men to operate it, would eliminate jobs.

The horses that eventually pulled the new engines were very valuable to the firemen. To protect their horses from fire, they parked them a block away from the blazes, and to protect horses from stray cats and dogs, firemen started bringing along Dalmatians, a practice popular among British coachmen. In fact, the first ambulance in New York City was for fire horses, not victims of fire or firemen! The fire department was so horse crazy that in 1910 the Fire Commissioner ordered that all 1552 horses in the department who had formerly been assigned numbers be given names. Some departments even took pictures of their horses and hung the framed portraits next to portraits of themselves. If you look carefully on the first floor you can find portraits of Baby, Harry, Jim, Tom, and Sox.

Now, where does the water the firemen use come from? It's the same supply we use to drink, cook with, bathe in, etc. It was actually the fear of fire, not the desire for modern convenience, that led to the creation of the city's water supply. The first plan for supplying the city with water was co-written by Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, which might surprise you since from this guidebook's entry on Hamilton Grange we know that they weren't the best of friends.

One thing you definitely want to take a look at before you leave is the six-print series by Currier and Ives entitled "The Life of a Fireman" on the second floor. It includes a scene of rival fire companies racing to a fire. Rival fire companies, you might ask? Yes, back then a building would purchase insurance and put the insurance company's firemark on its street front. The insurance company was associated with different fire companies that would only put out fires in one of their insurance company's buildings. (One reason why the fire department was eventually consolidated and made a paid department.)

It gets worse. An insurance company would only pay the first company on the scene, leading to violence between competitors. Fire companies would take each other out before the last company standing would finally put the fire out. (Another reason why the fire department was eventually consolidated and made a paid department.) Also, since firemen weren't paid unless the building they were protecting actually caught fire, they'd let neighboring buildings catch fire before dousing them. (Yet another reason why the fire department was eventually consolidated and made a paid department.)

And while we're mentioning reasons why the fire department was eventually consolidated and made a paid department, we might mention Boss Tweed, one of the most infamous figures in New York City politics. A member of a fire company himself (for info, see Museum of the City of New York), he embezzled tons of fire department funds before dying in prison at 54. And as another aside, Boss Tweed wasn't the only wielder of political power in New York City that got his start as a volunteer fireman. Seven mayors got their start as firemen. Visit the museum and found out who they are.

Now, you probably wouldn't think to come to the New York City fire museum if you're interested in researching the Civil War. But you might want to, especially if you are writing about the 1st Battle of Bull Run, in which New York City firemen played a pivotal role. Called the Zouaves because their uniforms resembled those of the Zouaoua people of Algeria whose costumes the French had imitated and made famous in the French Foreign Legion Army, these volunteer firemen saw engagement the length of the war.

When Elmer Ellsworth paraded his elite military unit through the streets of New York in April 1861, half the fire department signed up to form the 11th New York regiment, popularly known as the 1st Zouaves. There was so much interest that additional volunteers, including many Brooklyn fire fighters and more Manhattan fire fighters, had to form a second regiment, the 73rd New York Infantry, AKA the 2nd Zouaves. Besides holding the Union line at First Bull Run, the Zouaves were known for their colorful and fanatical behavior. An eyewitness said: "Captain compared them to 'an old time fireman's fight' when rival companies used to battle for the honor of quenching a blaze." Enough said.

You can also come to the museum to learn about housing regulations and the evolution of fire laws. Starting with Peter Stuyvesant's fire ordinances back in the 1650s, fire codes and building regulations have changed greatly, often in response to horrific fires, which the museum has a lot of information on. You can learn about the legendary fire at the Triangle Shirt Waist Factory, in which poorly paid garment workers were crushed against doors that opened inward. Trying to escape the fire, many jumped to their deaths. After this fire, codes required that doors open outward. A more recent fire (midnight of December 18, 1975) at the Blue Angel nightclub resulted in seven deaths and L.L. 41, the "Blue Angel Law" that requires clubs to have the modern fire safety systems we have come to expect such as sprinklers, emergency lighting, and a central alarm system.

Wow-there's so much stuff that it's difficult to fit it all in: fire department fundraising, the development of the Brooklyn fire department, even fire department pay. Though the museum doesn't have any on-site research center, you should definitely go and check out their exhibits, which contain a wealth of information in a several different mediums - fire equipment, paintings, newspaper articles, certificates, prints, clothing, and a myriad of artifacts from punch bowls to speaking trumpets (what the chief used to give orders before radio and microphones) to department rosters. The information traces the history and development of the fire department from its start to the present.

You should also check out the building in which the museum is located, home to Engine 30 from 1905 until 1959. In the back of the first floor you can still see the pole the men slid down when responding to an alarm. Incidentally, one portion of the first floor is set aside as an apartment where the staff teach home fire safety and another is set aside as a memorial to testify to the brave deeds and selfless dedication of those fireman killed in the act of duty on 9/11.

The fire fighters who staff the museum run tours for large groups who make reservations in advance. You probably won't be able to do that, but you can always ask them questions about the exhibit-they are very friendly and very knowledgeable. For further research, the museum encourages you to try the New York Public Library, the Mand Library at the Fire Department training schools on Randall's Island, and the library at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Okay, one last fun fact: today you can tell whether a company is an engine company (they stretch the hose and fight the fire) or a truck company (they use the hook and ladder and other tools to enter the building) by looking at their helmet. On one helmet the emblem is red, on the other the emblem is black. Which one is which? You have to go the New York City Fire Museum to find out.

You can find some additional information about the collection online [http://www.nycfiremuseum.org/about/collections/index.php] but you should really go visit the museum. In the author’s humble opinion it is one of the most fun museums to visit in this guidebook.