Calif. Fire Museum, Donated Fire Apparatus

From time to time, on this blog, I will feature some of the fire apparatus which has been donated to our fire museum over the past few years. To date we have 12 fire engines and 3 hose carts donated for our future fire museum / safety center. The apparatus will be used for a number of different exhibits and the teaching of fire history related to California & Orange County fire services.

The first fire engine featured is this 1957 Dodge/Howe wildland unit. It is four-wheel drive with a 500 gallon water tank, 500 GPM front mount pump, open cab. It originally served the Fallbrook Fire Dept., now called the North County Fire District in San Diego County, CA. It was donated to CFM in June of 2004 and since then has been stored and maintained by Mike McDonald in Valley Center, CA. It has appeared in many special events and parades in the local area including some events in it's home town of Falbrook, CA. It is a unusual rig and one we will be proud to display in our fire museum / safety center, once we have our building, hopefully at the Orange County Great Park.

OCFHS & CFM Merger Underway

OCFHS & CFM Merger Underway

On May 14 the Orange County Fire Historical Society and the California Fire Museum sat down with an attorney to begin the process of merging the two organizations into one. The attorney laid out the proposed timeline for the merger. It is expected to take about three months if all goes well. Some of the items the two organizations need to decide on will include: A new combined board, President, Vice Pres., Secretary and CFO, number of directors, which bank to keep, new name, Logo, type of membership and dues levels, bylaws and other aspects of an organization. Next merger meeting will be held in mid June and the boards will approve the material terms of the merger. After yesterday's joint merger meeting, a workshop was held and the two boards worked through most of the list of items, making good progress. Both boards are very excited about the merger because it will bring less duplication of work, one fund-raising effort, combining of assets and a larger, more focused work force. All have agreed this is a good thing!! Stay tuned for more on our progress.

CFM & OCFHS Merger

The California Fire Museum (CFM) and the Orange County Fire Historical Society (OCFHS) are working on a possible merger of the two organizations. Both have the same goals, which is to build a fire museum & safety center here in Orange County.

The push at present is to build the fire museum - safety center at the Orange County Great Park. CFM is presently in the process of putting together a feasibility study managed by the Great Park Design Studio.

By CFM & OCFHS joining forces this will give us a much better work force and also better for our fund raising. Stay in touch through this blog for updates on the merger and the feasibility study with the Great Park.

We also are now on Twitter for quick updates at www.Twitter.com/CalifFireMuseum