Hall of Flame Museum of Firefighting Needs Support after Two Floods

PHOENIX - After two storms devastated parts of the Greater Phoenix area, the Hall of Flame Museum of Firefighting needs support as they clean up damage they sustained while planning to fortify the structure from future storms.

Monsoon storms on Sept. 26 dumped about two inches of rain in the area, damaging the 70,000-square-foot museum. Weeks later, Hurricane Priscilla brought damage throughout the region, including dumping four inches of rain around the museum.

The Hall of Flame is home to over 130 fire apparatus and thousands of pieces of fire service memorabilia and artifacts, from the early days of both the U.S. and international departments.

As the September monsoon dumped rain in Phoenix, the water quickly began to rise around the museum, building up on the east side.

“As the water was seeping underneath the metal wall and across the slab underneath, we couldn't stop it,” Hall of Flame Executive Director Chuck Montgomery told Firehouse.com last week. “Then it became apparent that we have to get our collection up and out.” 

Montgomery said he was lucky that staff and volunteers were at the museum that day, because they were quickly able to react and begin salvage and mitigation efforts.

They began cutting up two-by-four and four-by-four pieces of lumber to lift whatever items they could above the water that was creeping in.

“Obviously, you don't lift a fire truck and we had hoped it would only be tire deep but we got to work lifting up other memorabilia and shelving,” Montgomery recalled.

Just three weeks later, on Oct. 13, Hurricane Priscilla caused devastating damage throughout the area, destroying dozens of buildings just blocks away in Tempe and causing catastrophic flooding in Globe, AZ, nearly 50 miles east.

Damage throughout the museum

Between the two storms, the main structure of the museum was damaged from the bottom up and the top down.

While the monsoon’s flooding impacted the ground level area and water seeped into the walls, the remnants of Hurricane Priscilla flooded the expansive roof of the building and caused extensive damage to the roof above the entry point.

Montgomery said 100 percent of the Hall of Heroes – which showcases the historical records from the Firehouse Heroism and Community Service Awards, now called Firehouse Michael O. McNamee Award of Valor and Thomas Carr Community Service Awards – was damaged. 

“The water was wall to wall in the Hall of Heroes and, the slight grade into the theatre and next museum gallery slowed that water from spreading too far,” he said. The carpeted floor was soaked, while walls were wet and the bases of several displays were caught in the flood waters.

“Fortunately, we had recently installed new carpet directly to the floor but the rugs were just soaking wet,” Montgomery said.

He took us through the museum where every fan they own was plugged in to move air around the facility.

All five galleries sustained damage, with Gallery four have 50 percent of the floor flooding and a quarter of Gallery 3’s floor being touched by water.

“I have to hand it to all of the folks that were here because how fast that we worked against that rain coming in, I think made a tremendous difference,” Montgomery said.  

He said that his volunteers have been working daily to wipe the apparatus to prevent any humidity from damaging the historic collection.

Costly repairs needed

Montgomery said a GoFundMe was established to not only cover the costs of water removal and cleanup, which he estimated to be nearly $12,000, but also to help with the costs to prevent flooding in the future.

The roof above the entryway needs to be replaced after sections collapsed after being soaked by water.

“We’re inspecting the roof, which spans one acre, to see if there are any other issues,” Montgomery said, adding that the museum’s roof is only eight years old. 

Outside the museum, they have been working to level the earth by removing dirt around the foundation to stop water from running down and pooling against the structure. He added that they are examining options to have drains to move water away from the building.

“We want to channel the water away from here correctly and it’s a very costly process,” he shared.

In a coordinated effort, they have been working on the museum’s gutter system to reroute some of the gutters further from the building.

Montgomery added additional costs will come from efforts to repaint and resurface areas of the museum.

The museum’s internet service has been spotty since the storms, and they are looking to see if water got into the building’s wiring network.

“To be able to continue to harden the structure and get everything else done, get the materials you need to get everything cleaned up, we appreciate the GoFundMe donors,” Montgomery said.  

As of Oct. 28, the GoFundMe account has raised $22,370 of the $100,000 goal.

Praise for helpers who limited damage

Montgomery praised the work of museum staff and volunteers, many who are retired firefighters or have dedicated decades of their lives to the fire service.

“We're responders and usually used to responding to other people's catastrophes,” Montgomery said. “But this time it was our own emergency, and they acted like first responders. No complaining, they went to work and, and we stayed as long as it took, and it took dozens of hours to work this through.”

“It’s a good thing firefighters are handy with the squeegee,” Montgomery said with a chuckle.

"If this storm would have occurred on one of our closed days or after hours, there's no telling how much damage would have occurred,” said Montgomery.